Living out unrugged and clipping?

Tnavas said:
To be honest I cannot understand why your horses are sweating so much, could it just be that they are not fit enough.
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What a ridiculous thing to say! My husband has a physical job (farrier), runs marathons, does triathlons and the odd Ironman, 100 mile cycle rides etc. I think you would say he is physically fit, but he was still sweating trimming the gardenhedge yesterday as it was unseasonably hot and no breeze at all. You have to remember that a lot of horses are already developing their winter coats at this time of year - I think even Mo Farah would sweat if you ask him to run wearing a woolly jumper, and that again would be nothing to do with his fitness levels! Sweating does not automatically mean unfit! I can quite understand that your school horses didn't need clipping in a snowy winter - the weather is cold and riding school horses tend not to be doing much fast work. If my pony was in slow work and it was the middle of winter I probably wouldn't clip her either. But in an unseasonably hot September, when she has already grown a lot of hair and is expected to do fast work, I don't think it is unreasonable to clip her and is no reflection on her fitness levels!
 
For those of us who prefer not to rug there is a handy formula for keeping the horse warm ----

"To cope with the heat balance in cold weather requires more horse feed. A 500 ​​kg horse requires about 0.15 kg hay extra for each degree below the lower critical temperature, ie about 20x0,15 = 3 kg at -2 ° C, the lower critical temperature is 18 ° C."
 
Totally agree with above. My pony was sweating unrugged just standing around in the field the other day I'm pretty sure that activity didn't require much effort! She has pretty much got a thick winter coat already and it was 25 degrees yesterday. No wonder she is soaked from head to foot when I ride her. I was contemplating a bib clip or something (anything!) and leave her unrugged. But decided will stick to what I usually do and clip her properly when its cold enough to need a rug. Until then will have to keep cleaning a foamy, sweaty pony after every ride :S I am really wanting to get those clippers out though!!!
 
I free schooled my Highland for about 30 minutes yesterday, for most of which she was just walking and trotting round and she was dripping in sweat afterwards and she is used to doing fast work and is ridden 5-6 days a week so is reasonably fit. Needless to say, the clippers will be coming out for her in the next couple of weeks but she will absolutely not be rugged until she starts to feel the cold, or if rain and thick mud starts to prevent me from being able to ride her, plus, she is likely to get cold if she is a bit wet too (She lives out and has a large field shelter and is usually very sensible with utilising this if the weather is unpleasant).

In all honesty though, I would rather sacrifice riding a day or two week and have her comfortable out naked (And a bit wet and muddy!) rather than me put a rug on her and her be hot, (Which she will be in a rug until about November unless there is a dramatic drop in temperature) just so I can ride her.
 
I have a solution that will suit you all - move to Yorkshire. It's nice and cool up north, meaning no sweaty ponies and no need to clip yet. Problem solved! ;)
 
PolarSkye said:
Can I just ask - why the insistence that you know best? Haven't you heard people saying "it depends" . . . or do you really believe that the majority of horse owners in the UK are blind sheep who follow trends and don't have a clue how to look after their own horses?

Oh, and while SOME people may rug to keep their horses clean, not ALL of us do - and if said horse isn't uncomfortable in any way, what on earth is wrong with that? As it happens, Kal isn't rugged to keep him clean - if he was, I wouldn't spend a flipping fortune on stain removers in the summer (when he is unrugged) . . . and, here's the remarkable thing, I am not unique.

P

P.S. I honestly don't know why I got sucked into this argument - I swore a while ago that I wouldn't engage in any more pointless "to rug or not to rug" discussions . . . sigh . . .
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If that is the impression you get from my post - its not the intention of the content - I was merely standing up for myself when one person got nasty.

I don't rug mine because she doesn't need it but my TB's have generally been rugged in winter.
 
All my ponies where bib clipped for hunting as a child they where not rugged one was trace clipped and unrugged .
They all where fine however I think you need to be prepared to rug if the horse looked like it needed it.
 
fattylumpkin said:
For those of us who prefer not to rug there is a handy formula for keeping the horse warm ----

"To cope with the heat balance in cold weather requires more horse feed. A 500 ​​kg horse requires about 0.15 kg hay extra for each degree below the lower critical temperature, ie about 20x0,15 = 3 kg at -2 ° C, the lower critical temperature is 18 ° C."
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Or you just look at the horse and see what it's telling you.
 
Is this a good time to admit that my miniature Shetland has spent most of the summer wearing a no fill turnout 😵
This is because I couldn't find a fly rug to fit and it worked perfectly and actually seemed to keep him cool even on scorching hot days...
 
I think quite a lot of people don't rug to keep them cleaner! Frank hasn't really seen one all summer.

We will definitely stick with our rhino turnout rugs for when he is clipped in winter though and I will stick to my mustos. Nothing on earth could make me go and buy a canvas rug!
 
Wow, this kicked off a bit since I last posted!

Moomin1 - I will not restrict their access to the hedgerows unless I have absolutely no other option, they are so important for shelter and the variety of plants the horses have access to.

