Blanketing and Stumbling

["Carolyn Burgess" <carolyn_burgess@hotmail.com>]

I live in Massachusetts, where it can get down to -20 F overnight and where 
we can have daytime temps of 0 F.  All three of my four horses do not have 
blankets (I don't count rain sheets as blankets - which I have and use).  
The Paint and two Standardbreds don't need blankets, even though one of the 
Standardbreds is elderly and has Cushings, she gets a very woooly coat.  The 
only one who was blanketed last season for the first time in his 18 years 
was the grey Arabian.  He did not need a blanket prior to this, but I guess 
he just can't tolerate the cold any more.  We won't blanket him until he 
grows his wooly winter coat and appears to be cold.  If I were to clip any 
of my horses, they would be blanketed and I wouldn't work them without a 
rump cover, either.

About stumbling.  My elderly Standardbred would stumble when I rode her and 
I always told her to "watch your feet", when we came upon ground that I 
thought would cause her to stumble.  This almost stopped the stumbling, and 
I say this to my other two horses out of habit.

Carolyn Burgess

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