Oof. This question can divide equestrians like the Hatfields and McCoys. Our answer to this question is, “It depends.”
When humans go outside in the cold, we put on lots of layers to stay warm–unless you’re a middle school boy and then you wear shorts year round. 😆 We often think, “If I’m cold, my horse must be cold,” and we can spend lots of unnecessary time and money on blankets our horses may not need. However, God equipped horses with a few things to help them survive the cold with little intervention from us humans.
1. Winter Coats
The most obvious is their fluffy winter coats! A horse’s winter coat consists of two main layers: the longer guard hairs on the outer layer and a softer, denser undercoat beneath. The guard hairs help repel moisture, such as rain or snow, while the undercoat provides additional insulation by trapping more air. This trapped air helps prevent the loss of body heat to the surrounding environment, kind of like a wetsuit for humans. Google “piloerection in horses,” and you’ll discover a wealth of information on the topic.
2. Fat
Big is beautiful–especially when it comes to winter weight. Horses with a little extra fat have an easier time maintaining their body heat. Fat serves as an extra layer of insulation.
3. Access to Roughage
Eating hay/roughage also helps keep horses warm in the winter. This process is called hindgut fermentation. You can research to learn more specifics about the process, but basically as their food digests, it ferments in the hindgut and produces heat as a byproduct. This does not directly warm the horses, but it helps them maintain their body temperature. This is why it’s crucial for horses to have access to some kind of quality roughage in the winter.
4. Shelter
Horses also need some kind of shelter or wind break. This can be a lean-to shed or trees. Our horses do just fine with trees. We keep an eye on them, and if any of them seem particularly uncomfortable in the cold, we take them into the barn or blanket them, but so far they have all done well with what nature gave them.
There are many factors that go into the decision to blanket horses in the winter. Some horses don’t develop a thick enough coat because of breeding or age and need to be blanketed. Or if you show horses, you may blanket to keep your horse’s coat slicked out for the show ring. I had an Anglo Arab years ago that grew a pretty pitiful winter coat–if you can even call it that–and he needed a blanket. The horse pictured below was an appaloosa I owned years ago, and he didn’t have any shelter from the cold at the time, so I put a blanket on him.
Right now we have nine horses in our herd, and we only blanket two of them because they are pushing 30 and can’t chew hay like they used to. Another two of our aged horses get blankets if it gets EXTREMELY cold, like almost 0° F cold. Our younger horses do just fine with what God gave them.
Do you have horses? Do you blanket? Why or why not?