Are you rugging your horses now?

Yes! Fine TB is in his 100g overnight and out in the day, Welsh D is in her rain sheet but she is very woolly!

Welsh is getting clipped next week so she will be in her 100g depending on temperatures. My first winter with a full TB so im preparing for a lot of rugging 😂
 
Both of mine are natives and complete opposites - welsh has never worn a rug, big pony was in 100g last night as it dropped to 2c and he's incredibly grumpy if cold/wet/hungry. Both are stabled at night.
 
We have put a 50g rug with neck on our elderly Welsh Sec A the last two nights, only because he is 29 and we had extreme weather warnings for prolonged rain. He does have access to shelter but is outside eating much of the time. That will come off today and stay off until it’s much colder again.

Our other four are all unrugged and will remain so all through winter.
 
TheMule said:
Unless he's clipped, unwell or underweight I would not rug him at all
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I wouldn't expect a healthy Welsh A to need rugging unless it was clipped out. Even with a bib clip or similar he should be fine without a rug. They are bred to live on the side of a Welsh mountain, after all.

Eta, they are often more vulnerable to feeling cold in wet summers than they are in winter because their summer coats are so much finer.
 
Horses can feel the cold and wet more during unseasonal bad weather, like many of us have currently been having.

There are some very strongly held opinions about rugging - eg it’s a y breed this is x month so I Will Not Rug.

Much better to be flexible and to rug or not rug the horse in front of you.
 
Thanks everyone. His coat is still really fine like a summer coat which has what’s made it difficult for me to decide. The answers are helpful it’s been about 6degrees at night here so I think il just put a cover on him tonight and then leave it off after that as it’s not meant to be as cold. Il feel better when his coat starts fluffing up haha x
 
For iffy weather one of the various waterproof fly rugs can be very useful.

Senior mare, 23yo with Cushing’s, has inherited her daughter’s Rambo summer series rug and she’s wearing it today. Forecast to be dry but it’s p1ssing it down again 🙄. I’d clipped her out for summer so she needs protection.

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Perfectpony07 said:
I guess that’s down to personal opinion.
He is in a field in which most of the yard have to walk through to get to their horses, it’s a very friendly yard so I’m reassured if something was wrong I would be informed.
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Do you really think that other people are really paying that much attention to ponies that have nothing to do with them, please don't rely on other people that are not responsible for your horse to notice that anything is wrong.

If you are going to rug any horse it's not going to need the same rug on all night and all day as its still warm during the day so the rug should come off or be changed to a lighter one.

Hence why you should be visiting your horse twice a day.
 
Pinkvboots said:
Do you really think that other people are really paying that much attention to ponies that have nothing to do with them, please don't rely on other people that are not responsible for your horse to notice that anything is wrong.

If you are going to rug any horse it's not going to need the same rug on all night and all day as its still warm during the day so the rug should come off or be changed to a lighter one.

Hence why you should be visiting your horse twice a day.
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I’m not here to argue about how often I should visit my pony, as original post demonstrates I am having to go twice a day due to the rug situation at present.
 
I wouldn’t rug a unclipped Welsh but my 3 in work are rugged (100g to 200g). My 25yo Welsh X and 33yo Shetland will
Stay naked all winter as usual unless we get freak weather.
 
All the ones at home are unrugged
The sensitive tb is in a 50g to keep the rain and wind off
She shivers very easily doesn’t seem to grow any hair
 
Two Fell ponies clipped and in 200g rugs but I live at the foot of a glen and it's been down to 1c most nights recently. The other fell has almost her full winter coat through now and will remain unrugged all winter.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Horses can feel the cold and wet more during unseasonal bad weather, like many of us have currently been having.

There are some very strongly held opinions about rugging - eg it’s a y breed this is x month so I Will Not Rug.

Much better to be flexible and to rug or not rug the horse in front of you.
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This.

I have two section As and am generally of the 'rug when they're breathing icicles' mindset. However on Thursday night, I put a no fill turnout on one of them.

