On 11/1/07, Nancy Sturm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Now tell me again - the majority of you are not blanketing your Icelandics > except in extreme weather ?? If that's correct, what do you consider > extreme?
We get some below zero temps, freezing rains and snow. Even with a hard keeper QH/TB, I have never left a blanket on any of my horses for more than an hour or so. They have access to shelter 3 sided run in type barn 24 X 36 with 3 stalls (one for hay) and two 12 X 12 stalls left open. The QH/TB would sometime be shivering at morning meals. I would put a blanket on him and let him warm up. Once he ate his meal and started eating more hay, especially if he could stand in the sun, he would warm up and the blanket came off. During rain or snow, the horses would be in the barn, but sometimes Gloi would stay out in the rain or snow. The snow stays on his back and doesn't melt so he has plenty of insulation. If its raining, it gets the top of his hair wet on his back, but his belly is dry and if you feel down in his coat, it feels dry. It's almost like water on a duck's back. I have never seen Gloi shiver. He does not get clipped until spring and the worst of snow/freezing rain has past. I do have blankets and coolers for my horses, but never had to use one for Gloi. The problem with blankets left on, is that they mash down the hair and the coat loses it's insulating properties. My understanding is that once you start blanketing a horse in the winter, you have to keep blanketing them because now their own coat won't work as well. Kind of like dressing in layers works better because the air between layers helps to keep you warm. I don't brush my horses a lot in the winter. I never leave them matted with mud. This negates the insulating properties. I will curry the mud out, but I don't brush them excessively. A light layer of dirt on the skin helps protect the skin and also helps with insulating the horse. I keep free choice hay for them in the winter and they do eat more. I can't remember what the ratio is, but I remember figuring that it meant for my 3 horses that I needed to feed 5 lbs more hay per day for every 10 degrees below 20 degrees. The extra hay helps warm them from the inside out. I think it works better than a blanket. I've not had big weight fluctuations (thinner/fatter) using extra hay for warmth. -- Anna Southern Ohio
