To Blanket or Not to Blanket

Why do some horses wear blankets and others don’t?!

Well, some are chunky fluffers and their owners have decided they are not necessary.

The fluffy hair in their coat is very insulating so long as the hair is allowed to stand up. A horse’s winter coat is also naturally greasy, which helps it repel snow, ice, and sleet (this is why it isn’t advisable to shampoo your horse!). When the hairs stand up, they are trapping a layer of air in the coat which provides them an insulating layer.

In the snow, the snowflakes pile on top of the standing hair and resulting air-pocket actually adding an ADDITIONAL layer of insulation! Think of making a snow fort…it’s made out of snow so you might think it would be cold, but that’s not the case. A snow fort keeps you out of the wind for one thing, and it holds warmth inside.

You can tell a warm horse because they actually have snow on their back! Their fluff insulated them so well it didn’t even melt the snow!!! And you should leave that snow on board. Their coat is actually insulating them from the wet and cold of the snow and if you brush it, it actually pushes it down into their coat and skin and can make them colder.

However, if it’s raining out, the wet weather will flatten the hair coat and destroy those insulating qualities. As little as 0.1 inch of rain can cause cold stress by matting the hair and reducing its insulating value. As expected, a horse with a thicker hair coat can retain more heat.

Heavy winds can also “blow” the heat out of their coat making them cold.

Mud can also flatten the air-pocket in their coat. This is part of the reason horses get so muddy in the summer!

Additionally, a sheet or thin blanket, though it keeps them dry, can actually make a horse colder because it flattens the hair, eliminating the insulation layer. As a result the horse will experience a dry cold.

Honestly I think most of my horses don’t NEED blankets but I don’t have time to groom them all when they get muddy!!

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