[trafalgar]

It is so @#$% cold and I am thinking my horse might appreciate a warmer blanket. I hate to buy a heavy weight because in the mid Atlantic, an unclipped horse needs one so rarely. Tonight, I was tempted to put on both of my Rambo med weights but I was afraid they would not stay on. I have never had a single one come off but I thought 2 might become unbalanced.....any experiences? I know some people do this but I would love to hear from a larger number.

[SMF11]

I double blanket everyone over 30 (years old) at my farm on below-zero nights with no problems at all. One of my boarders body clipped her horse and has triple blanketed him at times.

[CatPS]

We do it all the time at my barn in Mass... the only blankets that shift are the ones that will shift when they are the only one on. I put four on my guy (cooler, liner, sheet, medium wug) when we were going below zero last week, and they didn't move an inch.

[deltawave]

They can work fine in multiples, but you sort of have to experiment. Sometimes a slick liner under a slick blanket will slip more. When I layer I try to use more of a thermatex-type material than nylon, or if that's not do-able I have an ancient, very humble elastic surcingle that is GREAT for holding liners in place.

[NRB]

I'm in VA and I've been doing double blankets on my guy this winter and have really liked it. I mean I can work the horse, then when he's done I put one midweight Rambo Wug on him. Then when he goes for t/o later in cooler temps the BO puts the second blanket on top (a middleweight Rhino with neck)

The blankets don't shift. I do have 2 different sizes of blankets though. So the one that fits directly on his body is the 81, that's the new wug. The Rhino on top is an 84. I didn't buy them intentially that way. He is sort of between the sizes of an 81 and 84.... so he ended up with one of each.

But at least this way the BO doesn't have to take off the midweight and put on a heavy weight as temps change. And no rubs, woot!

[OTTBcooper]

I've been doubling up with these ridiculous temperature changes - 40s during the day and single digits with wind at night. One blanket during the day and BO throws another one on at nigh. No problems so far!

[merrygoround]

If in doubt an extra surcingle nailing down the most likely shifter will help.

[billiebob]

My horse is double-blanketed at the moment. When it's really cold and windy he gets triple-blanketed. They rarely shift. As long as the blankets fit well it works great.

[yellowbritches]

My horse has had 5 layers on for the last two days. The only issue is that his tail strap broke yesterday, and his sheet got all blown up around his shoulder.

[pony baloney]

In these colder temps I've been using a somewhat fitted Amigo stable blanket (no leg straps/tail cord only) as a liner under a sort of shapeless lightweight turnout sheet (no liner, with leg straps). No problems with shifting at all.

[horsepoor]

My horse has had 5 layers on for the last two days. The only issue is that his tail strap broke yesterday, and his sheet got all blown up around his shoulder.

Okay, this makes me picture the little kid in "A Christmas Story" that goes out so bundled up, he can hardly move! 5 layers?! Wow!

We don't deal with the cold here very often, but when I have had to double up, I've usually done a med weight with sheet over the top -- adding layers captures some air in there and stays surprisingly warm and warmer than you might expect. One thing that might work to prevent slipping is to use a fleece dress sheet if you have one as the underlayer -- less prone to slipping. Sine the OP has two Rambos to pair up, you might be able to use the tail strap snaps to connect them (snap one tail strap snap through the dee on inner AND outer blanket) as that will help hold them together. I'd be a little concerned about two same-size blankets like that (if they are same size) as putting one over the other might make it too tight, but you can try it. I usually go up a size for the outer layer when I can ... owning too many horses and too many blankets, I seem to always have an assortment to choose from!

And I just have to say, my horses were out NEKKID today -- 56 and sunny here. Unbelievable, and I think we deserved it after ~7 inches of rain in 5 days this week. They all got vac'd too as they wallowed in the mud!

