What temperature should I blanket my horse?

There is no single number. An unclipped, healthy horse with shelter rarely needs one until temperatures fall below about 20°F, or colder if it's dry and calm. A clipped horse needs one from about 50°F down. Rain and wind change the answer more than temperature does.

Is it bad to blanket a horse that doesn't need it?

It can be. An over-blanketed horse sweats, and the damp hair underneath then chills it once the day cools. Blanketing also flattens the coat and can make the horse less able to keep itself warm on its own.

How do I know if my horse is too hot under its blanket?

Slide your hand under the blanket at the withers and behind the shoulder. Damp or sweaty hair means it's too warm. A horse that's too hot may also breathe faster and look restless.

Should I put a blanket on a wet horse?

Not a regular blanket. Dry the horse first, or use a breathable cooler that wicks moisture away until the coat is dry. A blanket over a soaked coat traps the water against the skin.

How many blankets does one horse need?

Most clipped horses do well with a turnout sheet, a mediumweight and either a heavyweight or a liner. Unclipped horses that need a blanket at all often get by with a sheet and one lightweight or mediumweight.

Horse Blanketing Guide: When to Blanket, Which Weight, and How to Measure

By Gayle Woods Editors Updated November 11, 2026 7 min read

Every fall, horse owners split into two camps: the ones who blanket at the first cold night and the ones who never blanket at all. Both can be right for a particular horse, and both can be wrong. Whether a horse needs a blanket depends on its coat, its body condition, its shelter and the weather, not on how cold the person standing at the gate feels.

This guide explains how a horse keeps warm on its own, which horses need help, and how to pick and fit a blanket that does the job without causing new problems.

How a horse keeps itself warm

A horse in a full winter coat is wearing very good insulation. When it's cold, tiny muscles raise each hair, and the fluffed coat traps a layer of still air against the skin. Snow lying on the back of a horse without melting is a good sign: it means little heat is escaping.

The other heater is the gut. Bacteria in the hindgut ferment hay and give off heat while they do it. That is why hay, not grain, is the best thing to feed on a cold night. A horse burning through extra hay is warming itself from the inside.

Horses are comfortable across a wide range of temperatures. Researchers put the lower limit for an adult horse with a full winter coat at around 18°F. Below that, the horse starts spending extra energy to stay warm. For a horse with a short summer coat or a clipped coat, the line is much higher, around 40°F to 50°F.

The coat stops working in two situations:

When it's wet. Rain flattens the hair and soaks through to the skin, and a wet coat has almost no insulating value. Cold rain at 35°F is harder on a horse than dry snow at 10°F.
When it's windy. Wind strips away the trapped layer of warm air. A run-in shed or a windbreak matters more than most blankets.

Which horses actually need a blanket

A blanket replaces protection the horse doesn't have. Blanket these horses:

Clipped horses. If you removed the winter coat so a horse in work dries faster, you took away its insulation, and a blanket has to replace it.
Seniors and hard keepers. An older or thin horse has less body fat to burn and may not grow a good coat. Spending calories on warmth makes weight loss worse.
Horses without shelter in wet, windy weather. A waterproof turnout sheet can make the difference on a freezing rain day.
Horses moved from a warm climate. A horse shipped from Florida to Michigan in November hasn't grown a coat for the new weather.
Sick, injured or very young horses, on your vet's advice.

Healthy, unclipped horses with good body condition, free-choice hay and a place out of the wind usually don't need a blanket. Many do better without one, because they can regulate their own temperature as the day warms up.

A horse that is cold will usually tell you. Look for shivering, a tucked-up stance with the tail clamped, and huddling against a fence or other horses. Don't judge by ears or legs; they are naturally cool.

Blanket weights and when to use them

Blanket weight refers to the amount of fill, measured in grams. More fill means more warmth.

Type	Fill	What it's for
Sheet	0 g	Waterproof shell for wind and rain, no warmth added
Lightweight	50–150 g	Cool, wet days; slightly clipped horses
Mediumweight	180–250 g	The everyday winter blanket for clipped or thin horses
Heavyweight	300–400 g	Bitter cold for clipped horses, seniors without shelter

Use this chart as a starting point, not a rule. Adjust for your horse's coat, age, weight and whether it has shelter.

