[LMH]

As many know, the south has had a tough week of temps for our area.

This morning was 13, today is low 20's with some pretty gusty wind.

I bring the babies in at night simply because they need to sleep and the ground is snowish covered.

I just checked on them and they are HOT-like HOT...like cuddle with THEM for warmth. It is flipping 22F out!

The big guys have on mid weight blankets and are toasty TOASTY warm.

Tonight is 15 with 10-15 winds...so boys can have at it and babes can come in.

Honestly I had NO idea little babes (coming yearlings) had such thick down coats.

I am shivering like a fool-my boys are having a blast in the weather with no intentions of coming in!

[Diamondindykin]

My gelding was so whooly when he was a baby that we gave him the nickname of Gremlin. Now we just call him Grem. Mother nature is an awesome thing for sure!!!

[2bee]

I'm always 'shocked' at how many people blanket at all in the south. It's a rare situation when my horses get a blanket, usually requires the wife nagging me to death.

Mother nature knows what she's doing, I let her alone.

[summerhorse]

I love sticking my hands under their blankets when it is really cold! They are toasty warm! If they aren't your blanket isn't heavy enough and if they are sweaty it is too heavy! We had a windchill of 19 this morning and my horses grow virtually no coat so yeah, even in the south you have to blanket sometimes!

[katarine]

mine are all naked too- and I'm in central AL. They got jackets only yesterday- it warmed up and started raining, then dropped into the teens. but this clear morning...they all got naked again

[appaloosalady]

My young horses (weanlings, yearlings) are the only ones I don't blanket. The coats they grow are unbelievable!

[2bee]

I love sticking my hands under their blankets when it is really cold! They are toasty warm! If they aren't your blanket isn't heavy enough and if they are sweaty it is too heavy! We had a windchill of 19 this morning and my horses grow virtually no coat so yeah, even in the south you have to blanket sometimes!

And they never will if they stay "toasty warm" under a blanket.

[Daydream Believer]

It's funny you posted this! I was worming and trimming my foals today and the one colt, Telluride, has a pelt on him thicker and more lush than a bearskin rug! It was luxurious to run my hands thru...so soft and thick. I was thinking that I wished I had such a nice winter coat as this little guy has!

[LMH]

PELT! That word describes it better than anything.

Logan's pelt IS thicker than a bear rug.

I laugh because his blood is Holsteiner-Maya is Paint.

I keep thinking genetically Logan was bred for temps far worse than this!

I swear, standing in the sun, 22F and a light dampness of sweat

Not what you want, mind you, but certainly makes me think about all the blanket coddling!

[EqTrainer]

Our new one, the black and white paint, has a pelt. He is never cold.

The other ones? Hairy and.... cold.

[Daydream Believer]

Yes, pelt is a good word. All my babies are hairballs but Tell's coat was nice enough to make a rug out of. Thankfully, Tell is too NICE to be a rug!

Out West, horses of our breed are happily weathering far worse winters in Wyoming and the Dakotas than we have here. I think most horses do well with cold. I will say that some TB's, Arabs and QH's I know do not put on a good coat and they really do need some help in winter.

[JB]

I'm always 'shocked' at how many people blanket at all in the south. It's a rare situation when my horses get a blanket, usually requires the wife nagging me to death.

But where are you? Here in the South (LMH is a couple of states further South than I am) it's just not normal to not break freezing for weeks on end, to have nights in the teens for weeks on end. To go from mid-40's during the day and maybe upper 20's at night, calm winds, to suddenly 15* colder and 20mph+ winds literally overnight, is a huge shock to even some woolly horses, so yeah, mine have had blankets on for some part of this time. My TB mare in particular has had a blanket on for most of the time, as she will burn significant calories to stay warm, and I don't need her to do that.

it's one thing to become acclimated to the weather like this, but it's another to be thrown into it.

My WB gelding also had a pelt when a youngster, and even now gets very woolly. he hasn't been blanketed nearly as much as my mare, but he's had it on some of the colder nights, as all my pasture is exposed, and some of it is pretty high in relation to trees.

[LMH]

Our windchill is -5F tonight!

Has Georgia ever even SEEN -5?????

[caballus]

-5 tonight? Good grief! You guys must be MISERABLE down there! That's colder than we are up here in MA! I'm sorry. I HATE being cold and man, that is COLD!

