Leaving your horse in the rain without a rug-thoughts?

Im sure horses will live a night out without a rug in the rain!

I also think its becoming an obession to rug in summer i've seen a cob going out one evening to its field in a lightweight turnout then with a fly fringe on it wasn't cold at all and i wouldn't of been surprised if the poor horse didn't sweat in it. I also know of other people rugging during the day even though its still been warm just because there might be a shower of rain also seen medium weight rugs on at night to!!!

I have an irish mare she gets no rugs and wont until november or later i would think as shes fat and doesn't need them and a 30ish yr old out with no rugs on since may as she trashed anything i put on her even when we had alot of torrential rain so i wont rug her now until it turns wet/cold but they live out 24-7 and the oldie just gets two big feeds a day to keep her weight up.
 
My lad is rugged. He has a thin summer coat, and stands and shivers. With a light sheet he moves and eats grass.

In winter, with a thick coat he's fine and doesn't need to be rugged, but his summer coat is awful, and its cold here, and raining
 
micki said:
I find it is turning into an obsession as i am seeing cobs in the middle of summer with rugs on?Why is that needed? It is turning into the latest fad where i live and it doesn't matter what horse it is. I can understand a thin skinned TB on a rainy day when it is blowing a gale in the middle of summer but not the cobs that have a perfectly good summer coat to keep them warm and dry!!not clipped
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One of the main reasons I'll put a rainsheet on even if it's not particularly cold (even on the cobs) is that they are dry when I come to ride.

They won't have rugs with padding on for ages yet but ours do seem to be miserable if wet (they don't have a huge amount of shelter) although they don't mind dry cold. Also my mare was pretty ill with pneumonia 2 months ago so I'm kinda fussing over her still and she's been rugged more than normal recently :-)
 
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My mare gets rugged in the winter/when its really manky and cold but today its peeing it down but not cold so she's still naked and out 24/7. All the other horses wearing rugs were stood with their bums to the rain underneath trees whilst Bella and her field mate Teeko who are both rugless, were stood right in the middle of the field stuffing their faces :D

She was perfectly warm when I went to see her and didn't seem to care about being soggy when I gave her her dinner. If she's warm rugless and is happy then I don't see the point in rugging her up just because everyone else on the yard is doing it!
 
rhino, I found Darach cold in the rain at the start of summer - with his summer coat and torrential rain and cold all night, he was cold. Come winter and the full on fluff he sports, he won't need a rug whatever the weather does. It's about the individual horse and the individual circumstance, surely.

eta all of mine are naked, but no rain to speak of yet and only pleasantly cool relative to yesterday. They also all have shelter.
 
JFTD said:
rhino, I found Darach cold in the rain at the start of summer - with his summer coat and torrential rain and cold all night, he was cold. Come winter and the full on fluff he sports, he won't need a rug whatever the weather does. It's about the individual horse and the individual circumstance, surely.

eta all of mine are naked, but no rain to speak of yet and only pleasantly cool relative to yesterday. They also all have shelter.
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Two of the other rugged ones at the yard are - shock horror - a traditional cob and a native (sec B). The cob has fairly severe EPSM and if he gets stressed or cold at any point he is an unhappy boy for a few days afterwards. The sec B is recovering from a viral infection, a result of which was dramatic weight loss. No point in him using his minimal remaining fat reserves to keep warm.

Horses for courses...
 
My Arabs are still rugless and will be for a few more weeks yet.

They are horses and I do not fuss about them. They are well fed ,plenty of grass and plenty of shelter.

The less you rug the bettter they have a good winter coat.
 
rhino said:
I think the main obsession seems to be with what other people are doing with their horses :confused:
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I agree, to add fuel to the fire both of mine are rugged at the moment. Out in the field and then when they are in at night, we dont have nice weather here and only when its warm and sunny are they out naked. I have my 15 yr old gelding who doesnt do yucky weather and will stand miserable if hes the slightest bit too cold/too muddy/(too over dramatic!) and I also have my warmblood yearling who does yes think she is melting in the rain! Yes if i left them for a night/day they would 'survive' but either they (or I) wouldnt be too happy!
 
Mine is only rugged because he is now fully clipped, although he was out last night in the rain without it because he took it off! Didn't look too bothered when he came in this morning though!
 
Haha I must be oblivious in my Cambridgeshire bubble Rhino it is still rather humid here :-)

I used to worry about what other people were doing more, but with rugging I think there is a lot of room for variation within individuals, we must all have faith that if horse shows us it is too hot or cold, we must believe it and not worry what others will think!
 
Cortez said:
Horses ARE actually waterproof, you know......they don't melt. It's not cold, they have oils in their coats.
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Try telling that to my 2 TB's!

