How many rugs do you put on your horse?

Daisychain

Daisychain

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I cant help but notice the amount of rugs some people put on their horses at my yard, sheet, underrug, stable rug with big neck, then a turnout on top!! I have a Belgian horse with a very fine coat and he just wears a summer sheet and light stable rug, and remains warm and comfortable. He is blanket clipped.

I personally think it must be very uncomfortable, and especially with modern type rugs as they are made of mainly nylon type material. I think people need to remember it is a horse, which is designed to live outside in sub zero temperatures! What do you think?
 
i agree, my loan pony is fully clipped out now, only since last week, and she only wears one rug!! shes a norwegian fjord, and as i write this i think it might not be enough for a fully clipped, but she stays warm enough. she either wears a mw stable rug or keeps her mw turnout rug on, so it is easier to put her out am!xxx
 
I hate layering - the bottom layer tends to slip back and pull on the withers IME. Occasionally I'd use two rugs (such as when I still had a wet horse after riding but needed to go home and leave her in the stable, I'd put her fleece on underneath a breathable turnout). I say that in the past tense as she's out and only lightly rugged this winter (much easier!)
Lots of horses at work have two rugs on. They rarely have more than two but it does get a bit much sometimes...
 
i do think its depends on your horse though, my 3/4 TB is full clipped and cannot keep himself warm, yesterday he had a HW TO without a neck on and was so cold all his hairs were standing up, he always has two/three rugs on, but then he needs them so i dont think this is a problem. if he was too hot then he wouldnt be wearing them, i just rug according to his needs
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I agree. My lad is in a supposed to be M/W turnout with a neck but its very light so has a lightweight 100g underneath as the next rug is too heavy to put on now. At night he has a M/W stable on. He is an ISH and not the best at keeping his weight so I try and keep him warm to stop him loosing too much over the winter but hey this is my 1st proper winter with him.

There is one at my yard with full clip she wears a hood thing, then a fleece, stable combo (M/W I think) and then a large I would say H/W on top. I bet she is really warm and uncomfortable.
 
Mine are still in a lightweight day and night only. Not clipped but fine coated and toasty underneath. I agree, see some that have so many on just because they're cold (the owner) and forget that horses where not designed to live in houses with clothes on!! Would rather be too cold than hot myself. Cant be good horses sweating away??
 
I *try* as far as possible to aim for 1 rug but we live in NE Scotland and sometimes it's not feasible to turn a fully clipped horse out in the weather we have with just one rug on. I'd rather they went out for a few hours in two rugs than stay in for the sake of an extra rug.
 
I'll never forget a poor horse at my old yard, in 24/7 as his owner was scared to turn him out, and wore in the region of 7 rugs throughout winter. During summer he'd still be rugged up to the nines
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My share horse is in at night and out in the day in a medium weight rug
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I'm trying to wean myself off over rugging. Most people seem to over rug these days - me included. Mine are living out a lot more this winter, including at night, as I've rented my own field. I've not clipped them so they have nice woolly coats and really only need lightweight turnouts (they're purebred arabs). It's hard not to throw their medium weights or heavy weights on them when the weather is a bit nasty but they have field shelters and we live in a very mild part of the country - 2 metres above sea level and only about 3 miles to the beach.
 
Yep, poor horse, everyone on the yard felt so sorry for him. He wasn't ridden much either and obviously when he was ridden fresh was an understatement!! Shame, he was an extremely talented horse, owner just kept him wrapped up in cotton wool
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i'd only ever put 2 rugs as i'm convinced a hw with fleece or underug is the most any horse would ever need, even if fully clipped. i am a fussy mum though and hate to think of them cold and wet- but would also never leave them being too hot!
 
Gosh I Iam one of those that you all consider to over rug we have got 3 quilted rugs on at moment, another will get added if it drops below zero. And we have never had an over warm horse. Our horses coats are lovley and shiney. I think if you dont have plenty of rugs on I think he coats can look starey
 
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i do think its depends on your horse though, my 3/4 TB is full clipped and cannot keep himself warm, yesterday he had a HW TO without a neck on and was so cold all his hairs were standing up, he always has two/three rugs on, but then he needs them so i dont think this is a problem. if he was too hot then he wouldnt be wearing them, i just rug according to his needs
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I'm exactly the same with my TB, I am not going to leave him to get cold (which he does very easily) so if that means he needs 2 -3 rugs on in really cold weather then so be it. I have never known him to sweat from being over rugged in the 5 years I have owned him!
 
