How warm is warm? Horse rugging

[Hormonal Filly]

I've noticed how much this differentiates in peoples personal opinions. Everyone rugs differently depending on the horse, breed, weight, age and I've never got involved or judged.. but everyone also has a completely different view on how 'warm' a horse should feel.

A friend has 2 heavy weights on her clipped mare (between 1-5 degrees currently out here) non of my business her choice etc but she recently felt my gelding and said he didn't feel warm enough, to my surprise. My gelding is in the equivalent of a heavy weight now as hes fully clipped welshy. Hes a good weight, nice and shiny. I think he feels 'warm' and the temperature I like mine to be, not to hot but not cold. I've had him years so always kept them to this temperature. I felt her mare after out of interest, she was absolutely boiling, baking in fact. To me she felt to hot, but to her owner she felt just right.

Another friend has a half clipped gelding, its out in a thin light weight (no fill) and not carrying enough weight so being fed up bucket fulls a day. To her, the horse feels warm but to me he feels cold, barely any warmth under the rug specially for a ribby type.

I know both of these girls incredibility well, we have a good laugh and its entirely their choice what they rug their horses and i'd never suggest otherwise but it did really interest me on how everyone has completely different opinions of how warm a horse should be.
How warm is warm? Does being to hot have negative affects, same as to cold.. mmmm..

 

[be positive]

It is very much a personal opinion but to my mind if a horse is partly clipped and is in less than ideal condition then it seems totally wrong to be stuffing it full of feed when probably wearing a decent rug would be more beneficial, at the end of the day each owner is entitled to do as they wish and being too hot can be worse in many ways than being a bit cold although if a horse looked poor I would pop a rug on before increasing the feed, it would also have adlib hay.

 

[Alibear]

Good question but I don't think anyone really knows the answer. I don't even think we know if skin temperature has a bearing on actual temperature of the horse. Skin temp can change a lot quicker than core temp. Is it even an ideal core temp that we're going for?
You've only got to look at the arguments around heating in a shared office to realise humans are happy at different temperatures so I assume its similar for horses. But perhaps that's wrong.

 

[ihatework]

Putting your hand under a rug actually isn’t a brilliant method for anything other than feeling if they are way too hot. When they are clipped they loose their natural insulation so pretty much anything that is clipped and rugged will feel at least warm to the touch under the rug (body heat trapped).
Whereas the equivalent horse with its winter coat and a rug over might actually feel less warm to the touch (due to body heat kept in by coat).
Touching a horse with a full winter coat and no rug again will feel positively cool compared to a clipped horse but it’s not because the horse is too cold.

The real indicators are the stance & expression of the horse, if the coat is a bit starry, body condition etc.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Massive bone of contention - seen a lot of arguments in my time about this very subject! Generally speaking layers are better than one big rug but I think people tend to over rug to be honest. Mines out today in a M/W rug with a neck and its real feel minus 2 here. Last night she had a thin fleece and a lightweight quilted rug with a neck on and felt a bit too warm when I left her if I'm honest. But she's old, unclipped (but very fine coated) and I think its better being slightly cooler than too hot - I'd hate to think of her sweating under her rugs, desperate to have them off and being unable to, it must be torture! Having said that I think you have to draw the line at five or six rugs as I've seen some folk put on at previous yards. One horse was so hot under his four rugs that he used to drink two buckets of water at night and the rugs were so heavy to lift off him in one go you had to strip him of each one! His reaction when you rugged him told you he didn't want them on yet his owner insisted, it was a shame. He ended up getting colic one night because he was too hot.

Agree with IHW. You can tell when a horse is cold as he will look all 'gathered up' and will also have a coat resembling velvet where the coat stands on end as the hairs attempt to trap heat between them,- the very reason we get goosebumps.

It's very rare I've seen my horse like this but it has happened on occasions over the years when its suddenly gone cold.

 

[catkin]

Really tricky one - doubt if there is one definitive answer.

I've just come back from riding my pony, and it's made me think of another question - it depends upon what they are doing/have been doing when you test the temperature. My pony was warm to the touch when I left him 10 minutes ago but I put a little cooler rug on him until he goes out in about half-an-hour as that heat is from muscles that have been working not just his ambient temperature.

 

[Red-1]

Mine is happy and relaxed when she is warm enough. Sharp and tense when she is not.

I don't let her be so hot that she sweats. I agree with an earlier poster that to be so hot you sweat and not be able to take your jacket off must be awful.

Jay Man would seem quiet if he was cold, and lose weight rapidly. I did not need to worry about him being too hot as he had perfected he art of removing his rug, leaving it on the floor with all the straps still done up!

 

[milliepops]

I think some seem to have a more acceptable temperature range than others, too. Same as people. We all know people that are always hot, or always cold.. (I'm always cold!)

My welshie absolutely does not tolerate being what I would consider "comfortably warm", she gets tetchy, is clearly itchy etc. She overheats easily, today it's 3 degrees with a bitter wind and she is fully clipped, in a 100g turnout. She feels warm to the touch, cos I clipped her 2 days ago.. I'm basically touching her skin. I know that I must err on the side of keeping her cool.