[JSjumper]

My horses have been double blanketed for the majority of the past month (they all look like Ralphie from A Christmas Story) ... never had any issues with slippage! But I also have Rambos, which have always worked really well for staying in place for my boys- I could see other brands/different types possibly having issues depending on fit. It's a try and see kinda thing!

[vxf111]

Never had an issue with doubling, just check that all the surcingles are well adjusted. If you're really worried, sometimes you can run them through each other-- although I don't.

[Ainsley688]

I always double blanketed my horse when she was clipped during the winter. Never had a problem, but she's not one to take her own blankets off, haha.

Double blanketed to pony a few weeks ago, and I thought he would like being extra warm. Turns out, he was not a fan, and took off the top blanket, and left it in the middle of the stall for me! I didn't have hind surcingles on, but he managed to keep both front buckles done, and the belly straps done. I have NO idea how he did it...wish I had a video!

[reay6790]

MY horses are pretty easy on their blankets, so really no problems doubling up. Not going to lie, it really hasn't been cold enough here in MS to need to do that except for a few nights, which was usually a sheet and a blanket.

[Herbie19]

One of mine was wearing a medium, a regular neck heavy and a heavy with a hood (all Rambos) last week when the temps didn't leave the teens. He was happy and the blankets didn't move at all. I will say that you need to be careful about fit--if your bottom layer doesn't hang well on the horse by itself I would not put anything on top of it.

[Mali]

It is so @#$% cold and I am thinking my horse might appreciate a warmer blanket. I hate to buy a heavy weight because in the mid Atlantic, an unclipped horse needs one so rarely. Tonight, I was tempted to put on both of my Rambo med weights but I was afraid they would not stay on. I have never had a single one come off but I thought 2 might become unbalanced.....any experiences? I know some people do this but I would love to hear from a larger number.

I'm in the mid-atlantic area also, and also refuse to buy a heavyweight for the very reason you cited. I save a ton of money by utilizing stable blankets & liners with either a Rambo or Schneiders Euro Extreme t/o sheet over top. I like having blankets that can perform double-duty. For the coldest weather, I'll use a polar fleece blanket liner (from sstack.com), 280gm stable blanket, with a Rambo sheet & neck cover on top. I just had my blanket lady sew dee rings on the sheet so I could attach the neck cover. I do own a medium weight Schneiders Euro Stormshield t/o blanket with matching neck cover that I use for the slightly less cold weather, but I'm not certain how waterproof it still may be, so I use it when it's not calling for any precipitation.

[trafalgar]

Well thank you all. I am convinced. I will be double blanketing tonight....weather.com says it will feel like 7 degrees!!!!

[quietann]

I've come to like the system at the barn where I board. When turning out, they just put a rainsheet over whatever the horse is wearing*. Problems with doubled-up blankets are not common. This means only one blanket -- the rainsheet -- gets really muddy and wet.

* Barn workers would take off the "inside" blanket before adding the rainsheet if the day is predicted to be significantly warmer than the night. The system does encourage a bit of laziness in barn workers, though, when it comes to blankets.

Mine was in a medium-weight with a quited liner underneath during the cold weather but only because it was below 10 degrees. The medium weight is good for 10 degrees to freezing, and the liner is a good blanket on its own when it's warmer than that. I always get a bit of pushback from people for "underblanketing" her, but I'd rather have her slightly chilly than too warm.

[Wordplay1832]

I frequently double up. My main outer blanket is the smartpak deluxe turnout with a neck cover in medium weight. When I need something under I had always put the smartpink stable blanket, which worked well. Both blankets fit well, and especially with an adjustable turnout on top I could just let the surcingles and front snaps out a tiny bit to compensate for the layer. Never any problem with shifting.
Lately I have been putting a weatherbeeta orican freestyle underneath, I have both the heavy and medium of that. Usually she has the med doubled with the smartpak deluxe, but we had a week of highs in the low single digits with wind chills at -15 or worse, so she had the heavy plus the medium smartpak blanket. I think as long as the blankets fit well by themselves it should be fine.