Yeah, it *is* amazing -- I'm always amazed when I go out and feel the warmth under the horses' manes. My fingers will get cold while cleaning the stalls, sheds, paddocks etc. so I always take a warm up break to go hug one or the other sticking my fingers under their manes to get my fingers mobile again. Out of 9 critters I have 1 that is blanketed and that is our wussy 28 yo OTTB. He gets shivering cold when the temps drop below 50! So, he gets blanketed. The rest, ranging in ages from 3 years old to almost 50 (our Sicilian Donk) all are butt nekkid. They run around and generate heat plus they always have hay to chow down. They do very well with that. I took a short video the other day of my PMU playing 'tag' with the ponies down back in the snow. As soon as I get it onto the computer I'll post it. They had so much f-u-n!!

[Flash44]

Horses evolved in colder climates, so they are usually find in cold temps.

[monstrpony]

When I bought my semi-rescue horse, my farrier speculated, based on the shoes he was wearing, that he came from further south than us. The first winter I had him, he put on very little coat. I knew this winter was going to be chilly when he grew a pelt this year (his third winter here).

[2bee]

But where are you? Here in the South (LMH is a couple of states further South than I am) it's just not normal to not break freezing for weeks on end, to have nights in the teens for weeks on end. To go from mid-40's during the day and maybe upper 20's at night, calm winds, to suddenly 15* colder and 20mph+ winds literally overnight, is a huge shock to even some woolly horses, so yeah, mine have had blankets on for some part of this time. My TB mare in particular has had a blanket on for most of the time, as she will burn significant calories to stay warm, and I don't need her to do that.

it's one thing to become acclimated to the weather like this, but it's another to be thrown into it.

My WB gelding also had a pelt when a youngster, and even now gets very woolly. he hasn't been blanketed nearly as much as my mare, but he's had it on some of the colder nights, as all my pasture is exposed, and some of it is pretty high in relation to trees.

I'm in NC, but having spend most of my life near Chicago I know a little about the cold. Yes this is the coldest I've seen down here in the past 10 years........but guess what? My horses grew enough coat to stay warm, no blankets so far this 'cold snap'. Running out and putting a blanket (on a healthy horse) just because its cold outside or you saw then shiver a little is your call. Of course by keeping them warm is interfering with mother nature and how can they be expected to grow their own to deal with the cold?

If they get cold, they will grow hair in short order.

[katarine]

I'ts no colder in GA than it is in AL; And my horses are NAKED.


I'm so mean

[JB]

I'm in NC, but having spend most of my life near Chicago I know a little about the cold. Yes this is the coldest I've seen down here in the past 10 years........but guess what? My horses grew enough coat to stay warm, no blankets so far this 'cold snap'.

The boys did too. The OTTB mare did not. If she did not have a blanket on, either she'd be running around to keep warm, or she'd be eating me out of house and home to take in enough calories to keep good weight on.

She
Gets
Cold

Running out and putting a blanket (on a healthy horse) just because its cold outside or you saw then shiver a little is your call. Of course by keeping them warm is interfering with mother nature and how can they be expected to grow their own to deal with the cold?

You'd let a horse shiver for days on end, burning calories, losing weight, running around like a fool, thinking "oh let her be, she'll grow a coat"?

no thanks

You cannot say that no place in the South ever gets cold enough for any horse to ever have a blanket on.
I blanket very little. I blanket when the *horse* needs it. My husband says "it's 15 out tonight, doesn't Rio need a blanket?" and I say "Nah, he's fine."

If they get cold, they will grow hair in short order.

Not necessarily

[EqTrainer]

I agree w/JB.. and since my horses (as hers do) get free choice hay, it's not like I can just give them more food to make up for the calories they are burning to stay warm...

blanketing is so easy, I have no idea why some people fight it so badly... and no, I would never let one of mine shiver and be cold while I waited for them to grow more hair...

and then there is the fact that when we are having freezing rain, I don't want to wonder if anyone is cold while I am laying in my warm bed at 2 AM!

Blankets are wonderful inventions. Why not use them if your horses need them.. or even like them.. or if you like them..

and - they look spiffy in them! All those happy plaids and bright blue Bucas..

and the pony is so cute in her clothes! If you have a pony and a little girl, why, you have to have pony blankets.. in pink and purple and actually Rosie has Rhino's so blue and purple and blue plaid but she has a cooler in purple and pink...

a long way to say - some of us like to wrap our horses up when it's cold!