Leaving as Nature Intended?

[JAK]

Small White Useless One is fat - enormously fat! She has been enormously fat every summer for all of her 8/9 years of life so far! And we're not talking 'chubby' here - more 'about to drop a foal' fat, with a back like a coffee table!

She lives out 24/7 all year round on rubbish grazing, though did come into an open stall at night last winter to keep her elderly friend company & to avoid being the only one out at night!
Her fat kept her going all winter on minimal food (picked her way nonchalantly through 2-3lbs of hay & a few carrots)!

Never wears rugs & stands out in all weathers, not remotely bothered & continuing to graze! This is a pony that you could happily dump on the side of a Welsh mountain in autumn, come back in spring & it'd still be alive & thriving! (Coat like a polar bear, windproof, waterproof, feet like iron, the lot!)

Well, the point is, her 'companion' (admittedely not a genuine, real McCoy sec A, as there appears to be some 'show pony' in there somewhere) would not survive such treatment - probably wouldn't last 6 months!

Companion has been 'mollycoddled' to a degree - rugs, extra food, stabled etc. He is a chronic laminitic, is constantly 'dieting' etc., feet are total rubbish, coat is nowhere near as effective as SWUO's & so on!

So.....is it wise sometimes to 'leave well alone' & just let them 'get on with it'? (Not laminitics obviously!) We made the decision to 'leave her be' & she came through winter the best of the lot I reckon - condition, feet & attitude wise, despite the poor conditions, abundance of mud etc.

Bit of a pointless post really but is it possible to 'spoil' a truly hardy, natural pony with over-fussing & pampering, do you think?

 

[tiggie]

My clydesdale highland cross is exactly the same as SWUO, however her neighbour a section D was bred up here then spent the next 8 months of his life after weaning down south,stabled and fed as a potential show horse.Now he is back up here he has to have lots of hard food even though he is on good grazing,unlike mine, and he absolutly panics if so much as a drop of rain falls on him.Given the amount of rain we have up here-currently throwing it down!-this means he is panicing pretty much all the time!

 

[JAK]

We put up with a lot of "Isn't your pony dirty?" comments last winter, after we stopped grooming her completely once winter had really set in!
Yes, she was filthy (chocolate brown all over sometimes!) but her skin underneath was dry & clean & in spring the dirt all fell off with her coat when she moulted!
People then turned round & said "Ooh, have you bathed her?", to which I was able to smugly reply "Nope!"

Now we have "Isn't your pony fat?" Well, yes, she is but she's actually less fat this year than in previous ones, due to her doing even her little bit of 'work', so I try & ignore them but it is annoying!
When she was just ignored in a field, nobody bothered but as soon as I took her over & started bringing her in every day just to check her over & 'play' with her, the comments started! Strange!

She would probably live happily up in your neck of the woods too!
One damp, cold, foggy morning when the rain was sleeting down sideways & everything else was huddled under trees in their rugs, a small lone (slightly grubby! LOL) figure was still cropping at the grass, not looking even slightly miserable or piddled off!

 

[LEC]

All our show ponies lived out 24/7 and when we bought them they would have been rugged and hooded. Horses are tougher than we let them be and would prefer to be left alone. There always will be exceptions to this but I think a few HHO members this year left their horses out 24/7 and have never seen them look so happy or well.

 

[tiggie]

I have noticed this summer that mine spend more time in the field shelter now to escape the flies and occasionally sun! than they do in the winter when they are out on the hill in torrential rain

 

[ruscara]

You are absolutely right JAK! My horse is a Connemara X with an enormously thick winter coat. I rug him up to the nines, I know I overfeed him 'so he comes through the winter well' - and now have had to muzzle him when the grass was new as he was getting so fat! - and generally treat him like porcelain.
This winter I am determined not to make this mistake. He will be rugged sensibly and kept to a proper weight. I know I will feel cruel, though

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
There always will be exceptions to this but I think a few HHO members this year left their horses out 24/7 and have never seen them look so happy or well.

[/ QUOTE ]
Like poor old LBO (sec B), who wouldn't survive a week 'in the wild', let alone an entire winter! LOL

I am thinking of 'downgrading' the rug wearing this winter though & not putting Fat Orange One in anything heavier than a m/w turnout, as he copes really well with the weather & although not sweating or anything, I feel he may have been borderline 'too toasty' last winter, even though he had a high trace style clip!
Cob Blob too should be able to manage to keep warm on his high-fibre diet & again, I think he could possibly be downgraded to a m/w turnout!

