Are my horses freaks?

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Annagain

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Tonight, as ever, I brought the horses in and gave them a good check over. As usual I checked that they were warm enough and as ever (even in this weather) they were both toasty. Nothing unsual there except that they are both clipped (Archie trace, Monty blanket) 17hh ID crosses (Arch ID x cob, Mont 1/2 ID, 1/4 TB, 1/4 Sec D) who are only in mediumweight turnouts. (Yes I commit the sin of not changing rugs, it's easier as a friend thurns them out).

I have plenty of rugs and would be more than happy to put another one on if they needed it, but they're both not just warm but hot at 7pm when they come in and 7am when they go out and are keeping weight on really well (in fact they could both do with losing a bit, especially Monty
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All the others on the yard are layered up under heavyweights. Most of them are of similar breeding other than 1 TB who is probably the least well rugged of the lot. Apart from one who really loses weight in winter, they all do very well. Are their owners overrugging or are my boys freaks?
 
No, not freaks at all. I think a lot of people over-rug their horses. Before anybody pounces on me for saying this, yes some horses do need lots of rugs on, I understand that. The old, ill, or just freakily cold horses might a couple of heavyweights. But a lot of horses don't need the ammount they have on. My boy is unclipped, but not a lot of hair, in a lightweight, and is as happy as larry, nice and warm and toasty.
 
If yours are then so is mine, Pidge is ISH fully clipped and very nice thank you very much in a 200g rug. He was in the same rug when it hit -11.5 last year and was plenty warm enough. If he's too hot he tells me by destroying the front of his rugs
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I reckon horses are like humans with this- some are hotter than others! My sister is a 'cold' person who wraps up well and still shivers even when everyone else is beginning to shed their coats whereas my brother happily wonders round in a t-shirt in the snow!
 
Over rugging will always make a horse more uncomfortable than under rugging. I always prefer to leave them moderately warm and with lots of forage, than feeling "toasty"
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Nice to see people share my views. I'm particularly bothered by an obese IDxTB who is fully clipped despite hacking for an hour once a week at most and has a heavyweight stable rug under a mediumweight turnout. I often bring him in and he is boiling. Even if he wasn't, shivering a bit of weight off wouldn't do him any harm. He looks very smart though with all his whiskers and feathers clipped off
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My lad wears a mediumweight and a heavyweight on top during the day,and has his 200gram quilt put on top at night
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,he is warm out in the field,and warm in a morning when i see him after a night in the stable,so he benefits from the extra layer at night
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(no he isnt sweating and desperate to itch,and looks bloody well in his coat
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I Will never and Never have judged people with regards to how they rug their horses,they are all different as we are
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Sorry but Cappy is in his extra heavy stable rug. He is toasty but not sweating and he does not like being cold. He will let you know by banging his door. I think like people, horses differ, Fany does not really feel the cold and basically just has a fairly light stable rug on (only because she has been poorly) but Cappy does feel the cold and he certainly loses weight when it gets cold. So differ strokes for different folks!
 
I agree with you, but do think that some people just rug for the sake of it because they think the horse is going to be cold without really considering whether they need it or not, just because they see others doing it. I know they do it out of love and with the best of intentions. I sometimes feel guilty that my boys aren't in as many layers as the others until my sensible side takes over and tells me they really don't need them.
 
depends on horse, and what stabling.
mines in an open barn and has a medium turnout and then 2 stable rugs, but changing to one thick one as buying a new one. the wind whips through the barn so gets very cold and he is fully clipped, and these rugs keep him warm, but not hot.
totally depends on the horse tbh!
 
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Gimley's fully clipped, he had a cotton sheet on with a HW, but now temp dropped he has got another MW on too. Your horses are hard nuts not freaks
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Ha ha if only, Archie in particular is far more Billy Mitchell than Grant or Phil. One day when a new horse got turned out with them we stayed in the field to keep an eye on them. As all the others galloped about and jostled for position in the herd, Arch hid behind me with his head on my shoulder and resumed his bottom of the pile position at the edge of the herd once they'd settled down.

Monty acts the hard man but only if the two field leaders are nowhere in sight and there's no human close enough to tell him off for bullying the others.
 
My old TBX used to be fully clipped and I never put more than 200g on him and he was always warm. If he needed it I would have put more on but I think you need to go by the individual. I do worry a bit when I see horses with two heavyweight rugs on . Eek. My appaloosa x welsh is like a yak however and insists on having his pjamas on and glares at me when I take them off during the day (on box rest). Wimp.
 
Ours are living out 24/7. We did put them in HW's when the weather broke and they were too hot. So they are in MW's (200g) and are absolutely fine.

They've got ad lib hay in the field and that's what's keeping them warm.
 
With Scooby, I would far rather under-rug than over-rug him because when he's too warm he gets really itchy and rubs his bum raw.
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I had him in a MW when the cold snap started, but he was still itching, so I've switched him to a LW and he's happy now.
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He'd probably survive going naked, but I'm a bit too soft to go that far...
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He's lost loads of weight since being rugged properly too - I think a big reason for his obesity at his old home was because he was constantly over-rugged (he was wearing a MW in summer! He's a big fat hairy cob! ) so he never got a chance to burn calories keeping warm. Now he's so slim and gorgeous, it's wonderful.
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Many horses do need the rugs their owners put on them though - if we're going to breed horses for performance rather than hardiness, we've got to accept the fact that they might need a bit of help dealing with the weather.
 
I think it totally depends on the horse as well, but IMO too many people do over-rug their horses. I dont think a horse needs to be really "cosy" feeling underneath. IMO they should just be quite warm underneath. Mine live out 24/7. My woosy TB x isnt clipped yet, he's in a medium weight full neck. Even when he's clipped in the winter, he's just in a heavyweight with no other rugs. With outdoor horses, they get themselves warm wondering about so IMO they shouldn't be over-rugged. Id probably put more rugs on if stabled as standing about in a draughty stable is chilly.
 
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