Acceptable Winter Wear

and no, Ohio-mom. Shorts are NOT acceptable for January in Ohio. It's 17F out and you don't have a luxurious haircoat like I do!

So what is acceptable winter wear..for your equine pals that is?

For my buddy Gypsy and I, it consists of lightweight sheets that are waterproof. We both get a generous pony hair coat in the winter and don't even really need the sheets, but Ohio-mom likes to ride in the winter and we like to stand outside when it rains. And a soaked hair coat in the winter isn't effective in keeping us warm at all. Come January, Gypsy also gets a medium weight blanket added on top of her lightweight if she starts dropping weight. It is also waterproof and only goes on her when the night time temp is dropping below 15F. In addition to our hair keeping us warm, the sheets keeping us dry, we also get a TON of hay to help keep us warm. We have a barn, we just don't use it. Well, we use it as a bathroom and that's about it. If we were stalled at night, we would likely not have blankets put on us at all. We are more than capable of braving the winters here without one. Most healthy horses that grow a decent winter coat are able to in fact! Over blanketing can do more harm than good to us, so make sure that by wanting to "help" us, you aren't actually hurting us by taking away the natural means we have of keeping warm.

I know some of my buddies out there need blankets due to various factors--they don't get enough winter hair growth, they get winter hair shaved down in the winter, they are old, they are very young, they are sick or underweight, and so on. For them, a blanket or two probably is needed.

Just remember, feeding us yummy, delicious hay will help...Mmmmm..hay...and keeping us groomed and dry. Wet hair or dry mud caked hair does not do a good job at all in insulating us.

And if you are like Gypsy, you might want to toss on a hat too!