The ONLY reason that a horse should be blanketed is if they are very old and by old I don't mean 20 I mean 30+ years.
Horses DONT NEED BLANKETS!
Horses are made to keep warm, horses can easily survive in below 0 temps, our wind chills recently got down to around -40 or so, and our horses are just fine, no blankets you only need 3 things for your horse to keep warm. The 3 THINGS that your horse needs to stay warm is 1. Food 24/7 it it is really cold we feed free choice, we go through spurts of free choice and non free choice, depending on the horses health and weather, our horses stay at a good weight and if ANYONE starts dropping weight they get fed more. :) 2. Your horses need fresh clean water thats at least 35 or above, you can buy water heaters, but if you really can't afford one, fill up a large stock tank (anywhere from 30 gallons up) with water, put something that is bigger than your horses mouth in the water that floats, and let the top freeze, take out the object, and take down some of the water so the ice is not toutching the water, always keep the water below the ice level, and is is self insulating, if your horse is drinking as much as it should, they will drink often enough to keep the hole open without trouble. 3. A good shelter, I DON'T MEAN STALLS that is unless the stall door is open 24/7, and they have free choice in and out, horses do know whats best, if they don't stand in it, they don't need it, or theres something wrong with it, if you have a muddy shed, then your horse probably would like to stand in a dry spot rather than a wet spot.
Why blankets are not good
- You must be able to monitor your horse every few hours, and take blankets off as needed
- your horse loses his winter coat, or doesn't grow one at all, and you HAVE to use blankets for the rest of the winter time after that
- your horse can get tangled, blanketing is a huge NEVER for mares with foals, there have been accounts where the foal gets stuck in the blanket, and the mare has spooked and accidently injured her foal, horses can just as easily get themselves tangled up
- your horses may over-heat and this will cause them to sweat, this will cause them to become chilled later and the blanket will be even worse for them
- your horse can become de-hydrated easier, horses usualy drink less in winter as it is, but if they are to warm, they will become de-hydrated quicker, and this can cause colic
- if your horse rolls in water the same thing can happen as mentiond above
- healthy fit horses do better WITHOUT blankets
- just because a horse shivers once or twice does not mean he is cold, also another reason your horse should be outside with the ability to go into a shelter, he can move around to keep warm if he wants too, some horses don't move around as much though
- any blanket that is not properly fitted (if you haven't measured before, make sure you have an experienced horseperson help you
- blankets that are ill fitting can cause a blanket dip that effects the nuchal ligament that runs down the horses neck, some signs to watch for are hair loss, cold skin, and the dip beginning to form, here is a picture of what a blanket dip looks like and a diagram of the horses neck and the nuchal ligament
don't let this happen to your horses, let them be horses not baby dolls, they were built to survive in the wild, I take Gods word for what it is, so I take a horse for what it is its a horse, not a baby lol, God made them so wonderfully, some animals would die in this cold, but God made horses.
I would think the picture above of the horse with the blanket dip is from having the blanket on all the time along with a poor fit. I wouldn't think horses that get blanketed a half dozen times a year on super cold nights would have that issue. You put them on only when needed and take them off, not keep them on all the time. And yes I do understand that God made horses to handle cold weather. It really isn't any different then bringing a dog in to the house on a super cold night when it is acclimated to the outdoors.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is true, like I said there are exceptional cases with very old or very sick horses, and with the blanket dip, I said ILL FITTING blankets, and if a cold period is only 6 nights a year you wouldn't need it anyways. A horse is perfectly capable of keeping warm if given proper care. With bringing our dog inside he is very old, and he is actually becoming an inside dog now, the reason we kept him outside, is because he has seperation anxiaty, he tore our carpet the whole 20 feet across our house and ripped down all of our blinds at our old house, but he seems to be over it now and loves being inside, but he still likes going outside. When we first brought him in he didn't want to come in after being let out, but now he charges through the door!
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