A Guide to Horse Turnout Blankets

There are many different types of horse blankets. These include rain sheets, turnout blankets, cooler blankets, quarter sheets, stable blankets, fly sheets, and more. It can be a little overwhelming!

In this blog post, I’m going to talk to you about horse turnout blankets.

Why use horse turnout blankets?


Horse turnout blankets help you to keep your horse safe, warm and healthy during the winters.

Turnout blanket are usually made with heavy, rugged materials. They are waterproof blankets that keep your horse warm during winters, even if it is raining. This means that your horse can go outside (briefly) even during snow, rain or muddy conditions.

Horse turnout blankets come in a variety of different designs and keep your horse warm without prohibiting freedom of movement.

Always keep in mind that a horse blanket is really important for your horse during chilly weather.

Horse turnout blankets

Even if your horse has the thickest coat, they will be needing a blanket during the winters. You can keep your horse safe from the harsh weather conditions by using a turnout blanket. This keeps your horse comfortable, but is also critical for maintaining good health. Horses are really susceptible to changes in temperature, and you really don’t want your horse getting sick!

But choosing horse turnout blankets is not an easy task.

Part of the difficulty is choosing the right size – for that you need to know how to measure a horse for a blanket the right way. But you also need to think carefully about the conditions that you need the blanket for. While buying a turnout blanket for your horse, you will notice that there are many different levels of protection available on the market.

To know what type of turnout horse blanket is suitable for your horse, you should properly assess the living conditions of your horse as well as the climate where you live. If you’re interested, I have a guide on how to choose a horse blanket that’s right for your climate.

Types of turnout blankets


There are different turnout weights available in the market. The turnout weight is the amount of polyfill that is inserted between the two layers of a blanket. Mostly this weight is measured in grams. As the weight of this polyfill increases, the blanket becomes heavier as well as warmer, and vice versa with less polyfill weight.

Here are some of the types of turnout blankets:

Lightweight turnout blankets

As the name suggests, these turnout blankets are lighter in weight as compared to other blankets. Usually, they contain only 100 grams of fill in their center. These blankets are suitable when the weather just starts to change.

These lightweight turnout blankets keep your horse warm but they are not sufficient for colder weather. When the weather starts becoming harsher, you might consider changing this blanket and using another turnout blanket that has more weight.

Medium weight turnout blankets

The second type of turnout blanket is a medium weight turnout blanket. The weight of this blanket is more than the light weight turnout blanket but less than the heavy weight turnout blanket. Most of the time, these blankets contain between 180 grams and 200 grams of poly fill. This is an ideal blanket for weather that is cold, but not too cold.

Most people buy medium weight turnout blankets because they get the most use out of them, particularly in more temperate climates. But if you’re from somewhere that has really long and cold winters (like me in Ontario!) then you may need something heavier duty.

Heavy weight turnout blankets

The third type of turnout blanket is a heavy weight turnout blanket. Usually, it will have between 300 grams and 400 grams of poly fill.

A heavy weight turnout blanket is suitable for extreme cold weather conditions. And I do mean extreme – the level of warmth that this blanket provide can actually be too much for your horse, if it’s not cold enough. You don’t want your horse to overheat and sweat, because that sweat will eventually cool and chill them. So you should really only be using these in the right context.

Turnout sheets

This one other type of turnout blanket: a turnout sheet. Officially they’re not really turnout blankets, because they don’t have any poly fill. This also makes them the lightest of your turnout options.

The purpose of these turnout sheets is to protect your horse from the mud or rain. They’re not designed to provide warmth. This means that these sheets are not suitable for a harsh weather.

But, that said, even a thin waterproof sheet can trap some heat. They shouldn’t be worn in summer for this reason – your horse can get really hot in them!

My recommendation


I can’t really make a foolproof recommendation on turnout blankets without knowing things about your horse and your climate.

What I will say is that generally it’s good to own a couple for different purposes – maybe a medium and a heavy for colder climates, or light and medium for warmer ones.

Do your research and maybe talk to a vet or friends with horses – or feel free to comment below with specifics and I’ll tell you what I think would work!

Happy riding 🙂


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