Majot RANT coming on!

QR - see when I 1st read this thread I was in the 'naked & proud' camp (and still am) but it's interesting to see some of these replies cos I think if you have a hardy horse you don't realise how hard it can be if you don't!
The reason for my last question is a little irrelevant I suppose but I was thinking back to posts in winter asking how many rugs you have on your horse and people saying things like 'oh 6 & he's lovely & toasty'! That to me isn't right as the horse is obviously too hot and over rugging is a cardinal sin where I'm from!
 
i think thts very unfair to pinpoint someone like tht! my TB gets her rainsheet on if it poaring with rain cause she's bloody miserable when shes ringing wet. some people have reasons for rugging there horses.

i like my horses to be left without rugs as much as possible my highland never gets rugged but when it comes to a wimpy TB i would much rather put a wee rain sheet on her to keep her happy dry and warm!!!!!

i take it u never rug ur horses??
 
QR - do people not have field shelters? It doesn't take much to pop up a 3 sided shelter that can be used by teh sensitive souls when it rains - and that way when it is not raining, they are not in danger of over heatng etc?
 
I cant see what the problem is! the horse is not suffering- the owner is not being cruel. As long as the horse is comfortable I cant see why we dont just butt out of people's business- obviously if the horse was wearing it during the day I would understand the concern- but its at night - and temps are dropping to 9/10 degrees- the daytime temps that we have in winter when we do rug.
 
Exactly, I think we are both members of the 'let grey horses be green' club
grin.gif
 
My boys always have midge rugs on and if it is due to piss it down at night then they will have their raincoats on. I know they are waterproof and I dont go running out if they happen to get wet when they dont have their rug on but my boys are exercised nearly every day and I have pride in their turnout (even when just hacking) so I like them to be dry under saddle and clean/shiny and smart looking.
 
[ QUOTE ]
QR - I just have a quick question for those who are still rugging their horses - how do they feel under their rugs? Nice & toasty?
If a horses body feels warm to the touch under a rug then they're too hot.
Now this is not meant to be inflamatory, I'm just curious...

[/ QUOTE ]

But that only applies if the person doing the feeling has body temprature hands. If you have cold hand or (worse) hot hands then you can't truely gauge how hot the horse is.

My horse is usually a little cool to the touch under her rain sheet but if I stick my hands between her back legs she's about my body temp, not warm but feel about the same as my hand. She usually then smacks me in the face with her tail for touching her so inappropriately.
 
Not round here - it's been between 14 & 16 degrees and I've been too hot with my light duvet on & all upstairs windows wide open so there's no way he needs a rug!
wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
QR - do people not have field shelters? It doesn't take much to pop up a 3 sided shelter that can be used by teh sensitive souls when it rains - and that way when it is not raining, they are not in danger of over heatng etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point! Where we live if anyone see's them, even the moveable kind they are made to take them down. However I have had them in the past where they have been hidden. When I had both the girlies living out they did use it and so rugs not required - however when I just had my first horse she refused point blank (even when there was grass inside the shelter but she had eaten down the rest of the field) to go in it and was prone to rainscald so did have a l/w on when is was peeing down.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Not round here - it's been between 14 & 16 degrees and I've been too hot with my light duvet on & all upstairs windows wide open so there's no way he needs a rug!
wink.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

lucky you! my thermometer on the shed door read 11 degreesat 7am in the morning- im still using my duck down duvet.
frown.gif
 
I see very few field shelters in horse's fields. Unless there are only a couple of horses in the field and they get on VERY well, they're just dangerous. I know if there were one in my horses field, he'd be the only one in it!
blush.gif


In some places, they can be subject to planning restrictions.
 
Havent read past the first page by my horse gets one on when he needs it no matter what month it is. He's a wimp, he's prone to losing weight if he gets chilled, and he gets chilled in the field (which is on the edge of the peak district in yorkshire) if it's wet and windy.

My mare and the pony don't get the same concession, but having had him for almost 13 years, I know what the lad needs, and today is sunny but muddy so he's out naked getting happily filthy but not cold.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
nature also provides shelter! which my field doesnt - so that is why i put a rain sheet on my horse when heavy rain is forcast! even in June!!!!!!!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
FFS, they get wet, they dry out! Whst do you think the horses born and bred on the Mongolian steppes do/did. There aint no trees there, nor on the Shetland Isles! Im sorry. I am becoming increasingly disgusted by the 'modern' treatment of the horse. The horse is not a bloody greenhouse plant,. The horse is 500 Ks of blood and muscle who has had the ability to survive and evolve over hundreds of thousands of years. WE DID NOT INVENT THE HORSE. So lets stop destroying what nature has created (as much as is possible). Mairi.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oookay. And breathe, yeah?
confused.gif


We may not have invented the horse, but we did change it. A heck of a lot, in fact. And not all of the survive the cold and the wet.

