Irish thoroughbred- winter out?

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oncloudcuckoo

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I want to move my horse from a DIY yard(no facilities really, no decent turnout in winter, no electric half the time-you know the sort) to a full livery yard that offers grass livery too(fab facilities, huge indoor school, clinics, shows,). I totted up the full livery and then thought about grass livery! I would rug him to the hilt, my head says yes but my heart says "Awwww!" Hes a rescue from Ireland so I bet hes seen some winters. Come on Guys, set me right. He'll be ok....wont he?
 
im sure he will be fine - i work next door to a racehorse stud - very very good reputation, horses always look fabulous and do very well racing, all the youngsters/broodmares live out all year round and rarely have rugs on. (apart from when they are heavily pregnant they come in) when i used to see them out in the cold with no rugs on i thought it was really cruel and felt sorry for the poor things - but after spending a lot of time up there, all of them look fantastic !!! they grow lovely fluffy coats and are absolutely fine ! never seen one cold !
 
He will be fine, the big problem with be you to be honest, when you are sitting indoors and it is lashing down with rain and then you feel guilty about him being out in it.
But you know what he has prob spent many winters out without a rug, so whatever you do dont over rug him as that will do more harm.
 
I have an Irish TB... I'm pretty sure he'd winter out ok given rugs and hard feed/hay. I'd make sure you get a rug with a high denier though, to make sure its totally waterproof.
 
He'll be fine . . . my Kali (Polish sport horse with a high degree of TB in him) lived out before I bought him and did just fine with adequate rugging and access to forage. Kal was on the lean side when we brought him home, but previous owner had deliberately kept him "hunting fit" and it was one of the worst winters (we picked him up from Hereford in Jan 2010).

Your boy will be just fine - and you'll probably find he'll be a very chilled out horsey.

P
 
He will be fine. I had to turn out my very fine WB (siggy pic) last January in all the snow RUGLESS(due to ulcers and aggressive behaviour meant rugging became too dangerous). He went from rugged 24/7 and in at night to out 24/7 rugless with a field shelter and do you know he hardly dropped any weight!!
 
My TB lives out all year as she hates to be stabled. She's rugged according to the weather and has plenty of hay and fed as required, and does fine.
 
He'll be just fine - mine live out all year and only get a rain sheet if really wet, they do have a barn though to go in and add lib haylage/hay which is the key to keeping horses weight on when out in the winter as they keep warm from the inside!:D
 
I have an irish bred ex-flat racer who wintered out last winter really well; we have got very good grazing & good natural shelter, she was perfectly happy in all that deep snow.

I bought her in the autumn, she was a bit under weight (you could see every rib) yet she filled out nicely over the winter, she was well rugged but not over rugged (she was clipped & had a full neck rambo on which kept her nice & toasty). All she had to eat was a scoop of hi fi light every evening & some hay in the snow.

She is now in a starvation paddock as she does so well living out full time that I was worried she might get too fat.

Most horses can winter out, as long as they've got enough to eat & some shelter.
 
If he has company, natural shelter, hay if needed, and a field that drains well, he'll most likely thank you for turning him out.
Don't start rugging too early, keep rugs to an absolute minimum to start with so he can acclaimatize to the temperature drop. When the winter is at its worst, with persistent freezing temps, he'll be better equiped to deal with the cold. Also the access to hay will keep him warm when the grass loses nutritional value.
The TB brood mares near me, worth huge amounts of money, winter out rugless with just haylage. My vet remarked that they are probably the healthiest horses on his patch.
 
He will be fine :) My Irish ex flat racer and he does very well during winter, he lives out all year around even throughout all the bad snow we had last winter. He was fed ad lib hay, no hard feed and only wore a HW rug, with a fleece when it was very cold. He came out of winter very well too but he isn't a wimpy TB he is very easy to keep warm and keep the weight on him.
 
My wimpy warmblood wintered out with no problems last winter. He was rugged adequately, had ad lib hay, one hard feed a day and a field shelter. I think it did him the world of good if anything.
 
Lets face it most of them have spent their first years out unrugged . the main thing is ad lib hay anything more can easily be added , great advice from everyone else , just keep an eye out for rainscald as it can be a curse.
 
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