OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2021

20 OklahomaHorses • November/December 2021 Lindsay Bippus Real Estate Broker / Owner 12342 E. 86th St. N. | Owasso 74055 (918) 706-3857 dreammakerrealtyok.com Looking to buy or sell a horse property in the greater Owasso area? Hand the reins to Lindsay Bippus at DreamMaker Realty, Owasso’s equine property specialist! “I started putting a blanket on my rope horse because he was using a lot of calories during practice, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t burning any extra to keep himself warm,” Larrabee said. “When it does get cold in central Oklahoma, it’s damp and that can add an extra element to the cold factor.” TO BLANKET OR NOT “I think the most common mistake owners can make is thinking that our animals are cold just because we are,” Larrabee said. “The thermoregulation zone for a horse is much lower than a human. We might be cold when it’s 50 degrees, but it’s still an ideal temperature for a horse with a nice coat.” One of Larrabee’s main take-home points is that each horse needs to be treated indi- vidually when making a blanketing deci- sion. One horse might be just fine without a blanket, while the next is showing signs of being cold by visibly shivering. Nutrition can play a big role in the need for a blanket. Because dropping below the lower critical temperature burns more calories, it should be intuitive that adding more quality feed can help a horse maintain its core body temperature. “It’s important to keep horses well fed through the colder months because they produce heat through digestion,” Larrabee said. “If your horse is a hard keeper, you might need to provide more opportunities for them to eat more to help maintain their body condition and generate heat.” Providing quality forage should be the default when looking to improve body condition and generate heat. Grain sources should typically remain constant, as they need to supplement what’s lacking in the roughage rather than serve as the main feed source. A study at the University of Wiscon- sin observed two groups of horses: One group was blanketed and the other was not through the winter. Each group ate the same free-choice forage and experienced the same environment. The study concluded that horses with blankets voluntarily ate 8% less than those without a blanket. It’s important to remember that winters in Wisconsin are significantly colder, on average, than in Oklahoma. And owners need to know that based on this study, sim- ply keeping a blanket on a horse full-time, regardless of the changing environment, is not the answer for feeding less hay if they are blanketed. A DAILY DECISION Larrabee stressed the importance of making blanketing decisions an everyday task. She also encouraged horse owners to devise a plan for putting blankets on and tak- ing them off depending on the changing weather conditions. “I’ve seen a lot of horses who had their blankets left on all day when it was too hot for that,” Larrabee said. “Temperatures can drop below freezing at night and then get well above 41 degrees during the day in Oklahoma. It’s important to keep horses warm, but we also want to make sure they don’t get too hot either. When they are going through that extreme swing between hot and cold, it can cause sickness.” This is important for horse owners to remember when they’re exercising through the colder months. Putting a sweaty horse in a blanket without a proper cool-down can be just as bad as putting them out in the cold without a blanket. “Once you put a wet horse in a dry blanket, that blanket soaks up the sweat and then the cold air can hit that blanket and make your horse work pretty hard to keep themselves warm,” Larrabee said. “You want to make sure you cool them off com- pletely, so they’re dry before ever putting a blanket back on.” One suggestion for cooling a hot horse off in the winter is using a cooler. This can help them cool off by wicking away moisture and trapping heat, so they don’t catch a chill. “Coolers will slow down the cool-off pro- cess, but that’s better overall for the health of your horse,” Larrabee said. “It’s better to let them adjust slowly to the outside temperatures while drying so that it’s not a shock to their system when you put them back out in the elements.” Choosing the right blanket for your horse and the environment they live in can be just as daunting as deciding if you should put a blanket on or not. SmartPak Equine has done the legwork for you when it comes to researching all your options. Visit smartpakequine.com/content/horse- blanket-guide for a complete breakdown about what blanket will be right for your horse.