I don't see how putting a rug on a horse is 'destroying what nature had invented'
confused.gif
 
I always think that its funny when we worry about horses having no rugs on in the rain, charge down to the yard to put a rug on simply to find them knee deep in mud and distainfully looking at the field shelter
grin.gif


personally, i wouldn't have a rug on my horse in this weather, but she is a very 'hot' horse who sweats up easily.

On the other hand, I can see the advantages of having a LW rug on in the summer nights when its raining. I mean surely its better that they are out in the field with a rug on - their natural environment - then cooped up in a stable because of the rain?
smile.gif
 
Crickey! There's another variable to consider in this to rug or not to rug debate - where you are in the country!!!!
smirk.gif

We were at a Wedding on Saturday and it was really quite pleasant even at midnight and after - I would say maybe 17 degress to be honest!
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
The majority of horse owners today should not be allowed near a horse.

[/ QUOTE ]

I take it you are the exception???

My horse wears a rug when I decide that she should....no justification is needed.
 
I agree with the point that horses are individual and therefore need to be treated as such. I think that some points have over generalised and there will always be exceptions to rules which needs to be accepted, rather than "every horse should/should not be rugged"
I read this post, not as an attack on the lady mentioned as she is obviously trying her hardest, but on the culture in general. Like I said previously, over 50% of horses at my (large) yard are stabled over night during the summer - do all these horses need to be because they are ill/old/going to shows the next day/thin skinned? No. People have a tendancy nowadays to wrap their horses up in cotton wool. Somebody I know bought a dressage horse for over £10000, (he fast became a hunting horse!) and had never spent an entire day outside in his life. Now he enjoys spending every day outside 24/7 and likes nothing better than a good roll in the mud.
I think the argument that "well if you want your horse to be natural then stop riding it" is quite childish really. Yes, we have taken them out of their natural habitat but we should provide an enviroment as close to it as possible in order to keep them happy and healthy. I read an interesting article recently that there has been a massive leap in digestive problems in horses in recent years, and this is linked to horses being stabled more and more. They are designed to forage for 16 hours a day - not have 2 meals of hard feed and an easy to reach off the floor haynet!
I am not making a personal attack on the methods that people on here choose to take care of their horses, as I am sure that we all try the best for our horses. I just feel sorry for the horses that don't get to be horses and do what horses are meant to do!
 
totally with you on that one- we put sweet itch rugs on horses- to prevent suffering- nature did not invent sweet itch but if we want out DOMESTICATED horses to be ridden comfortably there are certain things we have to do. I just dont understand what the fuss is about - a lightweight rug at night is NOT going to cause damage to the horse as long as it is not 20 degrees.
 



[/ QUOTE ]FFS, they get wet, they dry out! Whst do you think the horses born and bred on the Mongolian steppes do/did. There aint no trees there, nor on the Shetland Isles! Im sorry. I am becoming increasingly disgusted by the 'modern' treatment of the horse. The horse is not a bloody greenhouse plant,. The horse is 500 Ks of blood and muscle who has had the ability to survive and evolve over hundreds of thousands of years. WE DID NOT INVENT THE HORSE. So lets stop destroying what nature has created (as much as is possible). Mairi.

[/ QUOTE ]

mairi do u use the vet, farrier, equine dentist, equine chiropractor, tack, stables, feed?????? im sure ur mongolian horses didnt have tht on the top of the mountain years ago.
 
If there are a large number of horses, you can either build more than one shelter, or have an open sided shelter with just one full side which you put against the prevailing wind direction (so no one can get trapped). I have seen field shelters sucessfully used in fields of 30+ horses. Not all horses will use them, but then not all horses mind the rain.
 
At the risk of sounding controversial Mairi has a point.

Are horses really getting wimpier or are we making them that way???

Too many people anthropomorphise their horses and lose track of the fact that they are, in fact, HORSES!!! Yes, there are lots of reasons to rug a horse in the summer, however, there is an increasing tendency to mollycoddle our horses & wrap them up in cotton wool.

Interestingly, a friend recently experimented with giving her flock free access to their stables from the field - she found that they were happy to stay out in the rain but came in when it was hot & sunny!
 
Very well put! That's how I originally read it too, it wasn't a personal attack on anyone and altho I don't know Mairi I've yet to see a post from her where she attacks someone for just doing what they believe is the best for their horse! I think she was just trying to say they're not as delicate as 'we' as horse owners in general believe!
 
QR- (mainly to OP)
I find this thread utterly AMAZING! Just because YOUR horse doesnt need a rug in June doesnt mean NO horse does. I have known very wimpy arabs who would be shivering if left unrugged at night in June....... the poster in question has given you a reason for rugging her cob, so what makes you judge jury and executioner (sp?).............. jeez...... you'd be livid if someone did a post that you were mistreating your horse by NOT rugging it, so I suggest you get down off your high horse (no pun intended) and let others care for their horses as they see fit!
 
That is interesting! I find with my own tho that they'll be happily grazing even if it's pouring with rain but when it turns hot & sunny they head for the trees...
 