My WB is much less accepting of cold (turns into a sharp twit) and doesn't seem to overheat so easily. It would be tempting to wrap her up super warm to help with the behaviour but the reality is as she still has half her coat, she doesn't need that much.

My naked and woolly oldies feel cold to the touch until you bury your hand into their armpit fluff or similar, when it's clear that they are quite warm enough under their own coats. I don't intend to rug them unless absolutely necessary. It won't hurt them too much if they have a few chilly days, they have loads of forage to go at

 

[Old Speckled Hen]

Well, I always erred on rugging less... But this year my IDx (not clipped!) has decided she'd quite like to wear a rug and keep warm!!

Picture the scene... Rug hung up inside stable - mare normally leaves it alone. One night early autumn I'd left her ladyship naked as is normal in the stable at night thinking "she's fluffy, its not that cold..." WEll, it did get very cold that night ... the never normally touched rug hung up in the stable ? In the middle of the bed that next morning. Maybe just a coincidence? But since then she's been rugged... And since then the hung up rugs remain untouched ...

This year esp, she's looked a bit tucked up and stary coat, so against my better judgement, she is now in 100gram (with a neck *shakes head*) and she seems a lot happier.

*sigh*

 

[Alibear]

I feel a bit better than I'm rugging mine based on the pissed off mare stare and angry looks I get when she appears to be cold. Once she's had a warm rug on for a bit she cheers right up again. It means she's being rugged more than any of my previous horses but it genuinely seems I have a more content horse because of it. I still feel bad about it though. She's not clipped and was in a MW stable rug last night for the first time this year as it was forecast to be around 2 degrees over night and I was met by mare stare when I got to the yard at 6pm and she was in her LW as normal. She's a good weight but just doesn't appear to appreciate the cold weather, her coat is very fine and she is thin/sensitive skinned.

 

[Old Speckled Hen]

Gargh!! Bloody horses!!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Well, I always erred on rugging less... But this year my IDx (not clipped!) has decided she'd quite like to wear a rug and keep warm!!

Picture the scene... Rug hung up inside stable - mare normally leaves it alone. One night early autumn I'd left her ladyship naked as is normal in the stable at night thinking "she's fluffy, its not that cold..." WEll, it did get very cold that night ... the never normally touched rug hung up in the stable ? In the middle of the bed that next morning. Maybe just a coincidence? But since then she's been rugged... And since then the hung up rugs remain untouched ...

This year esp, she's looked a bit tucked up and stary coat, so against my better judgement, she is now in 100gram (with a neck *shakes head*) and she seems a lot happier.

*sigh*

My Draft mare, who was obese when I got her and clipped out by her previous owner, was only happy when I realised that she hated having her neck wet (except on hot days when she liked to have a shower starting on her neck!). I bought her a full neck rug. I have kept horses for well over 40 years and that was the first full neck rug that I have ever bought. My cob who is the same rug size hates having a neck cover on, so I can't hand-me-down the rugs

 

[SEL]

M grows a double coat and is so well insulated that if you touch anywhere but his armpits he feels cold. Armpits roasting normally. I only tend to throw a rug on him if it's lashing down because he isn't a fan of rain. He can actually get condensation on him under rugs.

The PSSM mare likes to be warm. She was accidentally rugged in her 100g in summer instead of her rainsheet and was fine with it! So she has an enormous wardrobe with every tog going and is vile if I get it wrong. Even unclipped she's in heavier weight rugs than most.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I feel a bit better than I'm rugging mine based on the pissed off mare stare and angry looks I get when she appears to be cold. Once she's had a warm rug on for a bit she cheers right up again.

I may have your mare's twin! Mine does the pissed off mare stare and angry looks thing too, if the rugging arrangements do not suit her (she likes to be warm).

 

[Pinkvboots]

It is difficult as people have different ideas on what weight rug to put on, most people I know in my view over rug I see un clipped fat cobs with thick full neck rugs on when its 12 degrees and sunny, and I can't believe that any horse needs to wear 2 heavy weight rugs clipped or not.

One of mine is clipped and in a 200g at night at the moment as its been chilly last few days,and 100g if it is warm and sunny during the day, the unclipped one is in a 100g at night and a no fill if it's warm during the day, both feel warm they get plenty of hay and are a good weight.

 

[SEL]

I feel a bit better than I'm rugging mine based on the pissed off mare stare and angry looks I get when she appears to be cold.

Avoiding the pissed off mare look is always the best judge of right vs wrong in my life!

 

[Casey76]

.

Agree with IHW. You can tell when a horse is cold as he will look all 'gathered up' and will also have a coat resembling velvet where the coat stands on end as the hairs attempt to trap heat between them,- the very reason we get goosebumps.

It's very rare I've seen my horse like this but it has happened on occasions over the years when its suddenly gone cold.

That’s exactly how horses keep themselves warm. A horse who is “puffed up” is just using their natural insulation to keep warm, and as long as they’re not shivering they are usually OK.

When we add rugs, we stop the ability for the erector pili muscles to do their job, as the weight of the rug stops the hairs from rising; and also they are usually warm enough -due to the rug- to not need that layer of insulated air next to the skin.