[cottonXCblondie]

she has a turnout sheet for under 60 degrees and a 200g turnout for under 40 degree. She is unclipped but doesn't really develop a winter coat. her winter coat is like my QH's coat was when he was nearly shedded out in Spring. It's really nice for grooming and if i still showed, but not so much for keeping herself warm.

[Frizzle]

My guy doesn't grow much coat (we are in Miami afterall ), so he does actually need to be blanketed a few times a year. I have a Weatherbeeta turnout sheet and a Schneider's fleece blanket liner, so I can either use the sheet alone or sheet + liner if it's really cold. I generally put the sheet alone on for high 40s to low 50s, sheet + liner for mid-40s and below.

I've been thinking of buying a midweight because we've been getting some cooler
temps lately. We had a few nights in October when it got down to the 40s, almost a full week of mid- to low-50s nights in November, and this week we had two nights when the wind chill made it feel like the low 30s. We don't usually get temps into the 40s until around January, so I'm wondering how cold it will get in the next month or two.

I know some people probably think it's ridiculous to blanket for such relatively high temps, but these horses don't grow much coat and aren't accustomed to the cold. Not to mention I pay $36 per 3-wire bale of hay, so I would much rather blanket than have my hard-keeper waste precious hay calories staying warm.

It is rather amusing, though, to leave my horse in both sheet/liner and his fly mask and boots. Only in Miami!

[columbus]

Minnesota. At home no one has a sheet or a blanket. 2 big white mares with normal winter coats. They reluctantly came inside for the day of rain and wind...they would have rather stood out or in the shed (Irish Draughts) It rained lightly on and off all night. The horses at the training barn...mares and foals out with nothing...they have access to a shed and their mothers are rather dominant...fully furred...even ridiculously furred.

The horses in school(school horses) or training had a turnout sheet or a medium weight turnout blanket...ran out of turnout sheets. It was too hot for full coated horses to wear blankets(40 degrees) but most of my sheets had seen better days and it was going to rain. It rained hard all day in the high 30's and I had a few backups in case blankets or sheets got wet and they DID swap out some sheets and blankets to have dry but not because they were warmer alternatives. None of the horses are clipped this year so far and if they had a trace clip I would have a medium weight blanket on them and maybe a fleece for bad days. I ordered did order 2 Schneider turnouts and a fleece liner if a horse was worked and the rider didn't have time to blow dry before he was turned out...they love being blow dried.

I have had horses at home for 6 years or so and they have asked to come in the barn in the winter maybe 6 times in all that time as opposed to the summer when they want in as soon as the horseflies and ankle bitters appear. The days that are bad for a horse is very windy...over 25 miles an hour...blowing rain or snow hard...up their hairs on their coat. Otherwise they are perfectly happy with ALL weather as long as I feed more hay, in particular cold temps even well below zero...well below -20 even... bother them not one bit if they have more hay or the sun is out. They might take a romp out in the cold to warm up or I might come out and find them all flat out in the snow taking a sun bath even with their faces totally frosted.

The only time it gets complicated with the Irish is when you have to clip to allow hard work through the winter and we did that with fleece liners under either a turnout sheet or under a midweight blanket, between using a plain turnout sheet...add a liner...then to the mid weight turnout blanket...then adding a fleece liner to the blanket we could get by with a clipped horse in work all winter...the barn and arena were lightly heated...in Minnesota.