how to get foal used to rug?

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secretwhisper

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hi guys, hope everyones ok! i was just wondering how to get 8 week old foal used to his rug for when its winter, we have tryed using just a old bandage on his back and he was fine.. but would love to know anything else to make him used to it. thanks :p
 
You will be. Surprised just put it on after a couple days it's normal ours all had Velcro and was really fiddly just no stress you might find it will try to run off but just be calm and gently stay with it no problem :)
 
Nature will give him a fluffy coat for winter, he will be a good six months old be the end of year. Rugs and youngsters are a liability in my view.
 
If he is still on the dam be VERY CAREFUL....putting a rug on a foal changes his smell and appearance. Mares often savage their foal if a rug has been put on and the mare not aware of this.....it is much safer to leave a foal unrugged until he is weaned and then wear a rug in their yearling winter.....
 
He's 8 weeks old, leave well alone for now. If and when you do want to rug him though....if you expect him to be scared, he will be, because he'll pick up on your concern. Just get on with it. If he's regularly handled and confident with you, it won't be a problem.
 
mine wasn't 'just ok' although a yearling not a foal. I put a saddle cloth on her first - well after getting her used to being touched by it, then used to take the fly rug of my other and put that over her back whilst I led her in, it took a while but now she is fine.
I do agree he shouldn't need a rug for now unless there was a problem.
 
AdorableAlice said:
Nature will give him a fluffy coat for winter, he will be a good six months old be the end of year. Rugs and youngsters are a liability in my view.
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This. Unless he is really thin skinned then I wouldn't bother rugging until he's about three (unless the cold is extreme).
 
Agree with Adorable Alice and DabDab - my now 4 year old went through his first 3 winters without any kind of rug even though we had two -20 winters and then a very wet one!!!

Certainly in his weanling and yearling years he would have been way too hot in a rug, his coat was so blinking thick he would have been very unfcomfortable.

What breed is this horse? I would just plan not to rug and only if you find he is too cold (ie shivering) then I would leave alone
 
DabDab said:
This. Unless he is really thin skinned then I wouldn't bother rugging until he's about three (unless the cold is extreme).
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I had the privilege of visiting Kirklington Stud last year. The weaned foals winter out in groups. The stud is nestled in a valley and has wonderful natural wooded shelter bands. The youngsters are fed daily and not a rug in sight on them or their dams who are also wintering out in other paddocks.

When you consider that the foals I looked at were sired by Montjue, Sir Percy, Gallileo and the like. The small furry mare that caught my eye was none other than Soviet Song.

Of course there will always be moments when foals and youngstock may need additional warmth for whatever reason, but when you see the antics that babies get up to I would be forever worried about them getting caught up in a rug.
 
How to get him used to a blanket? Get him in a stable. Put a rug on his Mum, then put one on him. He will do probably one of three things, he will stand still and not move, he will run around or he will do absolutely nothing at all.

All that depends on him, and how much he has been handled. From Day 1 my foals have a blanket put on them, just for a few minutes. Same as halter, touching all over and feet. The sooner you do stuff with foals when they are small enough to hold the better. An 8 week old is a chunk and strong, sometimes it is a fight.

Do it as soon as you can, just because you do it doesn't mean that he has to be rugged, just that he can be. It is just one of those life lessons that a horse needs to learn - for his own benefit.

Rugging foals? Everybody does things their own way, nothing wrong with that at all, it depends entirely on your set up, the climate and the horse itself. My rule of thumb is that if a horse, any horse, is loosing condition, cold, ill or old then on goes an extra layer - why feed the weather? Time of year and temperature has absolutely nothing to do with it, or should not, neither should whatever anyone else says or thinks.

I rug my youngsters in winter if they need it, never had any dramas. Mares are rugged too and a foal very quickly learns to nudge the rug out of the way. Just do away with leg straps and use one of them as a fillet string instead.
 
My foals are born when it can still be cold at times so often they are rugged within days of them being born. I take the little foal rug and rub the outside of it over the mare and then I rub it over the foal. I let the mare sniff the outside of the rug. I use Horseware foal rugs which have velcro and then velcro straps. I put the rug on and push the inner bit of velcro together. Then I bring up the belly flap and push the inner velcro together. I leave the bum piece just sitting on the foal's back. Then I do up the velcro straps at the front and then the belly straps. Once they are all on I pull the bum flap down and flick the fillet strap under the tail.

As weanlings going through their first winter without their mothers, I just put the rugs on normally and they are all fine as they must have some inbuilt memory that this is not a scary thing. Of course by then they trust me fully and know that I don't do anything to them that would hurt them.
 
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