Interesting article about temperature regulation in horses. Worth a read

milliepops said:
my oranges are fairly fly-free ;)
I buy a fly rug about once every 5 years.. and sell it again virtually unused the next year. The last time I had one was for Millie who was getting bitten loads, but one day she got something really vicious trapped under the damn rug and that was the end of that! :rolleyes: I wonder if some horses just have "come bite me" pheromones or similar ;)
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That's my fear of the "Ride On" fly rugs. What if something gets under it & trapped!?!
 
Dave's Mam said:
That's my fear of the "Ride On" fly rugs. What if something gets under it & trapped!?!
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poor girl was covered in angry lumps, I really felt like I had failed that day, and I was just doing my best not to let the horseflies get at her :oops: you're right, it would be pretty disastrous to get a wasp or something stuck :eek:
 
Round here it's barely broken 10 during the day with scattered light rain and decent wind. It's been a bit colder at night, but the wind has mostly dropped off and it's been dry. Changing rugs wouldn't make sense at all. Today, it's 20 degrees and over 10 at night, everything is naked, and thoroughly confused by the weather!

I don't worry about wasps getting stuck in my mare's ride on fly sheet. I've seen her murder one with its stinger still stuck in her shoulder while I was riding. She barely even flinched - because she's epic :cool:
 
Ambers Echo said:
I'd seen a bit of general HHO bashing on FB from when he first posted about this but just been on the page and I cannot believe a respected scientist is behaving like a schoolyard bully, gleefully egged on by his fans. Very disillusioned. I'd followed his page with interest for a while but I'm steering well clear now. What a total and utter tool.
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Same here. He comes across like bit of a wally there.

PapaverFollis said:
Well, I quite like HHO, fwiw. I mean, I don't feel like anyone has been horrid even when I've posted really inane shite and/or really stupid questions.... the worst I've been is not responded too but usually at least one person takes pity. 😂
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Same here.

My lovely Ruggles turnout rugs arrived today. Am grateful for the recommendations on here that sent me their way. Bulky HorseFace will also be grateful when it's both freezing and raining stair-rods.
 
indie1282 said:
I use a fly rug as my horses get eaten alive by horseflies and they are much happier in their fly rugs. No creams or lotions will stop them biting and making my horses lives a misery.

They get them taken off overnight and can groom and scratch each other if they choose.

Again, we all know our own horses!
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See, I figure that as horseflies are capable of biting me though my breeches, then a bit of mesh won’t stop them.
I do use a fly rug in midge season as it does stop them, but once the midges go I ditch the fly rug.
I’m also not convinced that fly spray works either.
 
It was 20 degrees here I clipped one of mine in a vest and shorts with a ridiculous ladybird infestation that drove both of us mad, I scrubbed him with a warm flannel with peppermint wash afterwards and chucked him out, next door some horses had full neck turnouts on it beggars belief! It's really not cold at all I just don't get it!
 
Pinkvboots said:
It was 20 degrees here I clipped one of mine in a vest and shorts with a ridiculous ladybird infestation that drove both of us mad, I scrubbed him with a warm flannel with peppermint wash afterwards and chucked him out, next door some horses had full neck turnouts on it beggars belief! It's really not cold at all I just don't get it!
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You've got the ladybirds too? It's weird!

DM - the big boy gets condensation on him some mornings when he's been stabled overnight. Frost on his bottom I'm ok with, but last winter it felt like he was generating his own weather system in his (wooden) stable.
 
SEL said:
You've got the ladybirds too? It's weird!

DM - the big boy gets condensation on him some mornings when he's been stabled overnight. Frost on his bottom I'm ok with, but last winter it felt like he was generating his own weather system in his (wooden) stable.
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If he does that in a wooden stable I would strongly advise never ever stabling him in a stone stable, can you imagine the weather fronts he could create in one of those? Actually do you think horses stabled in stone stables are the real cause of global warming?🤔🤓
 
This has been such an interesting debate.
I wonder if livery yards are (partly) to blame, maybe people just copy others because they are either inexperienced or because they know they'll be interrogated by others if they don't rug.
I don't follow that, btw.
For example, my boy is currently out 24/7, naked, he gets rainsheet if it is going to be wet as there isn't much shelter in his field - otherwise his coat is just doing its thing 😁 and he seems perfectly happy. Someone I know constantly makes comments to me about the weather and how cold it is etc, and I know she's dropping hints. My boy will be rugged when he needs it, could be today, could be the end of next month, just depends on the weather and his condition etc. Her horse is never out without some kind of rug on - on the surface I think she is very wrong in her approach, but her horse is older than mine, underweight etc so I would never interfere.

Anyway. Any hobnobs left?
 
Saw someone walk a horse past in a full neck combo yesterday as I was waiting for my lesson... my car said it was 26 degrees. :oops:
 
I think people just see putting rugs on as a proxy for caregiving. Non horsey visitors will often make the comment "oo, you can see who your favourites are" when they see one or two of my horses rugged and not the other(s).
 