I knew of one lady at my old yard who used to put regularly 7 rugs on. . .more on some occasions

I remember being told that my lad (Chunky cob) was not wearing enough rugs when he was wearing a middle weight and thermotech(even i thought this was a bit much for time of year) . . .they ended up making me think i was being cruel by not rugging him up more. . .i turned up the next morning with flint piled high with rugs and he was sweating his lil bum of poor thing.
 
At the moment the pony is still un-rugged in the stable unless it's really vile and then has a L/W on, my TB has a light fleece & L/W stable rug on at night as she really seems to feel the cold and a M/W turnout in the day, the Dutch Warmblood has a verrry thick fleece or M/W (poss with light fleece) stable rug on as he's an even bigger girl than my mare and the other TB barely needs rugging up at all, a L/W fleece or stable rug if it's freezing as she gets really hot & sweaty in all weathers. I do keep a very close eye on weather forecasts every day though so these are adjusted if we're expecting horrible (or warmer
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I rug according to my horses needs. I find layering really useful. At the moment she is wearing her HW full neck turnout and a summer sheet if needed during the day. At night she has a light weight under rug with a medium weight on top plus her hood.
It may seem loads to some people, but she is fully clipped and her stable can be quite draughty if the winds in the right direction!
She has never over heated with any of this on! All horses are different and some require more rugging than others, don't see why people care what other people put on their horses, as long as it isn't freezing cold or dripping in sweat what does it matter?
 
My mare was clipped today (trace) and she has a quilted stable rug with neck and a medium turn out tonight. She lives out 24/7. During the day she normally has just her m/w or a light stablerug under her m/w depending on the weather. She has never sweated under her rugs and literally stands in the field and shivers when she is cold....either that or tears around the field wrecking it.

All horses are different and require different rugging.
 
Both mine are in lw turnouts at the moment when out in the field as A I want to try and keep them as clean as possible and B I don't want them having woolly coats for winter.
As the weather gets colder the rugs will be upgraded to mws and hw rugs depending on the weather but I do tend to rug up according to the weather conditions on the day. As some winter days can be warmer than others I don't just stick to one rug and will switch between mws and hws depending on the sun warmth and chill factor.
I don't do layering either.
The only time mine ever wear two rugs is sometimes after a bath I may use a sweat sheet and a waffle cooler on the top. But I now have a thermatex rug for the cob so I can just use this now to wick away moisture and keep him warm.
In the stable at the moment they are either wearing a lw stable rug or none at all, as it depends on the forecast of frost and also if the said rugs are dry after being washed.
As the weather gets colder the stable rugs will change to warmer ones and I do have neck covers for both stable and turnout rugs if needed.
I am planning on having both clipped this year though, either trace or bib ( not sure yet) but this won't really affect how I rug them up. I can understand the use of layering or using overly warm rugs though if a horse is fully clipped, thin skinned or has poor condition as they need to be able to retain heat and not use so much energy to keep warm.
Both mine are essentially good doers though so I would never consider over rugging unless fully clipped and they were showing signs of being cold or else were ill and lost body condition.
Caz
 
Sheet and stable rug. If really really cold (ie -5 or below) she has a sleeping bag under her stable rug.
She is a cob that is completely clipped all over.
 
I wrote up a post about this a couple of weeks ago as a girl seemed to be over-rugging her horse at my yard and he looked very uncomfortable in the stable...he had 4 on...it was a mild night as well....
Mine has 1 thin rug on in the stable and 1 heavy turnout as he is out most of the time, without much natural shelter...
 
My 2 mares are out 24/7 with M/W turnouts on - the old girl has a neck on hers. The boys are in at night - Josh goes out with a M/W with neck, or a lightweight T/O on warmer days, and is back in his M/W stable rug until the night temperatures drop again. Adonnis is in a Lightweight stable rug during the day,and a lightweight T/O when he goes out, then he wears a H/W stable rug at night. He has been rugged since September because he is only 3, and being backed this winter. I don't want to clip him and we have grading in 2 weeks, so I needed him to look smart for that. I have never rugged this early before, but he needed to keep a fine coat, and he has!! He is lovely and shiny too - I do monitor the weather pretty closely though, and adjust their rugs accordingly - they had fleeces under their stable rugs when it snowed a couple of weeks back!
 
George only wears 1 rug, his coat is fine-ish but he's not clipped. He has either a LW or MW depending on how cold it is, or his thermatex if he's still a bit damp after working.
 
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