Does everybody use full necks on their horses now?

[NinjaPony]

It is 11 degress cetnigrade, not raining and the horses in a nearby livery yard are out in full neck warm rugs - they are not even clipped!! Some are cobs and nothing appears to be a delicate thorougbred. No wonder the vets are constantly writing articles about overweight horses and laminitis. Meanwhile because all the manes ar ebeing rubbed out the owners are off buying bibs etc which make the poor horse even hotter. I breed warmbloods and my youngsters and even OAP's are out 24/7 unrugged except in Jan/March when they come in at night but are still not rugged.

Can you tell that they are warm rugs just from looking? Have you actually checked? They may well be just rainsheets to keep them clean for riding.

Some might have health needs too.

I agree that over-rugging is a bad thing, and that we need to think before we rug. But I'm not convinced becoming very judgemental about other horses unless we know all the details is necessarily helpful.

 

[sport horse]

Can you tell that they are warm rugs just from looking? Have you actually checked? They may well be just rainsheets to keep them clean for riding.

Some might have health needs too.

I agree that over-rugging is a bad thing, and that we need to think before we rug. But I'm not convinced becoming very judgemental about other horses unless we know all the details is necessarily helpful.

Yes I can tell the rugs are more than rain sheets. If it for health reasons the yard has a big problem as all the horses are out in thick rugs!!