I think most have missed my reply back on about page three. Obviously if she gets cold I wont just leave her with nothing, but knowing her I doubt she will provided she has enough to eat, which she always does.
 
Samlf, is there any particular reason you think your mare will rip her rug to shreds on the hedgerows? You say she has been unrugged previously, so presumably she has not had occasion to rip rugs before. Just that we have natural hedgerows around our fields too, including holly and hawthorn, and although rugs might get the odd small tear, there has never been a massive problem with rug destruction!

Personally, I'd see how she goes, both in terms of clipping and rugging - if the weather is much colder when her workload increases then she might not need clipping at all. Or if she is getting hot now, you could clip now, but let it grow out when we get the really cold weather. But if you do clip, make sure you actually do have a rug on standby for when you need it, even if you don't automatically put it on her!
 
I clipped out our ISH mare two weeks ago - she is in a decent amount of work and eventing fit - she finished full of running and barely blowing at her last BE100 this week and recovered faster than many so is certainly not lacking fitness - she was however getting warm in this unseasonably hot weather and sweating a lot. Since being clipped the most she has worn is a fleece a couple of nights when its dropped below 10 but other than that she is in a cotton sheet at night (indoor barn stable) and a fly rug during the day. She is plenty warm enough and frankly if I started piling wool rugs on her she would be hot, itchy and uncomfortable. She is by nature a hot horse and never requires a lot of rugging - I rug the horse in front of me - to to some magic "one size fit's all" formula.
 
Blimey I must be a really bad mum then:

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Tartine is out overnight with no rug on - but it is still 25C during the day and 15C at night (which is why she has a early clip, because she's so hot!). Once the temps drop to more autumnal temperatures (i.e. <8C or wet AND windy) she'll have a lightweight/rain sheet on.
 
Absolutely fine my new forest had a bib clip lived out and was not rugged until January because last autumn was so mild and we had so much grass he was also muzzled till mid December.

In January it got a bit colder so he wore his either his MW or LW turnout depending on the weather and also by then there was less grass so not getting so much warmth from eating large amount of fibre.

I think it really depends on the weather and also how much fibre they have to eat and how much shelter. When it got really cold one winter down to -15C he wore his HW turnout. He actually seemed to get colder and need more rugs when he wintered in at night one year than he did wintering out probably as he could not move around so much to keep warm.
 
Sit on my hands, sit on my hands, don't get drawn into another overheated (pun intended) rugging debate...

Oops, too late.

Right, mine would be absolutely fine out tonight with a trace clip and no rug because he's a hardy beast, has plenty of grazing and it's warm and dry, despite heavy cloud.

His field mate might not, being finer and ten years older.

The forecast for tomorrow night is much cooler so I would re-evaluate, were he clipped. As he's not yet, he'll still be naked.

As so many have already said, it all depends on individual horses, environment, etc etc.

To be fair, I think we get so many rugging threads because people are worried about not trusting their own judgement, particularly after reading so many previous threads that say do/don't rug ever. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

There have been one or two occasions when, in the middle of a chilly night, I have wondered if my horse is warm enough. However, at 6am the following morning (when the temperature is often at its lowest), I have never found him cold. I am schooling myself to trust my own judgement and not give two hoots what other people, with different horses, do or think. I, too, have 40 years experience with horses but I think I have to get to know each horse before knowing how he/she will react to temperature/grazing/forage changes before deciding on rugging. In the mean time, I would generally under-rug because I think being slightly chilly is easier for the horse to cope with than being over-heated.
 
Fully clipped the native today. He's out unrugged tonight, however as I'm sitting in the garden in a T shirt and the temperatures won't drop below 16 tonight, he'll be fine.
 
People mard their horses far to much, your horse will be fine with a bib clip WITH OUT A RUG
Ive been doing this for years and ive never had a shivering horse.
 
My TBx was clipped a fortnight ago because he was too hot in work. He hasn't had a rug near him yet because he hasn't needed in, although he is in at night. He'll get one as soon as he needs it, but not a moment before - too hot is as bad as too cold.

OP, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with a bib clip and leaving unrugged if the horse is the right temperature. If people want to start lambasting the BHS, my ancient Manual of Horsemanship talked about bib clipping not requiring a rug...
 
JFTD said:
Exactly. Mine currently has more coat than most blood horses grow in the depths of winter - and it's over 20 degrees here! Three weeks ago he was doing 6-8km solid canter work and barely sweating. This week, forty minutes schooling has left him dripping. I don't think his fitness is the issue here.
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Same here, though mine hasn't really learnt canter yet. He sweats up on a 20 minute walk at the moment and he is plenty fit enough. If I school he is a dripping soggy mess. I can quite understand why many owners are clipping at the moment, and rugging is their decision based on their own judgement and knowledge of their own horse. I have chosen to hold fire on the clipping for now as this weather can't last for too many more weeks, and instead I hose down after riding the same as I do in the middle of summer. The fewer clips I can get away with and the fewer times I have the post-clipping hairy bra and hairy eyeball syndrome the better - again that is my decision.
 
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