Genuine rugging question...

[JulesRules]

If you are using a heavyweight now, what do you do when it really does get brass monkeys?

Sorry for starting another over rugging v under rugging thread but I'm honestly interested. My girl is woolly and hardy so no rug as yet, but some people on here have mentioned they are already using heavyweights.

I only have one heavy weight rug and it very rarely gets used - only if it's proper arctic conditions.

How many people double rug, or use duvets under etc?

Do horses get acclimatised like people? i.e. is it a case of the more you rug the more you need to rug as the horse stops feeling the benefit as much?

 

[Boxers]

Ridiculous to be using heavy rugs now IMO. We humans aren't wearing scarves and gloves with our thick wool winter coats are we? Anyone using heavy rugs now will surely have to add to them in the coming months.

My horse, an ISH, is wearing a lightweight turnout that has a lining. And if the daytime is sunny I am taking it off, and putting it on again later in the day/evening.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

I know the answer to this one.

You put six stable rugs on, including a duvet and stand them on 3' high straw beds. A woman I used to know did this, and the poor horses had to stand still all night, like Michlelin Men, unable to lie down.

They were very toasty.

 

[Highlands]

Totally agree, friend last week said oh I have a meduim weight on x..... Hold on .... It's September, talk about silly!

 

[sonjafoers]

I've been thinking exactly the same after reading all these threads.

Mine ( one TB, one cob x ) are in lightweights if it's raining otherwise naked. They'll then go into 100g when clipped and then 200g with necks in the real winter. They do this every year with the addition of a 100g liner under the 200gs if it's minus temperatures with wind and/or sleet, snow etc.

I did used to have heavyweight rugs but the TB was always too hot under hers whatever the weather so now the max they get is 300g. They are both normally hunter clipped and only come in at night in the worst weather so maybe 10 times over winter max.

When mine were in their 200gs last year my friends was in a 370g heavyweight with a 300g liner underneath!

 

[Moomin1]

Well the answer is that with every 2 degree drop in the temperature you add another fleece, and with every 3 degree drop you add another hw. Keep adding until you have at least 5 heavyweights or more! If you don't do this your horse will undoubtedly wither away and die.

 

[Olliepop]

The rug manufacturers don't help. I've been looking at the Rambo liner system. They have 400/ 500g TO and stable rugs which are compatible with the liner system. Thinnest liner is 100g and thickest is 400g. At best with 1 liner that's 500g or 900g at worst. I'm sure they had a liner compatible TO at nearly 600g. My 21 yo TB with chase clip is in 350g TO and 375g stable in the middle of winter and he's always really warm under that.

 

[kerrieberry2]

well I joined a horse rug group on fb the other day and someone reckons they have a 750g rug!! I politely asked if they were confused with the denier! I feel mean putting light weights on, but have because its wet and my mare is 28 with a blanket clip!

 

[pansy]

Whoops - mine have gone into a light mw tonight if that makes sense !! I am conscious of rugging up too early but the tb really is a dainty creature & he hasnt been as warm as I think he should be in a lw - they will be coming in on a night from the weekend - rugs get changed morning & night as needed - please don't shout at me ��

 

[Cortez]

I know mine are cold when they start to run around a bit to get warm. They only get rugs on if it's minus 2 celsius or below, or pouring rain, windy and cold. But they're not clipped, or wimpy TB's.

 

[Django Pony]

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[Moomin1]

well I joined a horse rug group on fb the other day and someone reckons they have a 750g rug!! I politely asked if they were confused with the denier! I feel mean putting light weights on, but have because its wet and my mare is 28 with a blanket clip!

See that is completely sensible rugging. I don't think anyone can say that the way you are rugging is unnecessary.

 

[Moomin1]

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PMSL!!! That is fab!

 

[Leam_Carrie]

I have a rain hating arab who has a lw on overnight and if its raining during the day (and less than 15 degrees). She's warm when I check her. Her old owner use to have her in a hw and stable rug in the depths of winter, which I may do... (Is double rugging bad... I'm a bit new at this?)

 

[Moomin1]

I have a rain hating arab who has a lw on overnight and its raining during the day (and less than 15 degrees). She's warm when I check her. Her old owner use to have her in a hw and stable rug in the depths of winter, which I may do... (Is double rugging bad... I'm a bit new at this?)

No it's not necessarily bad LC - it's all dependant on your individual horse. What becomes out of hand is when people start piling more and more on and end up having numerous rugs on at once in temps of barely less than 10 degrees celsius.

