"To Blanket or Not, That is The Question....."Whether 'tis nobler to wrap our equine friends in man-made blankets, or to allow them to live as Nature intended; utilizing their innate qualities, inherent abilities and enjoying a truly natural lifestyle.
Although I live in the Sunny South, our temperatures have begun to drop and even I have been wearing a few more layers than usual (since going through chemo, my personal thermostat is out of kilter, leaving me sweating when everyone around me is shivering, and vice versa).
My horses have all grown lush winter coats that I find gorgeous. I have acquaintances that keep their horses blanketed all winter (and summer), and while I believe that unless we are actually harming an animal's health by our actions we have the right to treat our animals as we see fit, I find their actions disturbing and quite frankly, asking for trouble. I back up my opinions and my treatment of my horses with agreement from most natural horsemen as well as homeopathic, holistic and traditional veterinarians. If you want to blanket your horses, you have the right to do so, but do NOT criticize me because I choose to do otherwise. (I have far more information to prove my point than you can find to prove yours.) Almost every documented study proves that blanketing, like most "pampering of pets" is done to make the owner, not the animal, feel better, and can in the long run do more harm than good.
I realize that horses that are being shown during winter months must be either clipped or kept blanketed so that they don't realize the temperature change enough to grow a thicker coat (some purists also keep their horses in lighted stalls 24/7 so they do not realize the shortening of days signaling coat growth for winter). And I also realize that if you board your horses at a fancy facility that has indoor riding arenas you may want to keep your horses from growing their "wooly" natural coat for winter so they will continue look sharp under saddle when you're riding. However, that word "natural" means more to me than anything else, and my horses will NOT be blanketed against winter's chill unless it's necessary. I figure if their Maker had intended them to wear synthetic man-made coats, horses would not be covered with 100% horsehide and a thick lush chill-repelling coat.
Horses were "designed" to withstand subzero temperatures. Look at the ponies of Chincoteague Island where thermometers are blasted towards Antarctic temperatures by winds blowing across the ocean. For centuries these little guys have thrived and grown in number, with nary a one being wrestled into a polyester fiber filled coat to stave off nature's icy blasts. Hardy to a fault, they are now having to be herded into pens and sold each year because their numbers continue to grow at a speed with which Nature can't keep up. Watch the herds of wild horses on the plains of the West and tell me that they fret every night because there is no human there to strap them into bulky coats and blankets to ward off the night's chill. Only a few seem to even notice that their coats are dangling with icicles and their breath freezes around their chins. Wolves, coyotes and other predators wreak far more havoc with their numbers than does winter's blast.
If you have a neighbor or friend who blankets their horses, take notes of their actions. Not because you should be emulating them, but notice how labor intensive horse ownership has become for them. Where is the fun in spending your days putting on and taking off a horse's blanket? Becoming intimate with the weatherman so you know when the temperature is altering so you can either take off the blanket and let the poor horse's skin breathe normally for a bit, or change to a lighter weight blanket, then redo everything when a chilly change is predicted in the forecast. All so you can end up with a pampered princess of a horse that can't keep up with a naturally-kept horse in almost any competition or even just basic riding.
I once babysat a friend's dogs for 3 weeks while he went to England on vacation. I was given a long list of dos and don'ts for feeding and exercise and treats and...I think he even had it down to how many bowel movements each dog should have every day and if their numbers were off, information on how to regulate them.
I will add that at that time, my dogs were disgustingly healthy. I love my dog-vet (referred to as both "Aunt Ellen" and our dogs' "pediatrician") but I wasn't seeing much of her, unless someone had an accident. My friend's dogs were always having to see the vet for this and that, and seemed to always be on medication for one malady or another. They were always immaculately groomed and amazingly trained and always had wagging tails, but they quite simply weren't "natural dogs."
The first day they spent with me, I tried to keep to the letter of instruction. I was 20 minutes late getting them supper and all 3 of them threw up yellow bile, which meant that they had to delay their supper until they could take the vet prescribed meds to settle their stomachs. Then, because of the delay, no one's bowels reacted according to plan, which threw our schedule even farther off track. After three days, I threw away the instruction letter and started treating them the way I treated my own dogs. When supper wasn't in the dish at 5:00 on the dot and they threw up, I cleaned up then put them outside in the fresh air and let them eat grass until they felt like coming inside and eating their kibble. They got fresh pork neck bones and raw chicken wings once a week, and ate carrots as snacks instead of processed treats. They had a dog door so they could come and go as they pleased and I stopped counting poop piles. After a week, they were adjusted to a much more relaxed and natural scenario and we simply enjoyed spending time together. Another friend remarked on how glossy their coats had become and how happy and relaxed they appeared. (Although in a different breed than that which I bred/showed, these dogs were legendary in our "circle" of exhibitors for their nervousness, irritability and prima donna needs).
