Horze Avalanche Heavyweight Combo Winter Blanket – 350 grams

For about a year, I had been searching for a really secure heavyweight winter blanket with a hood to save me from double blanketing on those bitterly cold nights. During my search, I observed something I personally consider a design flaw in many blanket-with-hood combos; hoods that are not fitted to the horse’s neck. Often, they are very open, appearing to be more of a shell against the elements than a source of warmth. Most blankets also have that gap between the bottom of the hood and the chest of the blanket. This is where the cold air is able to get into the hood and inside the blanket. I never understood why winter blanket hoods do not come fitted, as well as secured to the chest of the blanket to prevent a draft.

I saw the Horze Avalanche Heavyweight Combo Winter Blanket – 350 grams and I thought I died and gone to heaven. Myself being a huge fan of Horze products, I won’t even pretend to deny it. So I when I saw this blanket, I knew it had to be a winner. The blanket is the exact design I had been looking for; head to tail, and it came in a nice heavy weight for those dreaded winter days and nights.

First Impression

First off, this blanket came in a really awesome bag. It is a giant drawstring sack which I now use to hold all of my cavalettis, its the perfect size! I am a sucker for great packaging, especially if it is reusable. 

I ordered this blanket in a 75 as that is my mare’s standard size. There are several colour options such as navy, teal and forest green. I decided to choose black with blue trim. The inside of the blanket is made of a slippery material covered in the Horze logo. The fabric (1200 Denier) feels really well made, and cushioned with a 350-gram fill. It comes with leg straps and thin tail strap. The front of the blanket is secured with Horze’s classic hook and loop T buckles and velcro over top. The cross surcingles are attached with elastic on the one side, which I have never experienced before in any of my other blankets. 

Fit and Feel

I purchased the standard 75 and honestly I think she might have been able to fit a 72. While the blanket is not overly large, it does fit well in width, but it does have a bit of extra length in the body. Not to mention, it has the largest tail flap I have ever seen in my life. They did design the tail flap to be larger to protect against the elements but honestly, who’s horse has a butt that big and a body that small?

I have not noticed any sort of rub marks or tight spots on this blanket in the duration she has worn it. It fits really nicely in the withers, and is not restrictive to her chest or shoulders. The materiel inside the blanket is a slippery type of materiel (still don’t know what its made of) which I have come to really love in my hoods as it keeps the mane flat and smooth, because it cant tangle against the fabric. The only issue with that kind of material is that it really shows the dirt and dust! The blanket itself reminds me of a big comforter. You can feel the padding throughout the blanket and it is definitely believable that it is a 350 gram fill.

I love this blanket. The hood on it is perfect and makes a huge difference in the warmth of your horse. It completely covers the chest so no cold air can to go into the blanket or up the neck. The hood fits nice and snug, stretching all the way to the top of her ears and it does not fall down her neck. It has a loop for your halter to keep it up the neck, but I honestly don’t think you would need it because it holds great form on its own.

The hood is not detachable, and I think that contributes to the warmth of the blanket. While detachable hoods are really convenient, a lot of cold air can come in through the gaps between the hood and the blanket, making for a colder horse. I really love that this is all in one, and not separate, more warmth and less pieces to worry about.

Something I do find odd about the hood is how it velcros together. While the velcro on the chest is horizontal, the velcro on the hood is vertical. I think it is because then you can adjust where the hood sits against the chest easier, but it makes it so only part of the velcro attaches and not the full length. I personally would have done a larger piece of velcro on the hood, so you can adjust the position better but still have the whole horizontal piece of velcro attach.

Overall, the blanket is very well made. Really good stitching, lots of reinforcements and the hardware seems really secure. The front closure of the blanket is T-buckles reinforced with a large piece of velcro labelled ‘Avalanche’. I am assuming it was designed for those horses that just get caught up and undone easily. I personally prefer a clip front over T-buckles but that is just because I find the T-buckle closure a little awkward to manage, especially in the cold. Clips are nice and easy! Though this combination of velcro and T-buckles seems to come standard for most Horze blankets, I believe it was designed to be very secure to avoid any accidental undressing ;D.

Now the most important question, does it keep her warm? The answer I can proudly say is YES! I have used this blanket in -15 to -20 weather and she has still been very toasty. I do think any colder and I might have to add a layer, but I blame that on the hind end of the blanket being so large on her, I think it might let in a draft. The blanket also seems quite waterproof. While I haven’t been able to test it against a crazy dump of snow yet I have no doubt it has some good water resistance because of the quality of the blanket and the material.

Final Thoughts

This is an awesome blanket. If you are looking for something head-to-toe to really hold up against the elements as well as wear-and-tear, I would highly recommend.  I would suggest possibly sizing down if you have a smaller horse that might be in between sizes. This blanket has so many extra little things that just really signify its quality, such as elastic, strong velcro, and reinforcements. It really makes me more confident that this blanket will last me forever. I found this blanket on sale for $200 CAD, which I think is really reasonable for such a good brand and of such good quality. This is a really awesome design, and I hope other brands follow suit.

Always get back on,

Love Tess

*The opinions shared in this blog are of my own, and not a reflection of the company or its current and future products