Both can get so wet and cold that they shiver like there is no tomorrow even at this time of year. They are more than happy to come in out of it. The one horse is liable to injure himself if the weather is too bad, so to my mind it's not worth the risk of leaving him out!
 
Yep mine is rugged tonight too, because much as she thinks she's a woolly highland pony that can happily stand in the middle of the field in the worst weather she is actually a thin skinned wb who gets very cold very easily and is a very poor doer. So as I prefer not to have whw on the doorstep and try to keep my feed and hay bills below the national debt of a small country she wears a rug when we get sustained rain and/or single figure temperatures.
 
Out of 5, only one of mine has a rug and that's because he is clipped and on hot days was sweaty just standing in a field. One is usually rugged in winter according to weather and sometimes comes in. He's old and has a liver problem but not rugged yet. My younger cob will only have a rug on in winter if she's clipped or to keep her clean, so it's quicker to get ready to ride. Only you can know what's best, for your horse, you and the situation. Sometimes listening to what you think rather than opinions from others is the best thing anyway, because everyone is different and there probably isn't a perfect answer.
 
mandwhy said:
Haha I must be oblivious in my Cambridgeshire bubble Rhino it is still rather humid here :-)

I used to worry about what other people were doing more, but with rugging I think there is a lot of room for variation within individuals, we must all have faith that if horse shows us it is too hot or cold, we must believe it and not worry what others will think!
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Where's the fun in that though :D There is an Australian NH trainer who has a 'rug terrorist' page on his website, for people to name and shame anyone who has their horse rugged (yes I do realise that it is a tiny bit hotter there than here ;)); I think that is the sort of crusade HHO could do well :D

Suelin said:
Liking this post.
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So would you leave a horse, tucked up and visibly shaking in the rain?
 
Paulag said:
Wonder what we did before all these different rugs were invented? :p

Paula
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We used big heavy smelly jutes over blankets held on with a roller over a foam pad in the stable. And stiff unbreathing New Zealand rugs outdoors which we weatherproofed with tent proofer. :p
 
Probably, he can always charge about to keep warm if he likes. Oddly enough all horses that we keep now were invented before rugs and the species as a whole seems to manage to thrive very well.
 
crabbymare said:
There are foals out in rain here and they and the mares stay out all winter unrugged and so far none have leaked or shrunk so yours should be fine :) Its advertising and other people who make you feel guilty that make you think you need to rug as horses are designed to be waterproof from the oils in the coat and also self insulating when they are not rugged.
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Just as there are here, Standardbreds, as well not hardy natives. There is very little natural shelter available to them and they all live out and appear to do well all winter. Personally, I would prefer they had more shelter in the worst weather but they do cope.

Our 30 yr old is out without rug, she was quite warm at 8.00pm and has had plenty of fibre to eat to keep her warm. The other 2 might lose a bit of weight keeping warm, if we're lucky.
 
Suelin said:
Probably, he can always charge about to keep warm if he likes. Oddly enough all horses that we keep now were invented before rugs and the species as a whole seems to manage to thrive very well.
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Why should they have to? Why not just make them comfortable by chucking a LW rug on? My oldie is recovering from a career ending sdft injury so the less needless charging about the better.. His weight is also perfect, possibly slightly leaner than many people on here prefer but I don't like fat animals.

His breed was also 'invented' after the 2nd world war :)

Horses will survive an awful lot, but where is the problem with making life a little nicer and easier for them? I'm sure the oldie would survive rugless, without feed, farrier or vet attention, but why on earth should he have to?
 
My Mollie has got really fat this summer, despite having less grass and more exercise than last year. :mad: I think it's because last year she was stressed, and now she's settled.

She's been moved into the starvation paddock which has stopped her weight going up further, but she's still a porker. :(

What do people think about them "shivering weight off"? That's been suggested to me. Now while I don't mind her not being all toastie and wrapped up, the idea of her standing out shivering rather upsets me, especially as she's quite an old lady.

However her being fat is worrying too. :confused:

What do others think?

Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but starting yet another rugging thread might not be a popular move. :o
 
rhino said:
Why should they have to? Why not just make them comfortable by chucking a LW rug on? My oldie is recovering from a career ending sdft injury so the less needless charging about the better.. His weight is also perfect, possibly slightly leaner than many people on here prefer but I don't like fat animals.
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Why should they have to? Because they are horses and thats what horses do, they get cold so have a hoon, its windy, so they have a hoon, they get bored so have a hoon, roll in mud, chew a gate,, chase a dog.
letting a horse get wet once in a while isnt the end of the world! ;)
 
Fii said:
letting a horse get wet once in a while isnt the end of the world! ;)
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No it isn't, but neither is chucking on a lightweight rug :confused:

I will never understand the 'wild' horse comparisons on threads like this, it makes absolutely no sense; in the wild my horse would have died years ago...
 
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