28/11/2025
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Blanketing is not just about adding warmth. Horses heat themselves very differently than we do and understanding that helps us support them instead of accidentally making them colder.
Horses heat themselves from the inside out. Their digestive system ferments fibre all day which creates steady internal heat. Their winter coat traps this heat when the hair can lift and fluff, a process called piloerection. This creates a layer of warm air close to the skin and acts as the horse’s main insulation system.
A thin blanket can interrupt this system. It presses the coat flat which removes the natural insulation. If the blanket does not provide enough fill to replace what was lost the horse can become COLDER in a light layer than with no blanket at all.
Healthy horses are also built to stay dry where it matters. The outer coat can look wet while the skin stays warm and dry. That dry base is the insulation. When we put a blanket on and flatten the coat, the fill must replace that lost insulation.
Problems begin when moisture reaches the skin. Wetness at the base of the coat flattens the hair and stops the coat from trapping heat. This can happen in freezing rain, heavy wet snow, or when a horse sweats under an inappropriate blanket.
Checking the base of the coat tells you far more than looking at the surface. Slide your fingers down to the skin behind the shoulder and along the ribs. Dry and warm means the horse is coping well. Cool or damp means the horse has lost insulation and needs support.
Horses also show clear body language when they are cold. Look for tension through the neck, shorter and stiffer movement, standing tightly tucked, avoiding resting a hind leg, clustering in sheltered areas, a hunched topline, withdrawn social behaviour, and increased hay intake paired with tension. Shivering is a clear sign but it appears later in the discomfort curve.
Ears can give extra information but they are not reliable on their own. Cold ears with a relaxed body are normal, but cold ears paired with tension, stillness, or a cool or damp base of the coat can suggest the horse is losing heat. Always look at the whole picture instead of using one single check.
If you choose to blanket, pick a fill that REPLACES what you are removing. Sheets and very light layers often make horses colder in winter weather. A blanket that compresses the coat needs enough fill to replace the trapped warm air the coat would have created on its own.
Blanketing is a tool, not a default. Healthy adult horses with full winter coats often regulate extremely well on their own as long as they are dry, sheltered from strong wind, and have consistent access to forage. Horses who are clipped, older, thin, recovering, or living in harsh wind and wet conditions will likely need more support and blanketing. The individual horse always matters.
It would be easier if a single number worked for every horse. But in my own herd I have horses who stay comfortable naked in minus thirty and others who need three hundred and fifty grams (+) in that same weather. That range is normal. It is exactly why no one chart can ever work for every horse, and why watching the individual horse will always be more accurate than any temperature guide.
Thermoregulation is individual. Charts cannot tell you what your horse needs. Your horse can. Watch the body, check the skin, and blanket the individual in front of you.