 

[tiggie]

Because our weather is so bad I do not like to leave mine totally unrugged-it can rain for weeks on end here without stopping-I have lightweight summer turnout rugs for mine in the hope that they are kept fairly dry but are responsible for keeping themselves warm.Having said that I think Skye will be going on a strict diet in the winter as she is enormous.
Love your blog by the way.

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
I have noticed this summer that mine spend more time in the field shelter now to escape the flies and occasionally sun! than they do in the winter when they are out on the hill in torrential rain

[/ QUOTE ]
Precisely - that is exactly like SWUO! Of all of them, she definitely suffers most in the heat etc. & would much prefer a torrential downpour & freezing fog I reckon!

 

[Sooty]

She sounds like our Toffee, who last winter grew a coat the like of which I have never seen! I think any native pony who is turned out without a rug will eventually toughen up and cope perfectly well. Horses are able to keep warm better without rugs as they can fluff their coats up, however that does come undone when they get thoroughly wet, unless they have grown a significant coat. There is a lot to be said for going through the entire winter never having to change a rug, dry a rug, worry about what rug to put on - but there is a price to pay in shedding in the spring, having to ride a horse that can get quite sweaty, and the sheer amount of mud that can live in such a coat! I loathe grooming mud out of a horse, I am tempted to rug Beano this winter just for my own convenience but I don't think Troggy will let me. Some horses are less hardy and able to cope with wet (cold is rarely a problem), but most native types are fine. So yes, it probably is possible to make a horse less hardy, but I think given time they could revert to type.

 

[Clodagh]

My section A, who is a fairly old fashioned stamp, comes in at night in winter into a lean to, as he squeals like a pig if out on his own. He never wears any form of rug, or shoes and never loses any weight over the winter. He does have to wear a muzzle now, as hes on good grazing, but he is defiantely designed to be on a mountain eating rocks and bracken!

 

[JAK]

It's difficult trying to get the balance right, isn't it m_m?

The first winter we had FOO, he never sweated or looked really 'uncomfortable' but a downgrading of his nightime stable rug produced a noticeably better temper & attitude in him, so he was definitely trying to tell me something!

He's another one that'll stand out in all weathers - naturally built-in 'central heating'! LOL
And his clip takes ages to grow back - he's always clipped only once, yet there won't be a hair grown back on his body 'til way into spring, so he can hardly be cold, can he?

 

[ruscara]

[ QUOTE ]

The first winter we had FOO, he never sweated or looked really 'uncomfortable' but a downgrading of his nightime stable rug produced a noticeably better temper & attitude in him, so he was definitely trying to tell me something!


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes! Marius got very grumpy, to the extent of biting, when I put his rug on at night. Only in hindsight can I see that HE was trying to tell me he didn't want or need it! Poor horse!

 

[matthew]

My friends 1st pony a little 12.2h welsh mountain -never had a stable (think it did have a turnout rug once but it was one of those things that looked a hundred years old held together with bailer twine so stopped using it) never had any hard feed except for a few pony nuts when in work! it is now about 27 and still thriving - it is a companion for my friends eventers ( still nothing wrong with it but you need superglue on yer bum to stay on the little blighter so not really a great 1st pony! it has an old cattle trailer in the field for shelter but doesnt usually bother with it i think it is fine as it is-never been lami in its life!!!!!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
So yes, it probably is possible to make a horse less hardy, but I think given time they could revert to type.

[/ QUOTE ]
The last sentence being the clincher! LOL

We have a Shetland at our place, who arrived with several rugs, inc. a h/w turnout - a bl**dy shetland, for gawd's sake!

(He looks like cr*p, even now - feet, coat, everything!)

However, another little mini Shetland, suspected of being at the onset of Cushing's, rugged up in the rain, brought in daily to be fed etc. & on the verge of being pts, was inexplicably turned out in the pony field (as a 'last resort' possibly, or just lack of time/interest!) & has suddenly blossomed, looks the picture of health & is as happy as Larry!

 

[JAK]

[ QUOTE ]
My section A, who is a fairly old fashioned stamp......is defiantely designed to be on a mountain eating rocks and bracken!

[/ QUOTE ]
Like SWUO he was bred to survive, unlike LBO, who was simply bred to be pretty! LOL

 

[JAK]

Somebody even asked me if I 'felt sorry' for her standing out in the rain without a rug on!

My reply was no & that the reason for this was in her breed name......Welsh.......& Mountain!

 

[Super_Kat]

I used to have 3 welshies and a minature shetland and I used to turf them out in a field for the winter and leave them and they were as right as rain!

 

[Snowberry]

I've always turned all of ours out no matter what the weather!!

