Blanket temps?

[hollynanne]

I posted this on the Pony Up forum, but I thought I'd throw it out here, too! ;D
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My girl, Bella, is *hopefully* coming soon from Florida. I know, I know... mean mommy to bring her here in the winter! She's going to be so annoyed!

My question to you all is:
for those of you who do blanket, what temp do you start throwing rugs on?

My new trainer, here on the island, says that they blanket at 55. 55!? In Florida, we do 40, maybe 45ish, if it's really wet and windy. Yes, it does get that cold (well, in Jacksonville it does!)!

When we rode in the evening, I would throw her polar fleece cooler (it's the kind that goes up the neck, but isn't square, kwim?) while I put all my crap away and fart around/chat with the other boarders/etc... Then, if it was going to be chilly that night, I would throw her blanket on right before I left. It was then taken off either at breakfast, or when they did "the lunch check".

What is your particular method to "the blanketing madness"?

[zebradreams07]

I've been putting a rain sheet on my mare for about a month now, overnight and when it's raining hard or especially cold. I'll also be putting a fleece cooler under that when it's below freezing (poor man's winter blanket, lol). But, she's older and still a bit under weight from when I got her. I don't intend to blanket my mustang at all; if he can survive winter in the hills of eastern Oregon he can sure take it here with free choice hay. I prefer to not blanket horses that are in good health and can grow a thick coat.

[zebradreams07]

Hence the part about a thick coat - I have yet to meet a TB that meets that requirement.
I've been checking the underside of the rain sheet when it's really soaked, and it's still perfectly dry next to her skin besides the inch or so at her neck. She also gets warm mash in the evening.

[schwung]

All the SAFE horses are wearing rain sheets now and will probably start wearing mid-weights around mid to late November when it starts getting down in the 30s at night. Its not the cold you have to worry about, its the wet - which in addition to often leading to other issues like rain rot, really gets them cold, especially the thin-skinned TBs. I find that keeping them dry, even with just a light sheet, goes a long way to cutting down on the feed bill and keeping them from dropping weight so easily in the winter. But one of the biggest reasons I blanket, even a light sheet when the rain starts, is purely for convenience - if you want to ride or groom your horse, dealing with a soaking wet and muddy beast is no fun. Blankets really help keep them clean and cut down on the grooming time, which is important when you have 15-20 to care for!

[hollynanne]

Good to know. Thanks! She has a medium weight 1600d turnout. I was smart and thought ahead! Got that puppy this summer on super-sale from SLT (can you tell I'm proud of my advance thinking?).

She does get blanket rubs pretty bad, so I'll probably get a spandex-superman-like-blanket insulator for when she has to be in a blanket for more than a couple of days at a time.

I hear you about the grooming. In Iowa, it was too cold to even let them really run around in the indoor for too long without blankets (we had 25 days straight of below zero- never got above zero in that time). My jumper mare got her clothes off long enough to run around like an idiot and a good brushing, then at least her liner for the rest of the time (until I was too cold to stand it anymore). Clothes went back on after that!

We had to layer a lot in Iowa. Even the super-ultra-heavyweight blankets weren't enough sometimes. We had a lot of people who did the sleazy/fleece/sheet trick. The problem wasn't so much the rain/wetness there, it was the dirt getting in and rubbing. As long as you were good about grooming, it was all good.

This is my first time with a "rainy" winter, instead of a "really friggin' cold" winter. My jumper mare, Zelda, was also a BS Paint... not a tb.

We very rarely blanketed my hudband's dressage horse, who was a draft cross. What did the girl with the awesome Arabian stud call her horses, when they got wooly? Yaks? Yeah, that was Mickey! He was a master at shredding his blanket, so nekked for him, except on the bitterest of cold days.

Good call on the warm mash. That will be a cinch to do with Bella being just out my back door (totally excited about that! we've always boarded!). I know pk said that she uses beet pulp. Do you use beet pulp or bran or a mix, Zebra?

Thanks for the help girls! I'm sure this isn't the last "newbie" question you'll be hearing from me!

[hollynanne]

Oct 29, 2009 1:36:39 GMT -5 schwung said:

But one of the biggest reasons I blanket, even a light sheet when the rain starts, is purely for convenience - if you want to ride or groom your horse, dealing with a soaking wet and muddy beast is no fun. Blankets really help keep them clean and cut down on the grooming time, which is important when you have 15-20 to care for!

LOL! There is nothing like going out and not realizing that's your horse, because they're black from mud! Blech! (and, they're always so proud of themselves, too)

[zebradreams07]

My mare is on a senior diet recommended by Dr. Eleanor Kellon; alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, rolled oats, and wheat bran. Recommended ratio of 2:1:1:1 but I doubled the beet pulp, at least until she's at a good weight.