 

[Buds_mum]

I own one hw for my horse, he has worn it once for the space of a week when it went down to -15.

He rarely wears higher than 250g, and I hate layering!! It must be soo uncomfortable for them to be carting all those rugs round all day, especially if one gets wet.

I am lucky having a cob/wolly mammoth.

Shall I be controversial... yes I will I am that way out today

It doesn't help when people FULLY HUNTER CLIP their 3 x a week ridden happy hackers.

Even last year when I hunted my boy, he was chaser clipped, no problem. If he sweated in other areas I washed him down with warm water and chucked a cooler on till he was dry.

It seems its fashion to whip every scrap of hair of these poor beasts just cause its winter, sure clip but belly and neck is usually enough unless you are hunting hard. But if not leave them a bit on their loins and ears and you will find your horse stays perfectly toasty in only 1 or 2 rugs, not 17.

rant over. as you were

 

[Moomin1]

I own one hw for my horse, he has worn it once for the space of a week when it went down to -15.

He rarely wears higher than 250g, and I hate layering!! It must be soo uncomfortable for them to be carting all those rugs round all day, especially if one gets wet.

I am lucky having a cob/wolly mammoth.

Shall I be controversial... yes I will I am that way out today

It doesn't help when people FULLY HUNTER CLIP their 3 x a week ridden happy hackers.

Even last year when I hunted my boy, he was chaser clipped, no problem. If he sweated in other areas I washed him down with warm water and chucked a cooler on till he was dry.

It seems its fashion to whip every scrap of hair of these poor beasts just cause its winter, sure clip but belly and neck is usually enough unless you are hunting hard. But if not leave them a bit on their loins and ears and you will find your horse stays perfectly toasty in only 1 or 2 rugs, not 17.

rant over. as you were

Absolutely right Buds Mum - it's 'fashionable' to clip, rug to the eyeballs and feed ten billion supplements through winter these days. Dear me, I do wonder how horses used to cope when we just had the old canvas rugs with a sheep skin lining stitched in! Lol! I never ever saw my old pony shiver, and he lived til he was 40. Oh, and shoot me down, he spent one winter in his early 30's living out, naked. He made it for nearly another ten years after that without once dropping condition.

Too much pampering and mollycoddling now. :-(

 

[Ella19]

Some of our liveries and mine are in medium turnouts right now. They are living out with no shelter on an open hill and on checking were freezing in no fills and light weights.

If it gets to -19 this year again then its likely mine will have up to 500g on. In years gone by, same temperature but different yard my horse only ever got up to 300g for one day! So it totally depends on location, shelter, weather and yard layouts!

 

[Highlands]

My traddy cob has a meduim weight when clipped out but she is always hot. She as. Heavy weight when so cold. I also use snuggy jams to put under turnout rugs to keep them warm!

 

[Moomin1]

Some of our liveries and mine are in medium turnouts right now. They are living out with no shelter on an open hill and on checking were freezing in no fills and light weights.

If it gets to -19 this year again then its likely mine will have up to 500g on. In years gone by, same temperature but different yard my horse only ever got up to 300g for one day! So it totally depends on location, shelter, weather and yard layouts!

If we are talking temps of -19 then most people will be putting hw's extra extra on. My issue is with people who have numerous mw's and hw's piled on already. There's people around here putting them on already and it's literally only gone down to 10 degrees minimum. Ridiculous.

 

[HashRouge]

Mine is currently wearing what I think is a medium weight, but could be a light weight with fill as I've had it for years and don't know what the difference is between the two!
The reason she is wearing it is that it is cold(ish), wet and windy, and it's this combination of weather conditions that she struggles with (elderly Arab living on top of a hill with little shelter, so not surprising!). So if it is colder, but not wet or windy, she often doesn't need any rug at all. If it is colder and wet/ windy, she has a medium weight with a neck cover that she can wear. She didn't have anything heavier than that last year and she lived out much of the winter. She will be living out almost all the time this year and I am considering getting her a heavy weight, but I'll see what the weather does. If it is truly atrocious (last year we had blizzards where the wind was so strong it knocked you over and cut into your skin) she will be coming in over night, but out in her medium weight with neck cover during the day IF I can get her to the field. We had a 6 foot snow drift in the gateway at one point last year!

 

[EllenJay]

My elderly Welshie is out naked even in the rain. After 14 years of ownership he hasn't shrunk yet! I think he is the only one at the yard who isn't rugged. When I brought him as a 5 year old, he came with a HW Rambo (with neck). He has only worn it once! BUT he is a native, with a very sophisticated internal heating system. You have to rug to the horses requirements.

