Completely illogical but....help needed!

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Evie91

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So elderly tb is in heavyweight stable rug and ok temp wise.

Section a pony has no rugs - checked in all the right places and seems warm enough BUT I just can't help feeling mean. I have rugs on standby just incase. She's a NATIVE pony for goodness sake, she doesn't need a rug but I just feel mean - seeing tb all bundled up and pony naked!!!

I know I need to get a grip! Anyone else struggle with this??!
 
My section A hated coming in at night - only when the fields flooded - and certainly never tolerated a rug. All that hair kept her cosy and I have a great pic of her with an inch of snow on her quarters. She must be incredibly well insulated!
 
Sometimes! I can't help feeling like my hot, fat cob should be in something heavier than a single layer summer sheet when she's stabled at night, but she's warm enough!
 
I sometimes feel sorry for our Sec A who is out naked in all weather. I get his lovely perfect rug out, he rolls 3 millions times and then wrecks it. I take it to the repairers and leave it in the tack shed for about a year and then repeat the whole thing!!! When will I learn he hates being rugged up :)
 
I get this. I have just bought a rising 3 year old connie mare who naturally has a crazily fluffy coat. My mare has an under rug and heavyweight turnout on! I cope haha
 
Ha thank you all - it's just so hard, I'm used to a wimpy tb not hardy native! She does look so cute, all fluffy and keeps herself surprisingly clean for a grey!
 
Mine is half Welsh, currently unclipped so looks like a hairy teddy bear and the other day she wriggled out of her rug, all straps and buckles still done up. It was going to be really cold that night so we put her in a medium weight with no neck, and so far she has consented to keep it on. But she never wore a rug before she came to me, so the only reason she is rugged at all is because the others in the herd are and I feel mean leaving her unrugged. Totally illogical!
 
Evie91 said:
So elderly tb is in heavyweight stable rug and ok temp wise.

Section a pony has no rugs - checked in all the right places and seems warm enough BUT I just can't help feeling mean. I have rugs on standby just incase. She's a NATIVE pony for goodness sake, she doesn't need a rug but I just feel mean - seeing tb all bundled up and pony naked!!!

I know I need to get a grip! Anyone else struggle with this??!
Click to expand...

Yes and no, the heart side of me says I'd like to see my native pony all snugly in a rug but the head side of me tells me has a perfectly adequate one of his own, that fits him perfectly and that keeps him at the perfect temperature :-)

He's so happy without that even when it's horrid I don't feel too mean xx
 
My daughter felt sorry for her New Forest cross the other winter, it was horrible weather one day. The pony saw the rug, shook his head, swished his tail, a walked away. He has not been rugged since. The mini and Welsh A are without rugs too.
 
Super trooper - hit the nail on the head. Heart saying - make pony snuggly in teeny, tiny rugs.
Head is saying don't be ridiculous poor pony will be sweating cobs and ruin endocrine system - yes but the stripy fleece is just soooooo cute!!!!
Don't worry folks head is winning!!!
 
Retired warmblood is in just a rain sheet (gets rain scald) just to keep the damp/chill off her back as she has KS and I find this works for the really cold temps other than that she has grown and rather fine native coat :D

Unbacked six year old is in just a 100g fill with a 200g fill neck peice with a growing out trace clip and is toasty now he is in his big winter paddock.

The tb/old appy/youngish appy (11) are all fully clipped and in heavy weights with the tb having a 100g under rug on as extra and doing fine.
 
I know how you feel. My ISH mare is all rugged up (she gets very subdued when cold) and my 24 year old shetland is naked - he came in tonight with a frosted mane 😳. BUT, he feels warm at the base of his ears and whilst the top of his coat is damp the undercoat feels dry and warm. He is in a stable from 8pm til 7am with huge banked straw bed and has a shelter in his field 😊 I find the whole rugging thing stressful - is my mare warm enough? is she too warm? Very easy to overthink it!
 
I have four large boxes of rugs in every size from 5' to 6'9'', but none of mine are rugged. Mine are only rugged if clipped and in work, fat hairy A, has a bib clip no rug when hunting. The only time they are ever rugged otherwise is if it rains constantly and there is a cold wind, they come in to dry off and are rugged, but they are taken off when it dries up.
 
No, I rug my oldies, my 4yr old cob and 11yr old trotter cross have coats I lose my hand in, they are checked twice daily for warmth and are always toasty, I only rug the oldies cos my TB is a poor doer and my WB mare has arthritis
 
No, I don't struggle with this at all. My 3yo was backed this year and is turned away for the winter and only has had a light sheet on in the pouring rain. Other than that he doesn't wear a rug at all and won't even if it snows.

I honestly don't feel bad about it and think he likes it. His coat is lovely and thick - he feels like a giant Jellycat horse! :)
 
a rug will flatten the natural coat with all the trapped warm air inside so a bit pointless really unless you are doing it(rugging) to stay dry/clean.
 
i too know it's crazy - and I too have days when I struggle with it.

Sheltie wears a rug if its raining hard, she takes a fortnight to dry out otherwise! In cold frosty weather like now she's a little furball and warm as warm can be under that coat.
Welshie has a different coat, very short and dense, and usually she's the same, rugged for the wet - but the weather changed temperature very quickly here and she's been getting cold - so she's being rugged overnight with a thermatex no-neck, if her back is warm then she is warm. Welshie is ridden everyday so is more muscular than Sheltie - this seems to make a difference too.
 
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A active with a normal winter coat will be perfectly fine naked.

I know it's hard but just imagine where he could be living if in the wild and he wouldn't have someone supplying him with hay, he'd be digging through the snow to find food and live to tell the tale!
 
Evie91 said:
So elderly tb is in heavyweight stable rug and ok temp wise.

Section a pony has no rugs - checked in all the right places and seems warm enough BUT I just can't help feeling mean. I have rugs on standby just incase. She's a NATIVE pony for goodness sake, she doesn't need a rug but I just feel mean - seeing tb all bundled up and pony naked!!!

I know I need to get a grip! Anyone else struggle with this??!
Click to expand...

Oh I remember these days .....

Yep it always used to get me too

Now my section a lives out, all weathers only comes in at night if his small paddock gets flooded.

He is happy as larry, but its hard to start off with.

You just have to remember different types require different management routines to keep them in tip top condition. A section a is bred to live up a mountain and to put on weight in the summer and lose it in the winter

It gets easier I promise - I sleep like a baby at night now :-)
 
I used to, but not any more. On of mine is very old with virtually no shelter, one is very old and not keeping weight despite ad lib haylage and lots of fresh grazing (yes I know, little value in it, and one has a rug as she is struggling to maintain weight, and is not 100% well (light weight rugs). The rest are in thier natural coats, and well covered and happy as larry
 
I'm the opposite in that it bothers me more seeing those that don't need rugs with them!

So many grossly overweight cobs, natives and native crosses over rugged, over fed and under worked. Drives me batty so I put the blinkers on and just don't see it.

One if my friends recent retired her cob x mare; she's living out naked and thriving. My friend posted a picture the other morning of her mare with icicles on her coat looking so happy with her hay. Horse is a good weight, warm, healthy and happy ��
 
I'm the opposite. 4 natives are naked and I don't give it a 2nd thought, they have ad lib hay so just stand and eat or do a couple of laps if they get cold. I worry about getting the rug right on my 32yo polo pony. I prefer to under rug but she can't afford to lose weight.
 
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