Horse Blankets

I don't know if it's something only people with horses notice, but there are a lot of people that have blankets on their horses! I don't mean a literal blanket on a horse of course, (horse of course haha ;D) I mean a horse jacket or coat like this one:

I used to always be one to believe that horses need jackets when it's so cold out because I put myself in their shoes. I thought I sure would be cold if I was out there so I think we should put blankets on. This is what most horse owners believe too.

But if we think about it not too many wild horses have jackets over their natural fur winter coats. Also you don't see too many pictures from years ago with horses with blankets on. 

Horses naturally produce their own body heat by what they eat so feeding more often during the winter will keep them warmer. I feel like many people do not realize this and only feed twice a day and see their horses shivering a bit, so they throw a blanket on them. 

Another reason people blanket is because they believe it will make the horse have less of a winter coat so they can ride and not have a super sweaty horse. I have read that this is not true. That horses will grow their winter coat due to the decreased sunlight whether or not they have a blanket on.

Some people choose to body clip their horses in the winter so they do not get super sweaty. This is were they shave the fur off the places that get sweaty like this:

Then I think that blanketing your horse is appropriate because they are missing that fur. 

Not many of the horses I see blanketed around here are body clipped though so I kind of feel bad these horses have to have these blankets on for 7 months out of the year or sometimes longer. It breaks down their fur too. Their poor fur coat just doesn't look as good as the horses that aren't blanketed.

Oh well, I guess people have to waste their money on something because I am aware of the destruction that the horses love to do to their blankets, as well as their pasture mates.