Heavyweight rug already?!

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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Yesterday my mind was mildly blown when I saw a horse wearing a HEAVYWEIGHT full neck turnout rug during the day, complete with a fly mask (not a combination usually required...!). My 4, including a TB, are still naked and out 24/7! And in full work and very happy I might add.

If you're putting on a heavyweight now, what on earth are you going to put on when it's actually winter?! If your horse hasn't died of hyperthermia or melted by then.

I sometimes just want to shake people! I do have a variety of turnouts for my lot, but the heavyweight will only come out if it's sub zero and they are clipped. Yes I might subscribe to the 'less is more' way of thinking and don't rug excessively, I clip for purpose not just because everyone else is, and try to leave horses to themselves as much as possible. I understand that some people like to dress their horses up like polar explorers in a country where 'winter' barely gets below 10 degrees, and that's fine - but it shocks me when this obsession with overdressing your horse is bordering on torture - how would you like to get in a ski suit or an arctic sleeping bag and stand out in 20 degree sunshine for 12 hours? (I feel an experiment coming on!) It's also far more dangerous to overheat a horse (or any animal) than it is for them to be cold.

I really don't know how horses survived for millions of years without us...!

Rant over :-)
 
Couldn't agree more. Some people feel a slight chill in the air and go mad with the rugs. We have one such owner at our yard ... Drives you nuts to watch it tbh .... Even though she's lovely in every other way and spoils her horse rotten. She claims he " feels the cold" ..... Like you OP, my boy hadn't seen a rug yet this year, but then he's a highland with a full coat (getting thicker by the day) and not clipped yet.
 
We don't even own any heavyweight rugs! Our lot know we must think it's cold if the medium weights come out...that's for fully clipped Exmoors and TBs in a decent amount of work!! The non clipped Exmoors have nothing on all winter - but then again, they are designed to keep themselves warm with their waterproof and insulated double layer winter woolies :D
 
I know many horses already in light-medium weights. My girl is in a summer sheet over night if it's particularly chilly, and she's part arab!!
 
Right there with you. It pains me to see horses over-rugged and looking upset and/or frustrated. My girls are still out 24/7 and have their Amigo superlightweights (rain sheets, basically) on just to keep them dry and, more to the point, clean so I can ride as much as possible with the limited time I have. They're also on quite a restricted diet since Short Stuff had laminitis. If they had ad-lib hay I might not be rugging yet but light rugs also stop them pacing in the rain and churning their summer field up, so I don't have to move them until they start coming in at night. They don't like wearing rugs, so I keep them in as little as possible x
 
Ditto, it annoys me too.

Mine are in at nights now, but only a blanket at night and out in the day with nothing until they are clipped. And if they are not clipped and the weather gets foul they only have a rainsheet which keeps the mud and wind off.
 
Mine is only wearing a rain sheet if it's raining. Just for keeping dry and clean so I can ride. He's a bog pony, this current weather is nothing compared to what he most likely had to deal with over in Ireland!

I really hate seeing horses over-rugged. There's some on my yard in medium and heavyweights at night. It's ridiculous, feel so sorry for these horses.

It's the panic that I don't get - people will look at the weather forecast, see it's dropping down to 5c for a matter of hours and think their horse will surely get frostbite if they don't put a big puffy snuggly rug on. So that they, themselves, feel better. I think they feel guilty if they don't put a rug on. One girl admits she just does what everyone else does, regardless of what her horse actually needs.

I see it and think - oh well. It's only for a couple of hours! And funny enough, when I turn up at the yard, my horse is alive and well. When it starts to be <5c for more than half the night, I might consider putting a fleece on.

Might.
 
If a horse needs a thicker rug, then fair enough. I think most of us will know one or two horses (probably tbs) who do get very cold and need a lot of rugging over winter, so if the horse needs it then I have no problem. But no horse should need a HW now - I'm not even wearing coats yet! I think as owners we often want our horses to feel "toasty" under their rugs but this actually means they are too hot.
 
