Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Blankets ... should you, shouldn't you

A little miniature foal stands shivering in the spring rain, even with full shelter available. His winter coat is soaked through to the skin. This is what greeted me one evening after a day of teaching.

So shocked at the sight, I called out the vet worried that maybe he had worked up such sweat for some reason. Vet confirmed that he was just wet and that was why he was shivering. He temp was dropping though, so I had to dry him off and get him covered.

How had Sam's coat gotten soaked through? His friend was just fine. I have never seen another horse so completely soaked that had not been given a bath. Did some local kid pull a prank? Was there a downpour  that soaked him before could get into the shelter? Did he work up a sweat, either from running or a fever? None of those answers really sounds probable, and I never did figure out how Sam had gotten so wet. He did though and I was unprepared.

Miniatures were just gaining in popularity and blankets to fit them needed to be special ordered. I didn't have time, poor little Sam was cold now!

The local tack shop had limited choices for a miniature foal. Even foal blankets were a bit big for him but I found something that would work ... well enough. Sam recovered and I don't think I ever really needed to use that blanket again, but I had it.


When I first got into horse ownership, blanketing was just not a thing. Maybe stable blankets on stalled horses, but there were no turnout blankets available like there are today. The first real turnout blanket was the New Zealand Rug and it is positively primitive compared to what we have for horses today.

I am an au natural horse keeper. Horse should have forage free choice, live outside, not wear shoes, and not be blanketed. But, the experience with Sam taught me to be prepared.

So when I got Tank, I bought a light and medium weight blanket and two fleece blankets.  By combining those I can make a heavier medium weight and a heavy weight blanket. Tank came to me having been stalled at night, but I prefer to keep him out 24/7.  Tank did lose some weight after I got him, his teeth were really bad. At least I was prepared this time when he started to shiver and was able to give him the simple luxury of a blanket.

This fall I am not blanketing until he shows me that he needs blankets. But I am prepared. I have laundered and waterproofed his sheets and blankets so if he needs them they are ready. They are at the barn if he should start to shiver again, but because I solved the problem of his weight and he has been kept outside year around he is growing a nice thick coat this year, I doubt that he will need them.

Blanketing is a highly personal choice. It depends a lot on the horse and the owner, but in my book, if you choose to blanket or not it is not as important as being prepared.






2 comments:

  1. Being prepared is always a good thing. We don't usually blanket but we do have them for extreme weather and some sheets too.

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  2. Preparation is key. I do blanket because we get so much rain and wet in the winter. I was hoping that i could avoid blankets for Carmen but she has shown how much she hates being cold. Irish is a very hard keeper and struggles with keeping weight on in the winter.

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Blankets ... should you, shouldn't you

A little miniature foal stands shivering in the spring rain, even with full shelter available. His winter coat is soaked through to the skin...

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