At Linganore, it’s become a trend for students to bring blankets to school to keep warm during class. If the student with the blanket gets too warm for comfort, she can simply take off the blanket. Horses don’t have the luxury of taking off a blanket. Would the horses want to?

As an equestrian, I have found uncomfortable horses, where the owner has made a mistake with the blanketing and clipping.

Blanketing

When the days begin to get shorter and the temperature drops, some horse owners choose to put blankets on their horses to keep them warm. Horse blankets are different than the blankets that people use. Horse blankets have clips and straps to hold them in place, which means the horse shouldn’t be able to get the blanket off.

Blanketing the horse is not a requirement. Horses have a coat that gets thicker as the temperature drops. If the horse is blanketed, the hair will stop growing because the horse is warm. Once that happens, the owner will have to blanket that horse for the rest of the winter because its natural winter coat is not fully developed. That warm coat is great for when the horse is out in the cold, but that same coat can cause some trouble in the riding arena.

Like people, horses sweat when they exercise. When horses are ridden, they sweat. Areas under the saddle, bridle, belly and neck, sweat the most. In the winter, it is very important to cool the horse down after every ride by walking for several minutes to reduce their amount of sweat, especially if the horse has a full coat of hair.

“I think it is safe to ride an unclipped horse as long as you keep a close watch on how the horse is tolerating the work and weather. An unclipped horse may have trouble tolerating heavy work if there are temperature spikes,” said Jenny Pierson, horse owner and office manager and technician at Damascus equine associates.

Even if the horse walks for a very long time after a ride, it is still very likely that there will be sweat. Once the rider dismounts and untacks and sees that the horse is still sweaty, it is wise to use curry comb on the sweat spots and put a cooler blanket on the horse. Cooler blankets are made out of wool or fleece and are meant to absorb the sweat from the horse. They also keep the horse from cooling down too quickly and sweating again when blanketed for turnout.

Clipping

It’s quite a bit off effort to make sure that your horse isn’t too sweaty after a ride, so there is an alternative. Clipping a horse is the action of shortening all or part of the horse’s coat. This allows the horse to stay cool while you ride and therefore reduces sweat. The most popular forms of clipping include a trace, full body, hunter, blanket, Irish, and strip clip. Some horse owners clip designs into their horse just for fun.

If you clip your horse, you’re taking away all or part of their natural coat. That’s why it is very important to appropriately blanket your clipped horse to keep them warm.

“An unclipped horse has natural protection from cold weather. When you clip your horse, you need to make up for hair you removed by blanketing,” said Jenny Pierson.

The blankets come in different levels of warmth including, but not limited to; lite (often referred to as a sheet), medium weight, and heavy. Some blankets come with hoods meant to cover the horse’s neck for extra warmth.

However, not all blankets are waterproof. The water can easily soak through the blanket and then doesn’t always dry easily. If the blanket is soaked through, the blanket is merely holding cold water against the horse.

The bottom line is that horses need proper blanketing and clipping to be comfortable, and they can’t clip and blanket themselves. It’s the owner’s responsibility to make sure that their horses are in good condition.

Keep your horse in good condition with every wise decision! Have a safe ride!