I am usually one of the anti "over rugging" people but my new horse was clipped out on Thursday, I got her in on Saturday morning wearing a rain sheet and she was freezing in the rain. I then put a 70g on her last night and checked her last thing and she was cold again so have now put a 200g on her and she is fine. Horses for courses really!!
 
While I hate over rugging with a passion, there may be a genuine reason that the horse is rugged to that level, such as illness. It isn't really isn't that cold yet though, and I find that keeping them dry and protected from the wind with a lightweight rug is often better than layers of duvet that risk over heating the horse in these conditions.

I also hate to see horses that do feel the cold, have a very thin coat and do hardly any work, be given a full clip and then chucked in the field to stand shivering.
 
Oh but don't you know that some horses shiver in 15 degrees plus if they don't have 400g rugs on? ;-)

My mare was clipped out fully on Wednesday and the she's ranged from being naked in the day, to having a 100g full neck on last night in the horrific monsoon weather (she lives out currently and will be doing until November). The 100g will probably be a bit too much tbh - will find out when I head up to check her shortly, but I had no option last night as her no fill and fleece had started rubbing her chest a bit so decided on the 100g given the weather was going to be horrific overnight.

Any horse who needs a HW in these temps currently has something wrong somewhere IMO.
 
Mine's unrugged in the rain with just the start of a winter coat and she'll be staying like that for at least a month. she's fat and I can't ride or lunge due to a broken arm so this is the most efficient way of burning calories. She's not cold, she's a native... She just needs to move a bit more to keep warm.

When she had a lw on a few weeks ago due to a cold day in August, she obviously didn't move much and when I rode her, there was a lot of gas escape. Made me wonder if there was a link between over rugging and gassy colic...

Next door field are unclipped and in mw rugs. But tbh it's none of my business so I haven't said anything!
 
tobiano1984 said:
Yesterday my mind was mildly blown when I saw a horse wearing a HEAVYWEIGHT full neck turnout rug during the day, complete with a fly mask (not a combination usually required...!). My 4, including a TB, are still naked and out 24/7! And in full work and very happy I might add.

If you're putting on a heavyweight now, what on earth are you going to put on when it's actually winter?! If your horse hasn't died of hyperthermia or melted by then.

I sometimes just want to shake people! I do have a variety of turnouts for my lot, but the heavyweight will only come out if it's sub zero and they are clipped. Yes I might subscribe to the 'less is more' way of thinking and don't rug excessively, I clip for purpose not just because everyone else is, and try to leave horses to themselves as much as possible. I understand that some people like to dress their horses up like polar explorers in a country where 'winter' barely gets below 10 degrees, and that's fine - but it shocks me when this obsession with overdressing your horse is bordering on torture - how would you like to get in a ski suit or an arctic sleeping bag and stand out in 20 degree sunshine for 12 hours? (I feel an experiment coming on!) It's also far more dangerous to overheat a horse (or any animal) than it is for them to be cold.

I really don't know how horses survived for millions of years without us...!

Rant over :-)
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We had ice on the car sunday morning, it dipped to 3 degrees over night. Personally with thin coated horses in full work, living out, I rug if it drops below 10 degrees at night / slightly higher if rain forecast. And on Saturday night, mine wore 100gm rugs with no neck. Went on when the temperatures dropped, and off first thing when sun came out. They were then in fly rugs til the temperature dropped again and then rugged.

I dont want my horses too hot or too cold. I have live out horses going into winter, I want to keep them warm enough not to drop condition. It is all about common sense!

I didnt use any heavy weight rugs last year, on my clipped living out horses, as it was so mild.
 
ours have only got rain sheets on....including the one that just been full clipped. a lady I know has got hers in a medium already :/

even when I clip the tb he will on be in a light fill rug and that's because I want to try and keep the weigh on him before the cold weather hits!

people are weird........
 
