Do you prefer them hot or cold...

[You Wont Forget Me]

Hi all, im curious to know whether you prefer your horses to be toastie in the winter or just normall body tempreture??
The reason i ask is ive always like my horses being toastie when theyre clipped and have their rugs on simple reason the dont get cold and get hairy then need re clipped ( when i say toastie i dont mean it as in their too hot) but a girl on my yard told me all last winter that my boy was TOO hot, which i wouldnt have said he was so anyway i took her advice and took a rug off but she has had a LW rug on her horse all summer, clipped him last week and kept the same rug on him (the temp is really starting to drop in scotland now) and now (a week later) he has grown all his hair back, when i walked past his stable i felt him and he was actually cold yet she claimed he was 'toastie' but he was actually colder than body temp.

Anyway i just want to know what you'd prefer your horse to be toastie or body temp...

 

[hollyandivy123]

for me, if the horse has a rug on and you put your hand in underneath it should not feel hot or cold but the same as you if you put your hand under you tee shirt

 

[xRobyn]

Warm but not toasty. IMO, especially when they're out, they can move if they get colder. I hate it when horses are hot under their rugs.

 

[tinap]

Toasty enough for 1 clip to last from November as he's an absolute nightmare to do!!!!

 

[flying solo]

Its pretty early for clipping, I know every horse is different but if I clipped now i'd have to do it again in a few weeks as his full coat isn't through yet. Agree about the rug, my boys have lw's on just now to keep them dry and to slow the winter coat down a little :'( x

 

[MiCsarah]

I like them to feel warm under their rug as you obviously don't have all of the coat to go through to feel how warm they are. My boy for a cob is a complete wimp!! Nobody seemed to of told him that he is a cob and is supposed to be a good doer

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Toasty is hot. If you feel your horses skin when the weather is mild and he's unrugged, he doesn't feel toasty,skin is just a normal temperature. Thats how he should be when rugged.

 

[be positive]

A horse that is too hot under its rugs is at risk of skin problems,one that is too cold will grow its coat back faster and may lose weight.

I always check by feeling their ears the base of the ear should be warm and the tips should not be cold,if the horse is under rugged its ears can be so cold they feel damp.

Whenever I clip I always go up one level of rug, sometimes two if fully clipping and the weather is cold.

 

[touchstone]

I prefer them just right - neither too hot or too cold!

However, I'd have to say that under rugging is by far the lesser of two evils, over rugging can be dangerous leading to colic etc, a horse is quite capable of producing plenty of heat from digesting fibre but is unable to cool down effectively when too hot under a rug.

 

[celia]

I like them to feel a 'normal' temperature when rugged in winter - so they feel similar under the rug to how they would through spring/summer when unrugged. If they feel properly warm under there they're probably too hot. I would much rather my lot were a little on the cold side - they can eat and mooch about to warm up but there's nothing they can do if they're too hot.

 

[TelH]

Toasty is hot. If you feel your horses skin when the weather is mild and he's unrugged, he doesn't feel toasty,skin is just a normal temperature. Thats how he should be when rugged.

^^^^^ This Rugging is to help them maintain their body temp not make them hot.

 

[annaellie]

As poster above said , when I worked on a livery yard there was one guy who had 6 rugs on and a duvet on under the rugs this went on from sep to end of feb horse was on full livery it was a nightmare when you had this horse on your block. Staff tried to talk to the owner but it wouldn't sink in. The owner was very experanced and knowledgeable except for this

 

[Cortez]

Surely if a horse is too hot it will sweat? I have had horses out in summer with a no-fill rain sheet on that are sweating underneath, hence no longer put rugs on in summer.

 

[You Wont Forget Me]

Well you see my boys usually rugged all year but he's had his rugs off the past few months and ive found he's been cold. Last winter when he was clipped and rugged he had, a quilt, fleece and heavyweight and the base and tips of his ears were still cold, could he just be a cold horse?? He is also stables at night so doesnt get to run about to warm up really

 

[Sadiemay]

Ideally neither of course, but if I had to choose, too hot at a push. I was very particular about rugging so usually got it spot on thankfully x

 

[be positive]

Well you see my boys usually rugged all year but he's had his rugs off the past few months and ive found he's been cold. Last winter when he was clipped and rugged he had, a quilt, fleece and heavyweight and the base and tips of his ears were still cold, could he just be a cold horse?? He is also stables at night so doesnt get to run about to warm up really

Some do seem to be colder than others,maybe due to poor circulation,they keep warm when eating /digesting so a good supply of hay will help.
I find often the first year they are clipped they can feel the cold more and the next winter not so much,almost as if they adjust themselves.
A high neck rug is useful,especially if the horse has a long neck,I can reduce the number of rugs they need by using one.

 

[dafthoss]

It depends on the horse. Some horses feel the cold (my boy did last winter as it was his first year clipped) so I like them to feel slightly warmer. But others dont like to be hot so would keep them feeling cooler. Idealy they would all be comfortable in the same rugs as other horses but thats just not going to happen so it has to be done based on the individual.

 

[Noodlebug]

Don't you find that horses that feel the cold have owners that do too

 

[Megibo]

i don't judge by sticking my hand under the rug...i judge by the temp of the base of their ears. if it's cold, obviously they need extra rugs.

But i have a native and if she lives out unrugged she grows a mammoth coat-always warm.