Anyone else leave their horses naked last night?

Balibee said:
People shoudln't be made to feel guilty or that they are a bad horse owner because they have put a rug on in august or september.

The same goes for people who don't rug at all and people say "that's cruel, they should be in a rug" that's wrong too. People should be free to make their own decisions and not be made to feel guilty.
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^Well said.^

I don't want to judge people if they do or don't rug, just the same a i don't want to feel like I'm not doing the best for horse just because i bring mine in every night and rug up...regardless of the time of year.

QUOTE=Boogles] - Makes me chuckle when people WON'T rug just because it's Sept / Oct / Nov....The horses don't know what month it is and if they are cold they are cold!
Fair enough if the horse is warm then it WOULD be stupid to rug up but if my horses are cold in Aug/ Sept then I will rug them up.
As said above I do not have money to throw at vets because my horse needs to "man up"[/QUOTE]

Another good and reasoned view.
 
Dobby said:
Just because you are cold doesn't mean your horse will be - they are covered in a rather effective, specially designed fur coat already!
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my lots fur jackets are defective apparently!

already had the "gosh, you rug your sec a up???". um, yes i do, and its your business because?
 
Dobby said:
Just because you are cold doesn't mean your horse will be - they are covered in a rather effective, specially designed fur coat already!
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Hence why I rug when my HORSES are cold .....I.e cold base of ears, armpits, inbetween back legs.

I think most know their horses well enough to know when they are cold.....well......one would hope so !
 
Yep, both mine were. My tb was fine, she only gets cold when it is wet so has a rain sheet on then. When she is cold, I'll rug accordingly.

My cob yearling will remain naked for the whole winter, unless we have some really bad weather and she gets cold.
 
I had to, we're all going on holiday for two weeks next week and I dont want to leave my mother in law with putting three rugs on all the time.
I chucked some hay out though.
 
Got to the yard today and my warmblood 4yo who was in overnight with a summer sheet on was shivering and his fur was standing on end. So he had a stable rug on tonight. I rug according to my horses needs, not to fashion.
 
I have a 16hh Warmblood eventer who is unrugged at the moment. Has worn a lw at night twice this month when it's been really wet, but seems fine naked, if not a little hairy mammoth like. Will clip next week, then use a lw. Most I've ever rugged him is a 150gm liner and a 350gram hw combo and that was in the prolonged snow. He survived the winter and didn't loose any weight...
 
Last 2 winters my lad has been out 24/7 and unrugged all winter. He went into winter with a good layer of fat, grew a thick coat, and I didn't worry. Thus year, due to grazing problems, he is very light, and I don't want him to drop any weight. The forecast for Friday night here was 4 degrees, now that is cold for September, and his coat isn't as woolly as it could be, so I rugged. The last 2 nights have been much milder, so I haven't. It's about knowing your horse and the situation.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
. theres a pic somewhere on this thread of a clipped horse in a MW rug and IMHO its coat looks very dull and standing up, and thus cold.
.
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if you mean the beautiful black horse, then i think we must be seeing a different horse. IMHO he looks in great condition and his coat is lovely and glossy. who do you think you are to make a judgement on one picture of a horse you have never met? IMHO i think you should think about what you are typing before you potentially upset someone. btw- how can you tell what its coat look like if its wearing a rug... and personally if said horse perhaps ahd weight issues, it would be good to perhaps get some weight off? you dont know the circumstances and anyway, like i said he looks absoloutly fine to me! god i must be very cruel, my welsh section a went out without a rug all last winter because he was fat, and shock horror, may have got a teeny bit cold at one point!
but ignore me. you clearly know all......
 
Mine are not rugged, i have 3 new forest ponies, 4 year old i have had since a foal and to be fair, he hates the wind and rain and has always ended up with a rug on, he is a very good doer though and has lots of weight to shiver off, 16 month old would be traumatised if i approached him with a rug, 14 year old mare has been wild on the forest all her life until she somehow ended up at melton market, she too would be traumatised with a rug on. I normally stable at night but this year things are different, i am going to leave out. I have a huge field shelter, 5 acres and natural shelter around the perimeter so think they would be ok, i do have 3 stables in case the aren't coping. Like someone said, every horse has different needs. All 3 of mine have lived in the wild and can cope x
 
Oh, and my other boy, who is a hardier type (knabstrupper) only has a rug on if it snows. He's not clipped, has a coat like a bear and he's managed for all of the years he's lived with me, and always seems perfectly cheerful, grazing out in the open, even if it's blowing a gale.
 
