Living out Rugging/ Rain Scald

[catherine22]

My retired mare lives out 24/7 and is a very good doer. She has a massive winter coat and doesn't really like being rugged (she creates her own with a layer of mud) so I leave her naked as much as possible, now the weather seems to be getting wetter, should I start rugging her to avoid rain scald or could this make her worse as she will most likely get too hot - I don't like putting a no fill rug on her as I think this will make her colder as she can't use her coat - she would have it taken off as soon as it wasn't raining
Her field doesn't have that much shelter, which is why I ask, as otherwise it wouldn't be too much of a problem
What would / do you guys do?

 

[ISHmad]

Can you put up some kind of temporary shelter which doesn't involve planning, like the Protech ones or shelters on skids? Sounds like she is fine at the moment but I personally like them to be able to get out of the worse of the weather when they need to, whether they are rugged or unrugged.

 

[siennamum]

We have an older boy who has a coat like a grizzly bear. He had rain scald a few years ago, was out 24/7 and never rugged. I think the denseness of his coat retained moisture and he wasn't drying out properly.
He now has a rug on when rain is forecast and none when it's ok. He comes in to ensure he is thoroughly dry periodically and is thoroughly groomed on his back to ensure he doesn't get scabby.

His rug is just a rainsheet, he is perfectly warm.