Tasteofchaos - that post is a vaild discussion, what gets my goat and a lot of others is people preaching about what we should and shouldn't do with our horses which is not detrimental to their health and wellbeing. There is normally a valid reason why people do what they do and because it might not be the way that Mairi does it does not mean it is wrong.
 
[ QUOTE ]


Are horses really getting wimpier or are we making them that way???

Too many people anthropomorphise their horses and lose track of the fact that they are, in fact, HORSES!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Firstly, I have been trying to remember that word all week as someone at the yard is convinced their horse actually love them, like real love...yeah it's weird.

As for horse's getting wimpier I think it's more the owners. Since the invention of the rug I don't think horse's have changed that much, it's only been a few thousand years since we started hopign on them, they haven't evolved!

Though they have been inbred which I think make them lose a little bit of self preservation. Where a wild horse would look for shelter and keep itself warm by standing in the herd a WB might well stand in the middle of the field ponder the easiest way to evade piaffe rather than heading for the trees. Because of this I'd be tempted to keep a rain sheet on them
smile.gif


I also think rugs have got more high tech. Back in the day it was a jute rug in the stable and a new zealand in the field, the NZ was like a water proof tarp, the fancy ones were fur lined. There was no middle ground, it was waterproof and hot with no breathabliltiy or nothing. Now we have rainsheet, goretex, rip stop, double layer, silver lined, that bloody sun shower sheet that I'm trying to find in my horse's size (damn you Kitsune!) so we can rug with more flexibility. Super light weight rugs for when you know you're going to wake up in the middle of the night wondering if your horse has the sense to head for cover.

Having had a horse colic with a chill due to constant weather change (dry, wet, dry and cold then hot etc0 my vet recommended a rain sheet...yes a rainsheet in the summer for..wait for it... a Highland pony! I was rather averse to the idea but I went with the vet and when the weather turned foul I rugged, he never had it happen again and never sweated up or had any illness linked to the heat.

My Arab wears a rainsheet most nights unless it's still really warm after 9 (when I apply rug) rug comes off at 7 if it's not raining. Throughout the day the YO is around and will un rug if it's warm or re rug if it looks like it's going to rain. It works, it's fussy and annoying and tkae time but it works and I feel happy with it this way.

As for the lectures, people always lecture on the forum, I'm not sure why everyone is so shocked
blush.gif
wink.gif
the title did warn of a rant so you knew it wasn't going to be reasonable!
grin.gif
 
I think in general over-rugging horses is silly and potentially uncomfortable for the horse. All through the seasons I tend to under-rug compared to everyone else at the yard. My horse is always in at night and out during the day. I don't rug my horse at night when he is in during the summer (though there are horses in my barn that are rugged with more than thin fleeces, which I would not use). However, my horse does have a rain sheet which is as thin as one sheet of material. He has back problems so I don't really want him cold and wet. Even if he didn't I would use the rain sheet if I wanted to.
Unless the horse is suffering, I think it's everyones right to make their own decisions about rugging. Live and let live.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Horses for courses here.... My horse lives out 24/7 365 days of the year. He doesn't wear any rugs from about April - Oct. We have a field shelter, good hedges and plenty of hay which is personally all I think they need in the winter let alone the summer.

I think perhaps there is a culture of mollycoddling our horses so when it rains they are not used to it as they are always rugged up. I think some people need to toughen up a bit and let their horses get used to it and be horses.

Obviously TB/finer breeds/oldies need more careful management and perhaps rugging in conditions where other horses may not......

[/ QUOTE ]

this. Each to their own, but I think there are a few horses that are rugged to keep them clean/dry/as they might get a bit chilly when probably, they would be fine. It rained quite hard a day last week, I went to the field and there was a 10 month old foal out. She felt wet but when I pushed my fingers in her coat, she was toasty, and the base of her ears were warm. Somebody else might have looked at her, and gone "OMG, she's soaking!" and brought her in. She was quite happy. I think you can tell - if your horses is looking unhappy, shivery and wet, yes it might need a rug on but I think we underestimate horses
 
QR

The thing is, you can't do right for doing wrong on this forum because there are so many varying approaches to horse care.

If someone had posted 'Oh my god RANT a TB on my yard has been stood violently shivering in the rain all day' then you'd probably get a load of people telling the OP to contact the yard owner/complain to the owner/call the RSPCA blah blah blah.

None of us know EVERYTHING and none of us are right all the time, all we can do is try and do what we think is the best for our individual horses and circumstances.

I am always wary of over-rugging but at the same time I have had two horses who would shiver terribly in heavy summer showers. I wasn't comfortable with watching them shiver so I'd either bring them in and dry them off/warm them up or I'd turn them out in a very light rain sheet if I knew heavy rain was forecast. My horses, my choice- so long as people are happy that their own decisions are in the best interests of their horse/s then they shouldn't worry about what others think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top