did I do the right thing? my stable friend questions by turnout...!

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jaynedoc

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Hi

I know you all have a wealth of expreience out there so I thought I would put my situation to you...

what would you have done?.....

My mare (cob) is unclipped as we don't do alot of work in winter and she prefers to be out in all weather...but last saturday I went on a ride with 4 other s at the yard ....short story is we went on a lovelly hack but as they all went for a gallop over the fields my maer under vets advise is not allowed to gallop yet (recovering from injury) and I made her walk back up the hill to meet up with them after their gallop

anyway my mare knew what was up and worked herself into a very wet sweat with excitement (dripping) by the time we got back to the yard, anyway it was raining and windy and she was already soaked through with rain and sweat...now I was once told by a instructor that you must wash off the sweat from their coat...so I decided to hose her off to remove all the sweat from her coat....so now have wet horse and it's raining...

my dilemma... my horse hates being in and will often work up a sweat just because she is kept in....

so knowing this I though my best move in the situation was to put a light rain rug on to keep the chill off while she dried out in the field, as I felt she would work up a sweat again if kept in to dry....she seamed happy and when i brough her in at dusk..she was nice and dry under her rug..

My horsey mate took a sharp intake of breath and basically made me feel like i had done the wrong thing...said I should have let her dry out in the stable first...but as I pointed out she would n;t have dried out as she works up a sweat when kept in.... you would have though I had committed an offence punishable by prison.....

I weighed up the options and did what i though was best for my horse knowing her as well as I do..

what would you have done? did I do the right thing and should I ignore peoples opinion even though they do not know my horse as well as I? surely there is room for manouver from the rule book?
 
Cant see a problem with what you did, horse dried off ok, and was happy, mine has been soaked and dried soaked and dried lots of times in the last few weeks and she is a TB with a neck clip and she is happy.these modern rugs are brill at drying off themselves
 
I would not have hosed her, but would have rugged up well and then brushed the sweat off or just turned out as by walking around/rolling etc. they tend to dry themselves off! Obviously under supervision
 
I think you probably did right for your horse but personally I'd have not washed her off first, just let her dry under the rug then brush the sweat off before changing to normal rug.

Similar when my horse went mad when turned out & was dripping under t/o rug - left him to dry off once he calmed down then when we could finally catch him brushed sweat off & changed rug - never had a problem (& he was 24 at the time !!).
 
I think given the circumstances you did the best thing. Like merlins-mum I might have shoved some straw under her rug, & personally wouldnt have bothered washing her down :S - Id have popped her back out in the field, let the sweat dry naturally under her rug (as it did) & brushed it off later/next day.

Dont worry too much about what friends say, especially if they gallop off knowing your mare has to walk! Not very considerate!

scotia
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I'd have done exactly what you did. I hose mine off after it getting sweaty. The only thing that I do differently is I know he's happy with me in the stable, so always leave my jobs till after i've riden, hose horse down, put on a fleece untill dry while I muck out around him.
I see no problem with turning them out straight away. After all is she was in the field and it rainned you wouldn't bring her in to dry before turning her back out again.
 
thanks...I guess sweat is natural and If by hosing I made her wetter....next time I will not hose her and leave her to dry with rug on....

it's just when i was at a different yard...I did just that..left to dry with rug on and I was told by others on the yard that i was being cruel to my horse by not getting the sweat off first..
which is why I hosed off first...
 
hi one of my girls is the exact same leave her in a stable for five mins and she gets her self all worked up and sweaty u done the right thing you know your horse better than anybody ! there was prob no big need to hose her but if she was already soaked doesnt make a difference if shes wet shes wet i dont see a big problem ...:)
 
Agree with general opinion, maybe use a wicking rug under t/o as already stated.