I am however surprised that any horse in the UK is wearing more than a lightweight rug atm. It is horribly damp - but barely reaching single digits temperature wise - and I would doubt if anyone has clipped yet, so putting a HW rug on currently does appear to be a bit of an overkill.

With regards to clipping - my lad is a happy hacker but will be given a full clip. Why? Because he grows a wooly mammoth coat (cushings) and even a gentle hack causes a lot of sweating. Again, clip to the horses requirements.

There is no "one size fits all" - but common sense is required.

 

[bliss87]

I dont want to clip my horse and coat has already gobe fluffy so has just been put in a 300g rug

My other is in a lightweight rug but hes just been treated for djd so not in a great deal of work atm but dont mind clipping him if its needed when I start working him more

 

[MillyMoomie]

I have a strange theory.

I rug according to if each individual horse is cold or warm regardless of weather, time of year or what other people think.

This seems to work.

 

[ihatework]

For one of my horses it's the wet that's the problem.
She is stabled during the day unrugged but last week or so it's been wet, windy and down to 5/6 degrees. She has been going out about 7pm in a 350g Rambo wug.

During winter she is in overnight, clipped out and providing she is dry is perfectly happy for the majority of winter in a heavy weight rug. In freezing rain conditions she goes out in a Rambo supreme + 100g bucas Irish.

It is the wet that gets her every time, and she really tightens up over her back as well as acting the idiot in the field!

 

[justabob]

I have skimmed through the plethora of rug threads with absolute amazement. I think the poster that made me want to even to reply to such a banal thread was the forum member that has ex-racehorses and dressage is her thing, they are apparently very *supple* a word that was used in all her posts. I am sure that they were indeed *supple* I would guess that they were melting. One can always justify buying rugs and wanting to dress your horse up in numerous rugs if that is your thing. Surely it should just be common sense and not really worthy of such deep discussion. Oh and just to add, dogs die in hot cars, but can survive quite well in cols ones.

 

[Moomin1]

I have a strange theory.

I rug according to if each individual horse is cold or warm regardless of weather, time of year or what other people think.

This seems to work.

Would you say 5+ hw's on at one time (someone has said on another thread their's has had up to 8 at once before now!) is a sensible way to rug your horse though? Or would you question that something, somewhere is very amiss if the horse ACTUALLY needs that many rugs in order to thrive?

 

[Moomin1]

I have skimmed through the plethora of rug threads with absolute amazement. I think the poster that made me want to even to reply to such a banal thread was the forum member that has ex-racehorses and dressage is her thing, they are apparently very *supple* a word that was used in all her posts. I am sure that they were indeed *supple* I would guess that they were melting. One can always justify buying rugs and wanting to dress your horse up in numerous rugs if that is your thing. Surely it should just be common sense and not really worthy of such deep discussion. Oh and just to add, dogs die in hot cars, but can survive quite well in cols ones.

Oh God save me!! Someone else with sense!! I am loving this thread, it restores my faith in humanity!

 

[ellie11987]

My TB is currently in a MW standard neck overnight and a full neck MW during the day. It's chucking it down and about 11degrees during the day and 7/8 at night. She's not come in hot or sweaty and is absolutely fine. Rugged any less, she comes in tucked up and stiffer to ride. Last year, I didn't rug up as much or as early and she grew a mammoth coat and dropped far too much weight. As it gets colder I have no problem layering and changing weights e.g. MW with under rug, Heavy with under rug, HW, HW and MW, 2XHW, added snuggy hoods or leg wraps ect same goes for outdoor rugs but it would never get to the stage where they could wear 4+ rugs at once, that it ridiculous IMO and not very comfortable for the horse! She also has a fleece exercise sheet to use from late oct onwards.

 

[ellie11987]

I have skimmed through the plethora of rug threads with absolute amazement. I think the poster that made me want to even to reply to such a banal thread was the forum member that has ex-racehorses and dressage is her thing, they are apparently very *supple* a word that was used in all her posts. I am sure that they were indeed *supple* I would guess that they were melting. One can always justify buying rugs and wanting to dress your horse up in numerous rugs if that is your thing. Surely it should just be common sense and not really worthy of such deep discussion. Oh and just to add, dogs die in hot cars, but can survive quite well in cols ones.

Well that's not very cryptic and quite rude really since the majority know who you are on about. And as she has repeatedly said, her horses are fine and she has reasons for doing so.