I have rain sheets on mine this time of the year and I find just keeping them dry and the wind off them is enough, I resist putting on their proper winter rugs at the moment as its going to get a hell of a lot colder and they wont feel the full benefit of them when they really need them.
My horses are in Scotland, and the nights can drop to very low temperatures, even as early as October.
Its been really wet here for the past week so all of mine have had their rain sheets permantely on for a week or so now, they dont overheat in them during the warmer hours as they aren't filled.
It can be real trick this time of year, its all about knowing your horse x
 
I rug mine because she is the coldest horse wver. I have seen her shiver with chattering teet and miserableif she gets wet even in 18 degrees or so. I rug according to what my horse needs as nobody knows her like i do. I do have a range of rugs to cover whatever the weather so rug accordingly. I don't get the ones who have 6 rugs on their horses. It must be so uncomfortable. Imagine wearing 6 jackets!
The most she had on last year when it got to -15 was a fleece underneath her 450g with neck. She also wears stable chaps as she has a bit of arthritis and prone to filling up.

Why are horse people such know it alls. I have been criticized for feeding too much, putting a rain sheet on in summer overnight when it is going to rain. It has always been from owners of natives. They just don't seem to get that a native and a tb are completely different.
Tonight she is in a lightweight stable with her chaps on the hinds. She was in a heavier one a few nights ago as it got down to about 4 deg.
My horse, my rugs, my choice!

As for that pic, i couldn't see if his coat was standing up or not, he doesn't look miserable to me.
 
i hate over rugging as in horses sweating underneath but my comp horses are rugged and in every night and rugged most days. they are not too hot, they're still in lightweights apart from the major wuss who's in a m/w. I have my reasons for rugging, my horses are happy and very healthy. They don't have to wear hundreds of rugs in the winter to stay warm. My sec a is naked until mid winter when it gets really nasty when he'll have his little m/w on which last year he looked very grateful for. I understand how horses naturally live but how many horses are naturally bred and raised now? If i had a lovely hairy native i probably wouldn't rug so quickly but i have wimpy wbs. I think it's so unfair to bash those rugging already when the full story isn't known. Btw i know this thread is old but i can't sleep and started to feel guilty for doing the best for my horses after reading some of the posts here.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
ok, this is like the yearly argument, so ill trot out my reasoning.....no snobbery intended BTW....mine (not so much mums, but def mine)is a competition horse with a job to do, he works hard 5 days a week and come shows is expected to give me 150%, i very much hope he will be a GP horse.
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So what level is the Shetland working at then?;)
 
It very much depends on the individual horse, my two competition horses (medium and novice) are both rugged up albeit in lightweights, If the temperature continues to drop I will put middleweights on them this week. The other two, a 31yo and a 2yo live out, on good grass, they are wearing lightweights (since Saturday :) ).

Natives really don't need rugging unless they are clipped, or the weather really takes a turn but what someone does with their own horses is their own business surely?
 
My 29 year old pony has a rain sheet on now at night.
My cob won't be rugged at all, They both live out 24/7 (with a field shelter)
My cob coped brilliantly in the snow and everything last year with no rug!!! :D
 
SirenaXVI said:
Natives really don't need rugging unless they are clipped, or the weather really takes a turn but what someone does with their own horses is their own business surely?
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my sec a is rugged every winter, apart from the fact shes just had a virus and the vet doesnt want her to get wet and cold, she cant live in as she has COPD.

it depends on the pony, where they live etc, she gets rain scald and also is very fine, she doesnt grow a winter coat as such so is rugged.
 
ok my dales gelding was hunter clipped last sunday and is living out 24/7 with nothing but a fly sheet on he seems to be maintaining weight and also has warm as toast ears when the temp drops below 10 degrees all through the day as well as night i will think about a lightweight
 
good detective work (or should that be stalking) as previously mentioned on this forum-if allowed to grow a full coat, the shetland sweats up on the lorry and then cant dry and gets a chill. rugs=less coat=no sweating=healthy pony.

or i could clip him, but i can only imagine the uproar on here!
 
Yes, they are living out and are getting fluffy coats, are only six, in good health and the correct weight.

I try to leave them without rugs until end of October unless it turns very wet in which case they have no fill t/o rugs on.

That said, I am clipping Stinky out first weekend in October as he needs to have a show coat for the TGCA finals at the end of October and he will be wearing a LW and if it goes very chilly, a MW rug at night as he will still be out.
 
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