Box rest over the winter - rugs?

arizonahoney

arizonahoney

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My pony is off work for the next 4 - 6 months and is to be kept in his box for now, graduating to a pen for daytime turnout a little further down the line.

I haven't clipped him this year, but am wondering what rugs I should be using on him now - and when it gets colder? He is in an American barn, with his box being the end one on a row and having an outside wall.

At the moment, he has a fleece or stable sheet on at night and I am wondering if this is all he really needs - or if a 50g or 100g stable rug would make sense if the weather turns really chilly.
 
A difficult one to answer as each pony is so individual, both in feeling the cold and it's own natural insulation ie winter coat and fat he is carrying.

My boy is also on boxrest and I have not rugged him at all yet. He has a good winter coat of his own and in a 12 x 12 wooden stable. His coat has lots of natural grease and I don't see me rugging him unless temps get well down below 0 degrees. He is 21 yrs old and coping. I am lucky in as much as he is kept at home so I am able to check for warmth late at night. I don't envisage putting any more than a fleece on him.

I would try to find out how drafty, if at all, your boy's box is as that would make quite a difference to the temperature.

I think we do worry too much about ponies and cold, especially when kept in and dry!

Hope that helps.
 
My mare is on box rest too over the winter. She has a very hairy coat so no rugs yet! I will probably put a l/w stable rug on if temps reach -5 or below but she is fine at present!
 
Thanks everyone for your replies.

And what are you doing to keep your patients entertained? I have started doing a bit of clicker with mine, some in-hand walks and today I tried using the Equissage unit on him (he was not too impressed :o).
 
Mine is a wuss and has his MW stable rug on, but then he also has 2 open sides to his stable if I keep the doors open in his section of his barn. He seems happy enough even when the temps don't go much above 5 degrees :)
 
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