Trust the Horse: Study Shows Horses Decide When to Wear Blankets

This episode reviews a 2019 study where 23 horses were trained to use symbols to indicate whether they wanted a blanket put on, left on, or removed. Researchers tested horse choices across a range of temperatures, wind, rain, and seasons to see how weather and individual factors influenced blanket preference. Key findings: horses overwhelmingly chose blankets at very low temperatures (below −10°C/14°F) and tended to reject blankets above about 10°C/50°F, with most preferring no blanket around 20°C/68°F. Wind, precipitation, clipping, age, and individual variation also affected choices. The episode emphasizes observing each horse and adjusting blanketing to weather and the horse’s needs.

You can listen to Trust the Horse: Study Shows Horses Decide When to Wear Blankets online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Trust the Horse: Study Shows Horses Decide When to Wear Blankets is an episode from Conversations in Equine Science by Nancy McLean.

This episode is 28:40 long.

This episode was published on Jan 7, 2026.

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