Also agree with scotia2k7 about 'friends'. Lovely of them to disappear into the distance when your neddie couldn't. Some pals they are and something that I've been taught for years is unacceptable. So much for the 'rule book'!!!!!!
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ok going to play devils advocate here
Horse is soaked in sweat so you wash it off, presume you used just water.
She was wet anyway because it was raining.
What's the difference between soaking wet with clean water and soaking wet with rainwater ?
Providing she wasn't blowing and still hot I would of scraped the worst of the water off and turned her out without a rug. She would be getting wet with the rain again anyway.
It is your horse, you know her best and you do what you want !!
 
I would have hosed her off. Not only can sweat rub, but it will make your rugs dirty too.

Most modern turnouts are breathable and let the horse dry underneath anyway.
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I would always wash off a sweaty horse, even if you just hot rag/sponge her off to get rid of the sweat rather than fully hose. (way I see it is I hate coming out of the gym, and changing into clean/normal clothes again without showering off, it feels yucky! So why would it be much different for my horse? But maybe I'm a bit soft!)
Then a wickaway/cooler rug on under a turnout I don't see why there would be a problem
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I think you did the right thign really, much better than keeping her in.
 
i would have washed off with warm water(soft mummy!!!) then popped a fleece under the turnout and shoved her out!

but sounds like you know her well and she was fine.id always go by doing what is least stressful for the horse, and as she hates being in i think you did the right thing
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I don't think you did the wrong thing, like you say you know your horse better than your "friends"....I think they were wrong for galloping off when they know you and your horse can't do that at the moment which surely isn't fair!

Like someone else said I would have just sponged her off rather than fully hosing as I don't think it's fair to leave them sweaty....it can't feel very nice!
 
I struggle with this issue sometimes as mine gets worked up into a frenzy if she's in sometimes and so she sweats up and just makes the problem worse. I usually just put her rug on and turn out, brush off sweat later and it hasn't done her any harm so far.

Though I have to say I don't put a fleece under her TO rug as I did that once and when she came in the fleece had slipped back so badly she could hardly walk poor thing!
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But I worry too much anyway, and it might have just been my fleece.

As everyone has said - you know your horse best so do what you think is best
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I would of possibly have washed off too, because I find wet horses try quicker than sweaty ones (if you know what I mean, i,e you would of obviously sweatscraped as much off as poss also) I would of possibly grabbed some straw/hay and rubbed her down just to take off the excess moisture as i find this is really good.

But I can only think your friend thought you had put your mare out, wet and cold on a chilly day...This does apply but really only when your horse is still hot from the ride (she had a big coat), but soaking in sweat and it's freezing outside (not mild, like your day) and she is a hardy type (ie, not a tb type who do catch chills etc more) So she is probably going by text book standards, if you know what i mean. anyhows, I agree with your method.xx
 
I would have washed off - though probably with tepid water as Stinky is a wuzz - a sweaty horse takes longer to dry than one that it just wet. I find brushing sweat out not as effective as rinsing the sweat off as mine are prone to being itchy, hence mine is fully clipped so I can sponge/rinse down after work as he is still sweating up as it is so mild at the moment when doing fast work.

Have to agree with above post, the horse was wet, it was raining, so would have put her out as is with no rug - can't get any wetter unless it was very windy and raining then would have put a wicking rug under a no fill t/o.
 
With my ex share horse who used to get wringing wet with sweat in places I used to sponge him off with a well wrung out sponge and then popped a fleece on him while he munched a haynet for half an hour or so and then changed into a turnout rug and popped him out. It wasn't udeal but he was fine.

I personally wouldn't hose at this time of year.
 
I would probably have sponged off then dried off as best as I could with a sweat scraper, then either a whisp or a stable rubber.

If there was somewhere dry she would stand happily for a while I might have left her in a fleece to dry some more before putting her out but providing the rainsheet was breathable I see no problem with her going out in that while she was damp.

The problem comes when the rug isn't breathable and they stay wet underneath.
 
I dont see a problem with what you did, you know her
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Either way someone likes to get a dig in, I wouldn't be able to do that though, I have no hose pipe or stables
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They just get a rug chucked on, and left to dry out
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Gimley's naked atm so he's suffering
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