My friend came home and stayed with us for a week. He was horrified to find that his dogs weren't eating at exactly 5:00, and was amazed that no one threw up when the time came and went. He gasped in horror at the raw meat and carrots and within days had all three dogs back into their whiny, needy, dependant mindset. I explained my theory that when you mess with nature you create your own problems, but his eyes glazed over. By the time he was ready to take the last leg of his vacation back home, his dogs were once again throwing up yellow bile at "suppertime" and he was medicating left and right to "fix" minor problems.
I think it's the same thing with horses. If you pamper them and treat them like precious glass figurines, that is how they will respond. Your vet bills will increase, your likelihood of colic and other gastric stresses increases and because they are not allowed to let nature set their internal schedule by shedding and growing coat according to temperature and daily light patterns, their internal thermometers will go off kilter causing even more health related issues. Allowing your horse to live as naturally as possible will create a sturdier, healthier horse, far nearer the original design of "Horse" than any pampered equine princess can ever be.
Horses were 'designed' to withstand subzero temperatures. Go out on some frosty morning and you'll likely see your horses looking like big bristle brushes. Nature at work at Her best. If they aren't clipped or blanketed regularly, horses grow thick coats of hair that tend to stand up noticeably whenever the temperature drops. That's because warm air is trapped near their skin by their coat. This coat not only keeps them warm, but repels moisture as well. It's sort of like we humans' "nature's Gore-Tex" or "down filled parka". They don't need our puny efforts at keeping the cold at bay, their own natural skin and coat does a damn fine job without our intervention. In fact, blanketing a horse will flatten their natural coat much as rain does and can make them colder than they would be without the blanket! (Do your own research if you don't believe me)
That is not to say that there is no need for blankets. I own 3, well, I own 2 now, I gave one to someone with a debilitated horse that I thought needed it more than my own did. Buster is blanketed at the moment because he is a bit debilitated after getting infested with internal parasites due to an apparent bad batch of dewormer (that and the fact that he is the 'baby of the family' and does tend to get a little more special attention than the rest). He lost a bit of weight, and I could tell the cold temps were beginning to bother him. He has a nice thick winter coat, although it seems a bit "fluffy" and not as waterproof as I would like, so he'll wear a coat off and on for really bad weather until his body gets back to normal. Any horse should be blanketed if they are ill or recovering from an illness, if they are thin or otherwise debilitated, or are having a problem adjusting to a temperature change after a move from a different climate.
My other four horses (and donkey) are weathering the cold and rain just fine. Sadly, since we moved from the stable we had leased, we don't have a barn for them to use as shelter. There's one in the plan, but unfortunately it's a ways away. I would love for things to be different, but they are not. If I thought for one minute that our horses were truly uncomfortable, I would farm them out with friends with barns or even place them permanently in other homes, but I watch them carefully and have seen no signals that they need more protection than that which Nature has provided. You can tell if a horse is truly suffering from the cold. They stand stiffly with head hung low, tail facing the wind, with no interest in food or anything other than getting warm. If the cold isn't bothering them, they'll graze normally, have the usual "jockeying for herd position" actions and act no differently from any other time. (We do feed more during the winter than in the summer, since a horse requires extra food to maintain their body temperature and without feeding extra we see a little weight loss).
When we had the stable facility, I was so excited at having 7 individual stalls, that I started stabling everyone every night. The next morning when I got there, everyone was pawing at the door, kicking the walls and generally throwing tantrums wanting O.U.T.! They hung around for food, then dashed out into the pasture. After a while, I got tired of being buffeted around by thousand-pound bodies that weren't where they wanted to be, so I began just leaving the gate open so they could come and go as they chose. Almost overwhelmingly, no matter the weather, they 'chose' to stay outside, coming inside only if they thought there was a chance of being fed, or if there was so much frost (or rare snow) on the ground that foraging was difficult. One of the older horses always spent the coldest part of the night in the aisle of the barn, so I went back to stabling her, and always blanketed her on the coldest nights. Lucy was one of our rescues and very thin, so her furnace needed a little help staying stoked. The rest thrived and began this spring's work in what our vet described as "excellent weight and health." They ate field grass hay all winter with a bit of sweet feed and alfalfa pellets in the afternoon, and whatever winter grass struggled to grow.
This summer, we had zero health issues with the horses I overwintered. With rescue horses coming and going, there were vet bills, but most of them from man-made problems of abuse, neglect and in one case, a horse having been overpampered to the point that there was little 'natural' about her. She had been clippered and blanketed to excess so that her internal thermostat was totally out of whack. After a short trail ride in moderate weather, she was sweating so badly the saddle and pad could barely stay in place, she got out of breath after a brief canter, and had to have special vitamins for a while to simply keep up with the rest of the gang. She continuously had upper respiratory issues and kept a runny nose the entire time she was with us although our vet(s) could find no underlying cause. Her case alone proved to me undoubtedly that I am not wrong in my assumption that if you try to fool Mother Nature, she will find a way to get even.
If you choose to blanket your horses, I applaud your dedication (and will agree to disagree) and I'll defend your right to make your own decisions for your pet's care. In return, I will expect the same courtesy.
