Anyone else actually rugging LESS this year?

Sol

Sol

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As above really!

After reading lots of rugging posts on here I decided I'd be less enthusiastic with the rugs and Dante doesn't seem to be suffering for it, even the nights where it's gone down to -10 ish and he's had 'just' his Weatherbeeta and a cotton sheet on (compared to last December/January, that's nothing :p)

All I've been doing is making sure he has plenty of hay throughout the day and night. His two 'hard feeds' are more or less only chaff, with a cup of balancer and an apple! (no sugarbeet this year, much less fuss)
To be fair, he is almost out of work, and does have a bit more fluff having not been clipped since late Oct. but I'm pleased with how he's coping.
 
Yes we haven't used any HW rugs this year, only MW's with a maximum fill of 200g, some wearing less than that. All live out 24/7.
 
Yes, but only because I've chosen not to clip this year. Last year my horse had three duvets, this year only 2 at night and one in the day. He's toasty. :)
 
My mare is still feeding her foal so isnt rugged at all unlike previously when top of the range HW and it has been down to -20 here in Aberdeenshire. She is really toasty and happy.
 
scarymare said:
My mare is still feeding her foal so isnt rugged at all unlike previously when top of the range HW and it has been down to -20 here in Aberdeenshire. She is really toasty and happy.
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My mare is also feeding her foal and it,s the first year I have never rugged her, and if I am honest she seems to be more happy this winter than ever. I always thought she just got grumpy in winter and now have realised that rugs are really not required, she has not dropped any weight and her coat looks fab and she is nearly 22.
 
Yep my hardy ISHY baby is in a rain coat in the day and lightweight fleece at night, and still came in quite warm last night, she has a nice belly on her and is on haylage, and two small feeds a day! love ISHYs!!
 
Glad to know I'm not the only one :D Also means that if Dan does start to get colder (especially as I might yet clip him again late January) I actually have some extra rugs. Must be nice for them to actually be able to move a bit too! :)
 
Mine is unrugged this year compared to MW last year, just because now he is basically out of work, between one and 3 easy rides a week where last year he was semi-fit :)
 
My cob is out naked - her clip was due to be done again but due to weather it's not happened - no chance of riding here. She was sweating in a rainsheet at -8 the other day do has been naked since and is perfectly happy:) My WB is in mw and find to:) if my horses feel 'toasty' when I feel under their rugs they are too hot and they go down a rug - better for them to have ad lib hay than be too hot.:)
 
I've got two ponies living out naked. I'm amazed at myself cos normally I rug for England! They have got fantastic coats and have frost on their manes in the mornings, so can't be losing too much heat.
My mare who has a foal at foot is rugged as she hates being cold and gets really miserable. The foal wears a rug at night as I think its good for him to have it put on and off, its only a sheet though.
 
I'm rugging less.

a few reasons....
i think its going to get a whole load colder hence they are still either naked, in LWs or MWs (depending on their type, age, breed etc).
plus i lost my lovely ISH mare partly due to a rug hence have kinda fallen out with rugs.
 
Yes because I am trying to keep my lad slim. Normally he has a mw all winter but this year he is naked unless it is colder than minus 5 or due to rain/snow. He has been fine even at minus 17! Saying that, he still seems to have crept a bit of weight on through lack of riding with all this snow and ice!
 
I also am normally mine are all in h/w by now, but have the tb's in l/w and the ISH naked, and they all seem happier and keeping condition better.
Think the fact that it is only cold, the wind and the rain hit them harder
 
Yep mine has less rugs on this winter - to stop him piling on pounds due to no riding cos of snow and ice. Just eating hay and chaff with vits/mins so I can't feed him any less!!!!
He has learned to dig through a foot of snow to get the grass so I'm not even putting hay in the field. He is happy as larry though!!! He much prefers snow to mud.
 
my horses are unridden and unrugged and in amazing condition. fat and happy. i have 7 barefoot polo ponies who dont work over winter bar the odd hack, and they are out unrugged 99% of winter with shelter of hedges - all coats long and hairy. 2 are from Chile, 2 are from argentina, 1 is from New Zealand and 2 are irish TB's. at moment they look like woolly mammoths. i will bring them in if its chucking it down, as cold and wind dont effect a horse as much as cold and rain. and i dont want to get rain scald. i rugged them all the night a foot of snow came down, only due to my worry - i know they would rather be rugless. i feed them 1/4 scoop warm sugar beet, 1/4 scoop at grass mix, half scoop mchop, plus garlic, biotin, cod liver oil and limestone flour (we're on clay). Every other day or so i dump a big square hay bale in field, they also graze in 20 acres of paddocks which due to weather are very churned and muddy and full of crap. clay soil is a nightmare. boggy in winter concrete in summer. they also get 2 or 3 big blue horselyx in field which they love. they'e expensive but keep them amused and bump up nutrition as grass so crap:p.
 
yes by this time last year she had a stable rug, medium and heavy all on her! This year she's just out in the heavy and soon to go back to medium weight. Same as last year she lives out 24/7 with a full clip. However I have moved her yards with better grazing and natural shelter.
 
mmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! only because of 1 reason..

was gonna clip sooner .. (2 weeks ago)
the snow and ice came came...
no point in clipping...
still havnt clipped!...
but does have a m/h weight on atm!
 
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