[coconut]

I blanket too (we're at the rain sheet level currently) ...and do the warm mash thing. I've already started "cooking" for my horse about 3 days a week: Beet Pulp soaked in hot water (at home or in the shop about an hour before I leave for the barn) and mix it with bran and flax seed (either ground or boiled and soaked overnight). Sometimes when I'm feeling really nice, I put applesauce in there but she'd eat it plain so there's no real point to it. If it goes in her dish, it goes in her belly! I have yet to see her turn her nose up at anything she was offered to eat. But it makes me feel good about her having something warm in her belly, especially since the vet says she could be prone to colic with seasonal changes. I don't want to go through THAT nightmare again...so I pamper her as much as possible.

[mymercedes]

All three of mine are currently wearing midweight blankets. I have a 27 year old who chills easily, and a 11 year old thin skinned, never gets a real winter coat, type of gelding. Then, I have Mercedes, who turnes into a large wooly yak every winter, BUT, also loves the mud, so for her. It is definitely convenience. On nice days above 50 degrees, and no rain, I yank the blankets, but in the wet cold, they all have them on. I also brush nearly every day so they feel fresh and itch free!

[monicabee]

My horse came from Florida in March - I am just about to put the polar-fleece blanket liner that my husband insisted on buying for him on Ebay.

He had a slick summer coat, plus he was on stall rest - the liner was overkill, in my opinion, but... he couldn't work up a sweat, so there was no real danger of him overheating, anyway, even with a mid-weight blanket over the liner. Stalled horses need more blanketing in general because their circulation is not being stimulated by moving around.

He was not a Florida native - born, raised and raced in New York and had just shipped down for the turf races in Florida in December when he fractured a sesamoid before actually running - he took the Pacific Northwest in stride.

Last winter for the first time Willy produced a real winter coat -- I wait for him to get fuzzy and then put on the rain sheet. He grew a healthy coat this year, but not as thick as last year, and is wearing his rain sheet since last weekend. He has a stall with a run, so he needs rain protection even in his stall.

Other than waiting a bit to start blanketing, I follow the same plan as Jaime for all of the same reasons. I use high-necked blankets like the Rambo Wug so that there is no rain getting in around the withers.

[leahlady]

All of ours were switched to midweights this week. We are already freezing at night in Auburn!

Here is the temp range I go by:
35-50 - rain sheet
20-45 - mid weight
0-25 - heavy weight

[hollynanne]

Oct 29, 2009 8:03:36 GMT -5 pk said:

As for blanket rubs, I have never owned a horse that got rubbed by the blanket. Maybe this is because my blankets seem to be a bit on the large size. I'd rather they hang a little over the tail than be too tight. My friend's horse rubbed quite badly last winter. I noticed his horse's blanket was a 69 and she normally wears a 74. Looks like it was from a bad fit/wrong size.

Well, crap! She's already in an 84! She's not particularly tall, but is a Fred Astaire baby and they tend to be more warmblood-y... but, geez, bigger than an 84?

She's a pretty easy keeper, especially when she's being worked. She'll probably get senior grain, because it's so easy to digest. She's a totally picky eater, though. I can't even put electrolytes in her food, b/c she won't eat her grain... I bet she'd eat the beet pulp and pellets, though. I've used molasses for picky eaters before, but the applesauce is a great idea too! (not mine, I've never had a picky eater before... totally new experience)

I usually feed free choice grass with alfalfa or alfalfa/grass at breakfast, lunch and dinner. She also is going to have the benefit of 3 acres of untouched pasture (that she's going to have to get used to... no colic/founder/etc for me!)

I appreciate all the advice. Looks like a turnout sheet might be in order, as well as a (gulp) heavyweight high neck blanket.

Thanks girls!

[cat67]

If they have already grown a winter coat, then I don't think they need more than a rain sheet. As Jaime noted, what makes them cold is being wet, not being cold. Even the Thoroughbreds do fine if they're dry - mine used to winter out in Wisconsin with no problems whatsoever as long as they had waterproof blankets and an endless supply of alfalfa mix hay.

If they're not furry, and one from Florida won't be, and may not grow much coat at all her first winter, then I'd go with Leah's guidelines for temperature. A great way of avoiding blanket rubs is one of those Sleazy Sleepwear liners. You can get one that just goes around the chest area if that's where your horse gets rubbed, or the full one.
www.ss4horses.com/

[schwung]

There is rarely a need for a heavyweight around here - I don't own any. On the very rare occasions where the weather is extremely cold, I just throw on an extra midweight or a quilted stable blanket underneath.

[zebradreams07]

My miracle cure for picky eaters has been peppermint. Plain, loose leaf peppermint is easiest, but tea bags will work if that's all you can find. I sprinkle a tablespoon or so in the mash while it's soaking. It got my mare to eat hers, and even convinced my mustang that his alfalfa pellets were safe to eat - he'd never had anything but hay, and certainly didn't know what peppermint was but liked it anyway. Now he's eating his supplements along with the pellets and mint