Why? She's very lightweight and dainty - intentionally kept on the verge of being underweight on vet's advice due to EMS (and a bout of lami last summer), hasn't got a fluffy coat through yet, and it was forecast heavy rain all night. The previous night it also rained heavily, and though she wasn't cold the next morning when I brought her in, her coat was quite wet, and by the end of the day when I went to turn them out again, the tips of her coat were still damp. So I figured if she hadn't generated enough body heat over 10 hours to dry off completely, then maybe for that night I could just prevent her getting wet in the first place. So I dried her off and put a rug on.

The other one stayed naked - she dries her coat, seemingly no matter how soaked through it is, within half an hour of being in a stable. She's like a radiator 😂

Horses are individuals, not textbooks.
 
Only one of mine is currently rugged, just swapped from her sweet itch rug to a gallop no-fil.
Her and one other will be clipped soon and then into 100g turnouts. This is try and keep them a bit cleaner for riding
I am considering popping a rug on one of my old ladies, she gets a bit of rain scald every year and I don't want her to be uncomfortable.
 
Mine started having lightweight turnouts on a few weeks ago on and off as in the wind and the heavy rain they were both markedly shivering. One is a 15yr old chunky WB and the other 6yr old Welsh x Arab x ID x Han. Neither have thick coats. Rugs get taken off when it’s dry and sunny which is getting less and less frequent.
 
No. He's fat and furry. I do need to get round to giving him his winter bib clip before long though. He does possess a 50g rug which he wore three times last winter.
 
I seem to be a local weather vane at the moment.

If I rug it's dry and sunny, if I don't rug it pours down.

I currently have the 2 chunkys in no fills and reggie the wimp in a 50g with neck as he has thin skin even though he is a WELSH and shivers as soon as he gets damp. Fatties are rugged because 1, I want a clean/dry pony to ride and 2, I'm just super pleased that Ben is happy to wear a rug so it makes me happy to see him looking loved in a rug.
 
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Coblet isn’t yet but will be in a no fill, when my rugs come back from the repair and he’ll get a full clip.
The warm blood has been in a no fill for a week or so.
 
Yes in wet and dreary shropshire! He's a LW coblet who had surgery in May and been ulcery so we've had a job getting his condition back up and he's now starting to work a bit harder too - Well hacking out up to 6 miles a few times a week!
So he's been in a 50g when its been wet and breezy and even a 100g overnight when temps have dropped sub 5C.
YO has just messaged to say they're all to be in overnight from tonight, gutted its so early but i guess she is thinking about the fields :(
 
One is rugged as she's clipped but only in a rainsheet. When it's wet I pop a 100g on her but she was getting too hot in it on non rainy days. (22 yr old Highland. In warmer weather 2 yrs ago she was in 200g and not clipped).

Arab gets a 0g on wet days and is without just now. I'm hoping g to get to Nov before I need to rug full time but it just depends on how the horses feel.

It really does depend on each horse and how they're doing each year.
 
Tiddlypom said:
It was 5°C overnight here with heavy rain all night carried in on a north easterly wind.

I pity the neds out all night shivering in their summer coats because the owners won’t rug a native in September.
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I did feel a bit mean on Meg this week in the rain (day turn out though) but we haven’t introduced rugs yet. In fairness, she wasn’t shivering at all and was dry as a bone underneath once you parted her coat.
 
My large prince of an ISH is in a 100g and my grumpy pony in a 50g. They live out all year (with good shelter) but he likes his comforts and she gets sweet itch so needs some sort of rug on, and once it gets wet with colder nights the fly rug makes her chilly cos it can't dry. Shes very anti people in general so switching rugs twice a day is not an option for me... I will just remove those and put a heavier one on when the time comes and then if it gets really cold they layer the turnouts. Both in their 20's so older bones
 
Two of mine are still naked. They’re warm and happy, despite the rain. They have natural shelter and grass. Plenty of natives just don’t need rugging when it’s warm and wet, no matter how their owners feel about the weather.
 
Cold and dry they are out overnight naked but I put no fills on my two last night as the weather was vile and windy. My Connie has a lot less body fat on him going into winter this year and I don’t want him soaking wet and shivering anymore weight off.
 
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