Mine has medium weight stable rug full neck and I will be putting a duvet underneath this week as Im trying to keep his coat going as long as possible (we have a few winter shows), and hes turned out in a medium weight full neck.

I cant clip him until i finish showing as hes still a youngster
 
Carrots&Mints said:
Mine has medium weight stable rug full neck and I will be putting a duvet underneath this week as Im trying to keep his coat going as long as possible (we have a few winter shows), and hes turned out in a medium weight full neck.

I cant clip him until i finish showing as hes still a youngster
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I hope that's either a joke, or you live in the Antarctic! ;-)
 
Carrots&Mints said:
Nope deadly serious, we are on top of a hill in the penines though and its been frosty a few times now!
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...Frosty? That doesn't warrant a bloomin MW with duvet underneath, on an unclipped horse. :-O

I'm genuinely sat here gobsmacked. And all for the sake of showing purposes. Awful.
 
Moomin1 said:
I hope that's either a joke, or you live in the Antarctic! ;-)
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It's not over-rugged, its coat's in show condition? :p

I wouldn't judge a horse in a HW at the moment if I didn't know the circs - it may be ill or otherwise in need of special rugging. I don't really approve of over-rugging for aesthetic show ring purposes though...
 
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Was thinking the same as ester, with modern rugs, they pretty much all look the same on a horse. Our fully clipped pony is in a 100g full neck when he goes out at night, but it doesn't look any different from his other weight rugs so from a distance you wouldn't know what weight he was wearing, just that he was rugged.
 
Do you know the horse?
Do you know the weight of the rug?
Do you know it's owner?
Are you actually concerned or just out for a good bitch?

Personally, I don't really care how many rugs anyone else's horses are wearing, so long as they are comfortable.

I understand, having three horses with three different rugging needs, that it isn't just a case of one rule for all - but also this forum is full of people who don't understand that.
 
I dont see what the issue is? Im trying to keep him from gettin a winter coat by compensating in rugging him up? If i was to let him get his winter coat then he wouldnt be rugged but as Im still showing him till the end of november he needs rugging up.
 
Carrots&Mints said:
I dont see what the issue is? Im trying to keep him from gettin a winter coat by compensating in rugging him up? If i was to let him get his winter coat then he wouldnt be rugged but as Im still showing him till the end of november he needs rugging up.
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But you are over rugging for the sake of a show?

I must admit mine has her LW on now and has done for a few days but that's really just to keep the rain off and keep her dry enough to ride. I don't own a HW!
 
Carrots&Mints said:
I dont see what the issue is? Im trying to keep him from gettin a winter coat by compensating in rugging him up? If i was to let him get his winter coat then he wouldnt be rugged but as Im still showing him till the end of november he needs rugging up.
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Words fail me.

I have no issue with people rugging. I have no problem with people rugging as they wish and according to each individual horse's needs. But I really do have an issue with it when people over rug and it affects welfare, and even more so when they do it purely for their own ends.
 
Yeah I am, whats the problem??

And also, as he hasnt got a winter coat when hes being worked hes not sweaty, would rather have a rugged up horse with a nice coat not getting sweaty rather than a horse whos coat is so thick hes sweating.
 
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I wouldn't comment on it if I didn't know the facts, the horse isn't ill, it's in full work and I know that the rug is a HW because it has the make and 'model' stamped on it and I looked at the same rug for my TB (in the same unique colour scheme) in case we have a very cold winter (and decided it was too excessive). It's 400g fill.

On my yard several of my liveries are already in MWs, my horses and a couple of liveries are still naked. Just makes me wonder if you're in a HW already, what happens in winter?!

I didn't start the thread to bitch - it's not a welfare issue and I'm not about to tell them that they're doing something wrong as each to their own, I was merely interested to see if I'm the only one who thinks it's mad! It would seem not.
 
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