Blanketing Your Horse

The decision whether or not to blanket your horse is a personal one. Some people feel that no horse needs a blanket (after all, they don't wear them in the wild!), and others want to provide a little extra protection during very cold winters, or a means to keep their horse cleaner. If your horse works a lot during the winter, you may choose to body clip her and she'll need blankets to keep warm. If you decide that blankets are right for your horse, there are some things you need to keep in mind.

If you are going to blanket your horse, you need to keep an eye on the temperature. Horses with coats are most comfortable at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Even during winter, there are days that are sunny and warm, and you don't want your horse to overheat and sweat. Be sure to remove your horse's blanket, or swap it for a lighter one, before it gets too warm. You'll then need to make sure to rug her up again when the sun starts to set so she won't get cold! You also may need to layer blankets to provide the best protection.

Blanketing and unblanketing is a time where accidents can happen if you're not careful. The horse can get spooked or just decide not to cooperate, and you or the horse could get tangled in the blanket and get hurt. You should always put a halter on when putting blankets on or taking them off. Here are two real-life stories that show how important a halter is!

Molly had always been very good about standing still while her blankets were put on or taken off over her head, so we rarely put a halter on her to do this. However, one day she threw her head up just as I was pulling her blanket over her head, and she got scared and took off running. The blanket was still around her neck but hanging in front of her so she stepped on it with every stride. This scared her more and she kept running and running. The horse in the paddock next to her got scared too and started running around his pen, eventually jumping out and could have been injured. Molly could have broken her neck, but luckily she didn't and eventually stopped and allowed me to take the blanket off the rest of the way-but not before ruining an expensive blanket. Now, she gets very nervous if I try to take her blanket off over her head, so I have to unbuckle it every time.

The second incident was with Clever. Just like Molly, he's always been very good about having his blankets put on and taken off, so we never bothered putting a halter on. His blankets have tail cords (a strap that goes across the back, under the tail), so we unbuckle everything and pull the blankets backward. One day, he was getting impatient as I was taking off all of his layers, and started to walk away as I was taking off the last one. The tail cord caught on a knot in his tail wrap and I couldn't get it off. I was telling him "Whoa!" but he wouldn't listen and started trotting away and pulled the blanket out of my hands. The blanket was now "chasing" him, attached to his tail and dragging behind him. He got scared and started running, but the blanket stayed attached. He panicked and jumped out of his pen and ran around and around the property until he found a hole in the fence and got out on the busy main road. We were very lucky that he didn't get hit by a car! We finally caught up with him after he jumped several fences and ran through several fields. He was all cut up and we had to call the vet. Luckily, he recovered just fine after a week off of work. Amazingly, the blanket stayed attached to his tail the whole time and had to be cut off.

These two scenarios were very scary and could have had much worse endings. We were very lucky that they ended like they did! We now have a rule at our barn that all horses get halters while putting blankets on or taking them off. If you don't follow this safety rule already, now would be a great time to start! Just remember, no matter how well behaved your horse is, you never know what can happen and it's better to be safe than sorry!