Horses and chills.....

Oberon

Oberon

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Has anyone actually had a horse that has caught a chill?

Or even suffered illness (and I mean ACTUAL illness) from not wearing a rug?

I wonder that at 19 degrees there are unclipped horses wearing combo rugs for the night (while stabled) around here.

There is often reason for rugging 'in case' the horse gets a chill or becomes ill from not wearing a rug.....but how likely is this really?
 
I have just left my horse unrugged in her stable tonight...even though I know full well she is absolutely not going to be a shivering wreck, it just feels weird not putting her rug on :)
No more rugs now Iv decided!
 
My chaser clipped pony has not worn a rug for two weeks including at night and he is living out, I was worried he might get a chill but he seems fine though he was a bit fed up today because he was too hot.
 
SO1 said:
I was worried he might get a chill but he seems fine though he was a bit fed up today because he was too hot.
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This is what I mean.

I see people worry alot.....but I've never actually seen a horse catch a chill from not wearing a rug.

I'm wondering if I've just been lucky for the last 20 years?
 
My friends very hairy heavy weight cobalob got a chill a few weeks ago but he wasnt rugged and it was the day after we had 9 degree in the morning and then for hours later was 2 degrees and snowing! It developed into a thorat and chest infection. This cob is never rugged even in the snow.

X
 
slightlyconfused said:
My friends very hairy heavy weight cobalob got a chill a few weeks ago but he wasnt rugged and it was the day after we had 9 degree in the morning and then for hours later was 2 degrees and snowing! It developed into a thorat and chest infection. This cob is never rugged even in the snow.

X
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Does he ever wear a rug?
 
I'd have had to rug my Tb girl today had she still been with us (I lost her earlier this year).
In all the time I had her, she never could stand being cold, and would shake with cold if she got wet in even high July or August temperatures. She'd stand, tucked up and shivering, and stop eating, which in turn made her colic. I'd have to 'rescue' her and rug her up to dry her off, then put a no fill on, and only then could she live. :D
My other two don't feel the cold so I don't have the same problems with them.
I have never been able to stand interfering people who think they know best about everyone else's horses - mind your own business and look to your own horses.
Curtain twitchers the lot of you! :p :D
S :D
 
Shilasdair said:
I'd have had to rug my Tb girl today had she still been with us (I lost her earlier this year).
In all the time I had her, she never could stand being cold, and would shake with cold if she got wet in even high July or August temperatures. She'd stand, tucked up and shivering, and stop eating, which in turn made her colic. I'd have to 'rescue' her and rug her up to dry her off, then put a no fill on, and only then could she live. :D
My other two don't feel the cold so I don't have the same problems with them.
I have never been able to stand interfering people who think they know best about everyone else's horses - mind your own business and look to your own horses.
Curtain twitchers the lot of you! :p :D
S :D
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Actually I am trying to learn from other people's experiences rather than just relying on my own.

But thanks for your input.

I'm sorry you lost your old girl.
 
In late winter and on a really cold day a few years back I worked on a RS. One instructor had 2 horses in a lesson until 5.30pm and worked them til they were caked in sweat. He was then going to fire them straight out - rugged - and when I raised my concerns to YM regarding the possibility of chill, they figured one night wouldn't make a difference.

Poor horses were turfed out and the next morning came in, freezing cold and tucked up. It took us putting several blankets on each of them to get them warm and back to normal (from 0700 - 1330 approx).

This could so easily have been avoided and I was raging!
 
My girl doesnt catch a chill but she shivers like a leaf and gets very tense and she has muscular issues anyway so I don't think its very good for her to hold herself like that so I try and make sure shes well rugged (still get it wrong occasionally :rolleyes:)

Shes fully clipped and in a 100gm standard neck tonight, until recently though she was in a 200gm standard neck overnight. When it was very cold she had her 100gm stable under a 450gm combo and just felt luke warm under it!!!
 
A few years back mine was struggling with allergies and went up to the RVC for testing.

They took all his rugs off and left him naked. it was an especially cold january and snowing and their stables are these big barn style ones and the wind whips through. He had no bed just mats. He had been wearing a hw at night.

When I got him back they advised to do without rugs, he wasn't clipped but as a tb didn't have much of a coat. He was on box rest at the time but still it was cold in the stable. His coat fluffed up to trap air, he ate lots of haylage and was absolutely fine.

It changed how much I rug. Allergies all gone now and I do rug, but I'm about the last to rug and the first to stop using them on both yards he's been on and he always has a lighter rug that other horses around him.

He's been naked day and night for a few days and before that he just had a fleece at night. In fact I spend today packing up all my rugs for the summer. I've left out a rain sheet and a fleece/cooler in the stable.
 
I was wondering earlier how many owners would know the signs of an over heated dehydrated horse heading towards organ failure looking at some in fields with full necks on in 20 deg full sunshine :eek:
 
I think this may be in relation to something I posted? I was just concerned that a fully clipped poorly pony, that couldn't move around, might get cold (rather than catch a chill if you get what I mean). Everyone was saying take it's rugs off because it's been warm but the owner said it was a cool barn the horse was in.

I have had to rug a TB up in June, on a warm day, because she was shivering and cold. A first for me! I'd had her since she was 6 months old (she was 12 then) so knew her very well but was surprised she was so chilly on a hot day.
 
Hedgewitch13 said:
I think this may be in relation to something I posted?
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No, just general musing from being really hot in my hoody and walking past stables this afternoon and seeing horses and ponies still in the same combo rugs they have been wearing all winter.

I think it's wrong but I'm basing that on my own experience...just wanted other people's experiences, hence the post.
 
I've never known a horse actually get ill but have known a couple shake strongly if they get cold.

Personally I like to put as thin a rug on as possible. J has been naked during the day for a good while now:D
 
I'd also like to point out that, at this time of year, the hotter the day is, the cooler the night.
So it wouldn't be entirely unknown to be 20oC in the day, and frosty overnight.
S :D
 
My pony who is a tb x but looks like a little Welsh pony and has never been clipped was kept for a while in a field with no shelter. She could be stabled overnight. If I got her rugs wrong she could get very cold and would shiver until I could warm her up. On a day like today she would not need a rug though but overnight in or out she would have done as the temperature will drop so much overnight. I am not sure what the symptoms of catching a chill as such would be certainly mine only needed to be warmed up but then she would not have spent a long time being really cold. There were no apparent longer term effects.
 
My boy is wearing his medium rug tonight (naked in the daytime). Its been 1deg overnight here but i'm currently struggling to keep weight on him and i'm airing on side of caution.
 
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