If they are going to a show they come in over night to get tarted up, other than that they live out!! (without rugs too if they're not clipped, rugs if clipped)
Glen much prefers being out as he doesnt get so stiff. Marcus (the shetland) will run over to the gate if he thinks there is the slightest chance that someone will bring him in. But thats cos he is a greedy porker who just wants feeding - as soon as he realises you have no food he's off!!!!
I much prefer ours living out (less mucking out for starters!)
Bloody annoys the hell out of me when the liveries moan about poor ponies living in a field without a million rugs on blah, blah, blah......

 

[JAK]

I wish ours were allowed to 'live out' day and night!

As per Super_Kat, being 'turfed out' in a field all winter would suit FOO fine, though like Marcus, he too is a fat, greedy porker always on the lookout for food!

 

[PapaFrita]

I always find it interesting (not in a good way) that people here buy horses off the mountain in winter with coats like a wookie having been out with no rug or shelter (OK, so it doesn't rain much here) and they put them on the yard and immediately worry that they're cold so rug them up.... Sooooooo illogical!!
AND it annoys me that they assume that the rug will make the coat fall out...

 

[JAK]

SWUO is a 'mini Wookie' - she was certainly the colour of one over winter!

Do you have a 'desert climate' in Argentina - hot during the day, freezing cold at night in winter?

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have a 'desert climate' in Argentina - hot during the day, freezing cold at night in winter?

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say 'hot' but generally yes, we do

 

[tigers_eye]

It's not just your proper natives

My mare was on a somerset hill (admittedly not quite the calibre of horizontal rain produced by wales but still damp!) last winter and rugged, but wore it 24/7. She is over half arab, the rest being TB and french stuff. The rug rubbed, it got taken off in January, yes she got rainscald which looked pretty awful but she carried on putting on weight through the winter with no hard food, and looks a picture of health now. She won't have a rug this winter.....

 

[JAK]

...'french stuff'! LOL

Do you think you will be able to keep the rainscald at bay this winter, with her extra coat growth etc.?
(You are very brave - I admit it's not really much of a 'challenge' with a sec A is it?)

 

[Ariella]

Where we live in our little part of South Australia cold is never really an issue....

I mean, we are in the middle of Winter at the moment, and its about 19*C today.... admittedly it is a nice day.... but even our coldest day ever recorded was in July - it was 7.7*C at its maximum for the day - and that was an incredible rarity!! Yes we did think we were freezing that day, but it still wasnt anything like you guys yet!! Our nights at the moment will go down to -3*C on a really COLD night, but mostly hang around the 1 -2 *C..... so still not what you guys would probably even consider really cold!

None of our horses are rugged.... in winter they get fat and hairy and muddy and love it! Even one of our mares that we got about 3 years ago now who was completely pampered til we got her... stabled, rugged to the hilt, prissy show horse.... well, we picked her up in October which was getting warmer by then, days of about 23 - 30*C..... she had a rug on of a night time for a couple of weeks and then it got too warm for that.... so she went naked and has ever since.... When we first got her she would get this horrified look if she got so much as a bit of dirt on her...... now she looks like a mud monster and seems to be proud of it....

I believe she is a much happier, less stressed horse because of her lifestyle these days.... she seems to thrive on being in foal and having a baby at her side.....

She still scrubs up really well to go to a show when she has to....

Our summers get fairly warm.... Our hottest day here was 2 1/2 years ago when we picked up our TB Stallion from a sale we went to..... The day we drove him the 150km or so home it was 53*C in the shade of our back verandah at about 10am..... I kid you not!! It felt like coming into air conditioning from the back yard so I would hate to think just how hot it was in the sun!!

Most of our summer days this past summer (Well its seems that summer is stretching longer and longer these days here! Its hot from about October through to the beginning of April) we average about 35 - 45*C......

You know its hot when the nights only get down to 35 - 37*C!!!!

 

[dieseldog]

A few years ago I had 2 ponies, one was terminaly lame the other was a 2 year old. They spent the winter out with no rugs on or shoes as they weren't being ridden, in a field that had really big hedges, and a fir tree plantation at the bottom so loads of shelter they got hay everyday, so plenty of food, they were as fat as pigs with massive coats.... and I got reported to the RSPCA. Who just said have you upset anyone.

 

[lilym]

you are right!! my friend breeds section a's and they live out unrugged 24/7 all year round, the stallion runs with his mares, and none has ever had laminitis despite being as fat as pigs during spring and summer, they drop off some excess weight in the winter, exactly as nature intended!! they have plenty of natrual shelter and hay in the winter is their only luxury!!
the only reason i rug my cob in winter is because she is fully clipped out and her paddock is quite exposed, my welsh yearling will not be rugged.....she has a coat like duck's feathers and i want to harden her off,