Am I cruel? No rugs and tipping it down...

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Rosehip

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Well its pouring it down with rain, Ive been mucking out solidly from 7.30 till 1 (I work 2 yards) and then I dog walked and poo picked till now....was so wet I had a shower to warm up!! I feel awful as my girls are out naked, and they dont have much shelter, and yet I have spent the whole morning pampering other peoples horses.
I dont have anywhere to bring my girls in (the landowner hasnt ok'd my shelter going up yet-long story!) and I cant put rugs on them when they are drenched like they are...
I feel so guilty, going to take them their tea up when Ive had a cuppa, dont know if I should take towels and try and dry them best I can, then put waffles and lightweights on....what would you do?

Thanks all x
 
pony is naked

I know he is a fat newforest and fluffy but theres not much shelter and im not used to having a tough little pony i feel SO GUILTY!!!!!Hes happy as larry though :)
 
All of mine are out unrugged and are standing in the middle of the field rather than in the shelters, daft things !. I think we tend to forget that they are actually rugged by nature.

Mine will stay unrugged as they are tough hairy cobs. If we still had the tbs they would wear rugs when it starts to turn chillier.
 
Thank you susie86! At least I have someone to share my guilt! my girls are both natives and pretty wooly (and fairly tubby!!) but I cant help beating myself up about this cold and rain!! Im not used to not having stables or at least some sort of shelter!
Thanks guys!
 
I was feeling guilty earlyer as Horrid is out in the field unrugged.
It's been raining here most of the night and has rained all day to. We have quite strong winds to. :( I went out to chack he was ok earlyer thinking he would be stood under the trees shivering and he was stood in the middle of the field grazing quite happily. :rolleyes: He even came over thinking I was going to take him for a ride :eek: as I walked off he just started to graze again so I just left him to it. :o He is a forest bred forester after all :)
 
Everything else at my yard is out naked! Mostly natives but also a TB! My pony is only rugged because he's been clipped.
 
Hey don't worry they're waterproof! Thats what they do - stand out in the rain with their heads down, tails to the wind. Its just us that think they're miserable because we would be.
 
Thanks All, I do actually feel a bit better now! Looking out the window at the youngsters that livery on the farm (no room for me, but that is another looooong story!!) who have a shelter and huge hedges - all of them are grazing out in the field, and they are TB/WB types so it cant be that bad can it??
 
wow i feel terrible now...i went up yard last night and wa smortified that my boy was out naked!! he will however be in a mw combo today as he was yday morning!! maybe tomorrow if nice he may go to LWcombo but i refuse to have him naked he is a wuss tho and been rugged since mid august!!
 
mines unrugged! he's always the one stood in the middle of the field adamant on eating as much as possible whilst it tips it down around him!! rugs with any filling at all are not touching his back till he's clipped - but he is a hw cob!
 
sure when you get up there your mares will be warm and fine. If however, you are going to beat yourself and feel mean, then by all means pamper them when you get up - there are times when it is better to pander to your own "conscience" rather than what you know is correct. By this I mean, if you are sure deep down your ponies are alright but your heart is telling you are mean then do what you need to keep that niggle quiet!
 
Ours are all still out unrugged. Have to admit though that will probably bring them in for the night tonight instead of leaving them to come and go in and out of their stables and will then get rainsheets on them tomorrow when they are dry. They were okay this morning but getting pretty fed up with all the rain. I want their feet to have a chance to dry off a bit as well so a night off of the ground won't hurt them.
 
I'm a newbie, so sorry I'm not familiar with your horses but from the siggie pic look native type? Sure wouldn't worry about the weather - it may be very wet but certainly down here it's not cold at all! I would just keep reminding myself this is the way nature intended and dismiss any thought of guilt!:)
 
Just been poo-picking, and was worried about my Arabx, as he's not got much shelter where he is now, but when I got there he was eating, happy as Larry, and when I checkled him he was warm as toast. In fact he looked happier than the others who have rugs on!!
 
my little welsh A and TBxconnie are out naked and its rain non stop today. They have been grazing quite happily and have only come into the field shelter to eat some hay. They are both lovely and warm and to be honest I am hoping big mare will loose a little weight in keeping warm. I dont want to start rugging yet as when the sun is out it is lovely and warm and once I start rugging it means about 6 months of rugs!
 
My three are out 2 without rugs youngsters and one with lightweight sheet that her bottom sticks out of and its pelting down but hey they are grazing so hopefully ok
 
What's all this about 'naked'? A horse isn't naked - he has his own very efficient waterproof and warm coat, unless we clip it off of course! Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine :)
 
PoppyAnderson said:
They won't shrink, don't worry! It may be wet but it's certainly pretty mild still.
Click to expand...

Absolutely this!!! My ponies all lived out - I didn't possess a turnout rug - and didn't reduce in size once! They had access to a field shelter (actually, an old greenhouse, from which my father removed every piece of glass, and raised one end, taking hours over the job) and they never once used it, preferring to back up to the hedge instead. You must just be really strict with yourself, and hide your body brush until spring. :)
 
:) Thanks all, Feeling much better now!
I have sweat scraped and put LWs on them as Seri (show pony) was dithering (she needs to, but it tugged my heartstrings!) and Mels (fell) was lame yet again (she has bone spavin in flare up stage, both hocks) so decideed she could do with beng warm! They will have them off tomorrow though if its not raining!
never had this dilema when I was a kid! Pony went out in the field, and if she was wet when I wanted to ride I tied her up in the lambing pens with some hay till she was dry! We're a nation of wusses!! lol!
 
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