DabDab said:
I think people just see putting rugs on as a proxy for caregiving. Non horsey visitors will often make the comment "oo, you can see who your favourites are" when they see one or two of my horses rugged and not the other(s).
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I agree I’ve had this too. I’ve also had horsey people think it’s cruel not to rug my cob when it’s dry and freezing. He’s another that gets condensation when stabled. I’m pretty sure his coat standing on end is warmer than any rug l can provide.
 
People do ask if you do something different (in general and with rugging). In my experience anyway. But I am cursed with severe "approachable face" syndrome so maybe people just ask me. They're either genuinely curious (fine, don't mind explaining to those people) or getting you into a conversation where they can explain why you are wrong (grrr) or why they simply couldn't do what you are doing. Which makes me grumpy... alright love I'm not asking you to do what I'm doing, you just crack on and leave me alone.

"Going out again?"
"Yup she needs worked everyday"
"Oh I couldn't do that, I work full time/shift work/have kids etcetc"
"Erm ok." (I didn't ask you to work your horse everyday... Just said mine needs it)
 
My Mum is the Queen of 'I feel cold, so the horses need rugs'. You'd all be laughing your socks off if you'd have heard her trying to convince me yesterday that it was going to be 'at least -9 C overnight with loads of rain' and that the horses told her that they *need* rugs. I didn't have any of these problems when I had them on livery and she couldn't see them LOL!

I have found that saying something like 'remember I haven't clipped their fur coat off' is a diplomatic response that she understands. She's not horsey so when she sees other horses that are rugged, she tends to think that mine should be too, so pointing out that they are probably clipped explains to her a logical reason (that she can't argue with) for different management.
 
little_critter said:
See, I figure that as horseflies are capable of biting me though my breeches, then a bit of mesh won’t stop them.
I do use a fly rug in midge season as it does stop them, but once the midges go I ditch the fly rug.
I’m also not convinced that fly spray works either.
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I agree except I now have a black pony, flies of all sorts love him-putting a light coloured rug on him did help reduce the sheer number that targeted him but I now use tritec 14 which kills horseflies on contact and has enabled my other sweetitchy pony to live out without a fly rug. The only other rugs I have these days are rain sheets used about three times a year and a couple of summer thematex for when I bath them if needed.
 
A couple of cobs appeared locally in an unusual place - a bit of woodland by the start of the motorway. Apparently the bloke purchased the land and moved his horses there. He was coming to see them daily and they looked well fed and were in good body condition. It was amusing to see how many non-horse folk on local Facebook pages were outraged that these cobs weren’t wearing ‘blankets’ in colder weather.
 
Re. livery yards my YO did tell me one day that she thought mine had been a bit cold unrugged.
He was, as he had just been clipped and had gone out with a turnout rug on that someone had subsequently helped themselves too.
 
There were much nicer rugs in the field too, his was an 8yo rhino, with a custom tail flap made out of a neck cover as it had got pulled off! I postcoded them all then!
 
Not read the whole thread, very interesting article, today my lad is in a middle weight, but he is a Connie without a full winter coat yet, it's 6c blowing from the NE and he's out on a hill side and doesn't need to loose weight, you can just see his ribs. He is not your typical native is a bu**er to keep weight on in the winter, but when he's got his full coat or if it's warmer tomorrow he will go down in weight of rug or be naked. Surely rugging must depend on the individual horse and the environment it lives in. Common sense aside.
 
SEL said:
You've got the ladybirds too? It's weird!

DM - the big boy gets condensation on him some mornings when he's been stabled overnight. Frost on his bottom I'm ok with, but last winter it felt like he was generating his own weather system in his (wooden) stable.
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I have never seen so many the house windows were covered in them! None today though it's pouring with rain today.
 
Mines rugged today. Its cold and wet and she was cold and slightly shivery. Shes only got a 50gm on though. Its the rain that has made her cold rather than the cold, if that makes sense!
 
Pinkvboots said:
It was 20 degrees here I clipped one of mine in a vest and shorts with a ridiculous ladybird infestation that drove both of us mad, I scrubbed him with a warm flannel with peppermint wash afterwards and chucked him out, next door some horses had full neck turnouts on it beggars belief! It's really not cold at all I just don't get it!
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I can't be that far from you and when I got to the yard yesterday afternoon both my naked tbs were sweating in their stable. Meanwhile there were lots of hairy irish horses with stable rugs on.

I have caved today and put a thin rug on the wimpy one tonight as I don't want him to drop any weight. It was quite cold and their stables (wooden) are a bit drafty and damp. The fat one can stay naked though.
 
2 naked and one in a rainsheet here today...

Gosh these daily rugging reports are fascinating, aren't they? :p
 
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