OMG I have just been out to check the horse

Godknows

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and it is soooooooooooooooo coooooooooooold according to the weather forcast it is to get to about -9 it feels like about -20 out there at the moment. Horse is not clipped but 21 years old ID. He has a rug on and feels just warm wondering whether to put another rug on top? The water keeps freezing in container in the stable. What do you think put another rug on or not (don't want him getting over heated:( but don't want him cold) I hate this weather.:(
 

DaisyDoll

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If he's toasty at the moment I would leave him in the one rug; the bodyheat needed to heat up another cold one could leave him colder in the long run and as he isnt clipped I'm sure he will be fine :)

Have you tried a tennis ball in the water? Or maybe take him out a warm bucket from the house, might encourage him to drink more, some horses like it warm.
 
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3Beasties

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I think it must be one of the coldest nights here, my TB had icicles on his legs and whiskers when I got him in and his tail was frozen :eek: Had to defrost his hooves in a bucket of warm water as he had snow stilts that were impossible to remove with a hoof pick and his water bucket in the stable was already froze!! Oh the joys :rolleye:

I've put and extra rug on mine tonight, have you got a fleece or something you could put on yours?
 

amandap

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My 25 year old and my tb are out in the yard and warm as toast. No rugs just fluffy bums and a barn to go in if they want. Don't worry cold isn't too much of a problem unless it's wet.
My shetlands have frozen coats tonight as there was a slight thaw and light drizzle here today. Down to only -4 now though.:) A relief after a week of around -12.
 

Godknows

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If he's toasty at the moment I would leave him in the one rug; the bodyheat needed to heat up another cold one could leave him colder in the long run and as he isnt clipped I'm sure he will be fine :)

Have you tried a tennis ball in the water? Or maybe take him out a warm bucket from the house, might encourage him to drink more, some horses like it warm.

Well I wouldn't call him toastly just warmish. I did put the dogs football in but thought it looked a bit big in the water and didn't want him to avoid with the ball in so took it out again.:confused: I think I will go and put another rug on top of the one he has on. Back in a couple of minutes.
 

DaisyDoll

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Well I wouldn't call him toastly just warmish. I did put the dogs football in but thought it looked a bit big in the water and didn't want him to avoid with the ball in so took it out again.:confused: I think I will go and put another rug on top of the one he has on. Back in a couple of minutes.



sorry misread, thought you said he was warm! Agreed if he isnt cosy stick another one on though, hope you defrost soon :)
 

MerrySherryRider

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Mine are out in m/w rugs with no neck. 2 unclipped TBX's and a fully clipped cob. All are plenty warm with big bales of hay. I put combo's on overnight when it was -12 and the next day they were itchy and had heat lumps.
If your lad has enough hay to keep him going through the night, he'll probably be fine as he is. The hay will warm him better than an extra rug.
 

Godknows

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OK ! he's warm enough I think:eek: has plenty of haylege as I believe in ad-lib and if his haynet was completely empty in the morning I would think he didn't have enough the night before. I have refilled his net twice since I bought him in at 3.30pm always tie half net to the inside of the gate. He eats some but not much prefers to try and dig the ice for a while before returning to the haylege. I'm great at giving advice to others but when it comes to my own I'm a real worry wort:D:rolleyes:
 

Pearlsasinger

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Horses should NOT be 'toasty' to the touch. The best way to feel a horse's body temperature (without a thermometer, which is different altogether), is to put your hand between the elbow and the body, where the hair is thinner. It sounds as if OP's horse is fine in just the one rug. As said above, rather than an extra rug, this horse would benefit from having ad-lib forage (as would many others).
 

Godknows

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Mine are out in m/w rugs with no neck. 2 unclipped TBX's and a fully clipped cob. All are plenty warm with big bales of hay. I put combo's on overnight when it was -12 and the next day they were itchy and had heat lumps.
If your lad has enough hay to keep him going through the night, he'll probably be fine as he is. The hay will warm him better than an extra rug.



As I have said above I totally agree I know he will be fine he goes out in a m/w in the day while it's like this I'm just a worry wort when it comes to my own:D Great at giving advice to others.:p
 

Godknows

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Horses should NOT be 'toasty' to the touch. The best way to feel a horse's body temperature (without a thermometer, which is different altogether), is to put your hand between the elbow and the body, where the hair is thinner. It sounds as if OP's horse is fine in just the one rug. As said above, rather than an extra rug, this horse would benefit from having ad-lib forage (as would many others).

As stated above this is what I have said he's not toasty just tepid:D So onl leaving the one rug on and I only believe in ad-lib hay/haylage. :D
 

Pearlsasinger

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As stated above this is what I have said he's not toasty just tepid:D So onl leaving the one rug on and I only believe in ad-lib hay/haylage. :D


Oh, sorry, I must have misunderstood.
I thought you said in your OP that you were wondering whether to put another rug on him. And then I thought you said you were going back out to put a second rug on.
I realise that it was another poster who used the word 'toasty'.
 

3DE

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It's minus 13 here so I brought my yearling in just for a nice lie down if he wanted it. Just gone out to do night nets and he wasn't in his stable - he was in the pig's field! He'd decided he wanted out, at minus 13, without a rug, in a blizzard and chose to have a pig as company. My pony is a freak!

He has decided that 14 foot is plenty of a run up to jump a 1m20 stable gate :rolleyes:
 

Godknows

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It's minus 13 here so I brought my yearling in just for a nice lie down if he wanted it. Just gone out to do night nets and he wasn't in his stable - he was in the pig's field! He'd decided he wanted out, at minus 13, without a rug, in a blizzard and chose to have a pig as company. My pony is a freak!

He has decided that 14 foot is plenty of a run up to jump a 1m20 stable gate :rolleyes:

Do you breed SJ's then:eek::eek::eek::D:D:p
 

Godknows

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Oh, sorry, I must have misunderstood.
I thought you said in your OP that you were wondering whether to put another rug on him. And then I thought you said you were going back out to put a second rug on.
I realise that it was another poster who used the word 'toasty'.

Sorry PCS my reply sounded abit abrupt it wasn't meant to. I did say in OP that I was wondering whether to put another rug on and that I was going out to check on him to see whether too or not. I decided not to as he was tepid warm not 'toasty' has ad-lib haylage so would be happy enough as long as his water doesn't freeze solid and he can get a drink as well.:D
 

Godknows

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-20C here tonight and neither one of my 17 yr olds have a rug on at all


oh and they are outside with free access shelters

I think your horses are more use to this sort of weather aren't they? I remember reading on the old forum about how cold it gets where you are Brrrrrrrugh:D
 

3DE

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Look - a naked TB - in the far north of Scotland. And she's 3 months pregnant...

68226_10150096548080781_745240780_7836469_3643087_n.jpg


They have a field shelter but choose to stand out in that...
 
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