SilverLinings
Well-Known Member
I see so many natives and cob types near me in full necked rugs up until very recently even when the weather was lovely.
Lightweight (as in light weight for the owner to handle, but full of insulation) and very warm rugs have only really been around for the last 20-25 years, and this does seem to coincide with an increase in very fat leisure horses. In the 1990's most horses just had a canvas New Zealand for the field with a thin wool lining, and the early synthetic rugs weren't very thick so you had to layer blankets (with a surcingle) if you wanted to make it any warmer.
Nowadays you can just throw an easy-to-handle 450g rug with neck cover over the horse in one go with minimal effort. Personally I have never owned or needed a rug over 250g (I know some horses do though), but a lot of people seem to think that if it exists/is for sale then they need one for their horse, even if that horse is an unclipped, overweight cob/native type.
Horses are very effective at using their long hind gut to generate heat, and they have a much wider thermo-neutral range than humans, so over-rugging obstructs weight control (aside from being unpleasant for the horse).