Blanketing Ponies

[oxmaybesoxo]

Hey Ladies,

So most ponies are pretty hardy, grow wonderful winter coats and can regulate them selves. Typically, unless the pony is being worked hard through the winter, the general rule is to not blanket them. This made sense to me until last winter and now this winter.

The weather is changing so much. Dropping to -10 one day up to +5 the next. Winter is no longer just snow its a mixture of snow and rain. At least snow we can scrap off with a sweater scraper and know that the ponies fur closest to their skin is still dry but rain makes them wet alll over.

My other thought was that we could then control there warmth. Heavier blanket on the cold days (it would also block the wind/rain) and lighter blanket on the warmer days. Rather then them having a huge winter coat though it all??

Maybe I'm thinking about it all wrong? Suggestions? Thoughts?

Thanks

[maria]

I usually change blankets depending on the day. Connor is in NS at my coach's barn, but I have blankets on his door and upstairs for different weather conditions. Depending on what the day is going to be like they switch out which blanket is appropriate.

Another thing some people do is layer thier blankets. Connor has rugs to keep him warm at night when stabled, and then when he gets turned out they/I (when I worked there) would just put a rain sheet or midweight over the rug to keep it dry and warm while he's outside. Works like a charm and is also easy to work with when you have to change blankets daily.

[chels]

I have a 400g on Roxy from mid November to mid March (unless it gets warmer /colder faster or earlier.) I don't change it now when the temperature goes up in the pluses, and she does fine. Though she does have a blanket clip going on, and I'm finding that keeps her cooler than previous winters. I'll change back to her 250g once the weather is at a constant temperature of +5.

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[Rodeo]

I wasn't a blanketing person until this year. And I still prefer not to blanket. My NL ponies (well not mine but I call them mine) don't get blankets. They love the weather.

My other guys are getting blanketed this year. I'm going to give it a try.

[Becca]

About layering what Maria said, I disliked it. As if a blanket underneath slipped it would get wet and couldn't evaporate through the other blanket on top.

I blanketed. My general rule was 0 and colder heavy weight 0-5 medium weight and higher is rain sheet. Cowboy's summer coat was his winter, shivers when he see's rain drops. so not blanketing was not an option.

Your best investment is a high quality cooler to wick them off.

If I was working a pony through the winter I would probably blanket. Much more manageable.

[Anstey]

I find blankets are all based on the individual horses. For Example:

-Cabbie has 0 coat and therefore is always cold. He starts wearing sheets at 5 degrees, lightweight at 0 to -2, midweight -2 to -5 wears a heavyweight when it gets below -5 and then a super heavyweight when it gets below -10. Or a combination of fleece cooler with straps and a heavyweight works well.

-Raven is always insanely warm and gets hives when he overheats. He wears a sheet when its between 3 and -4, midweight -4 to -10 and a heavyweight on days like today when the wind chill has the temperature below that.

-My Ponies have heavyweight blankets that they only get when it gets below -7 as they're naturally hairy, other than that they have a rain sheet for when it rains in order to keep the chill off of them as they are both ancient.

-I had to blanket Chance this year as he didn't grow a coat so he has a sheet when it's below 5 degrees, a midweight when it's below -2 and a combination (his new heavyweight on way) when it gets below -7

Blanketing can be hell because you always need to pay attention to the weather to make sure your horse isn't either too cold or overheated. It's super easy for them to sweat and then catch a chill or to underblanket which doesn't allow their hair to function normally and can leave them shivering.

[oxmaybesoxo]

She isn't worked/schooled as such def not enough to break a sweat (she’s in her early twenty’s so our goal is to keep the arthritis at bay!)

By late November she has her full winter coat in which is lovely but when the temperatures randomly switch to +5 or higher the poor girl sweats also when it rains all that winter coat gets wet and takes forever to dry. I also found last year it warmed up sooner than previous years and the poor thing still had her winter coat. I ended up clipping her to keep her comfortable till the rest shed out naturally.

I'm considering blanketing next year (too late to start this year!) it feels odd blanketing a pony but I feel like I can control her comfort level more. Does that make sense?

[happilyeverafter]

I'm a neurotic blanketer.... Cativa gets a rain sheet when its around 5 -10 degrees (esp. if its wet), a medium weight (180 gm) blanket from 5 to -5 and then once it starts staying colder than -5 she goes to her 300gm blanket, with a fleece shoulder guard that helps with rubbing & extra warmth.

I also have a 220 gm blanket with a neck but I havent used it yet. I dont think Cativa is a fan

[1234]

I'm poor and my horse has a dece coat so if I can let them grow a coat FREE BLANKET!!!!

That being said, she is flea-bitten grey and I have a sheet on order to keep the piss stains away.

I also don't school heavily. Yet.