Temperature	Unclipped horse	Clipped horse
Above 50°F	Nothing	Nothing or a sheet
40–50°F	Nothing	Sheet or lightweight
30–40°F	Nothing, or a sheet in rain	Lightweight or mediumweight
20–30°F	Sheet or lightweight if wet or thin	Mediumweight
Below 20°F	Lightweight or mediumweight	Heavyweight, or medium with a liner

Big daytime swings are the hard part. A horse that is comfortable at 15°F at dawn may be sweating in a heavyweight blanket at 45°F by mid-afternoon. If you can't change blankets during the day, choose for the warmer part of the day and give extra hay at night. A liner system lets you add or remove a layer without buying a second blanket.

How to measure your horse for a blanket

US blanket sizes are given in inches, and the measurement is simple.

Stand the horse square on level ground.
Run a soft tape from the center of the chest, where the neck meets the chest, along the side of the body to the point of the buttock, the rearmost point of the hindquarters.
Keep the tape level and snug against the barrel. A second person helps.
The number in inches is the blanket size. A horse that measures 77 inches takes a 78, because sizes usually come in 2-inch steps. When you're between sizes, round up.

Sizes vary by brand and cut. A broad-chested Quarter Horse and a narrow Thoroughbred may measure the same but need different cuts. Check the brand's chart and look for words like "wide," "high neck" or "draft" in the product name.

Getting the fit right

A blanket that fits sits still when the horse moves and leaves no rubbed spots. Check these points the first time it goes on:

Withers and shoulders. The front should sit just in front of the withers without pressing on them, and the shoulders should move freely. Rubbing at the shoulders is the most common fit problem; a shoulder guard helps.
Chest. You should fit a hand flat between the chest straps and the horse. Too tight and it rubs; too loose and it slides back.
Length. The back edge should reach the top of the tail, and the tail flap should cover the tail head.
Belly straps. Adjust the surcingles so a flat hand fits between strap and belly. A loose strap can catch a hoof when the horse rolls.
Leg straps. Loop each strap through the other between the hind legs so they don't rub the inside of the thigh, and leave a hand's width of slack.

Watch the horse walk and trot in the blanket, then watch it lie down and roll if you can. A blanket that slips to one side after a roll is too big or too loose.

Daily blanket care

The biggest risks of blanketing come from not looking underneath.

Check under the blanket every day. Slide a hand under the front at the withers and along the shoulder. Damp hair means the horse is too warm. Cold, wet hair means the shell has leaked.
Watch body condition. A blanket can hide weight loss for weeks. Run your hands over the ribs and topline each week.
Take it off sometimes. Remove the blanket on mild days so the skin breathes and you can groom away scurf and look for rubs and rain rot.
Keep it waterproof. Turnout blankets lose their waterproofing over time. Wash them with a cleaner made for blankets, then restore the coating with a waterproofing spray.
Repair small tears early. A small rip in the shell lets water in and gets bigger every time the horse rolls.

When you're shopping, the "denier" rating describes how tough the outer fabric is. A horse that plays rough in turnout needs a 1200-denier or tougher shell; a quiet horse in a small paddock can get by with less. Compare our picks for turnout blankets and turnout sheets. After a winter ride, a wool or fleece cooler wicks sweat off a clipped horse before you put its blanket back on.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

: There is no single number. An unclipped, healthy horse with shelter rarely needs one until temperatures fall below about 20°F, or colder if it's dry and calm. A clipped horse needs one from about 50°F down. Rain and wind change the answer more than temperature does.
: It can be. An over-blanketed horse sweats, and the damp hair underneath then chills it once the day cools. Blanketing also flattens the coat and can make the horse less able to keep itself warm on its own.
: Slide your hand under the blanket at the withers and behind the shoulder. Damp or sweaty hair means it's too warm. A horse that's too hot may also breathe faster and look restless.
: Not a regular blanket. Dry the horse first, or use a breathable cooler that wicks moisture away until the coat is dry. A blanket over a soaked coat traps the water against the skin.
: Most clipped horses do well with a turnout sheet, a mediumweight and either a heavyweight or a liner. Unclipped horses that need a blanket at all often get by with a sheet and one lightweight or mediumweight.