Over Rugging

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Telly14

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I would like to know whether you think that you over rug your horse? or you think that other people over rug their horses or just generally people over rug? Do you think over rugging massively affects their horses?

Please give as many opinions as I am doing a Project investigation on over rugging :)

Thanks x
 
Yes! ( not me personally, but I know of many ) Especially those who have native unclipped chubby ponies!

I think a lot of people either do it because its "fashion" ( and/or they have a rug fettish lol )
Or because of pressure from others, or because its just easier for the owner.

TBH tis none of my concern really, people can do what they like, but I hate to see overweight horses with heavy weight rugs on.

My 20 year old is unclipped and lives out, on the nicer days I take his rug off, when its wet and windy he has a light weight on, he has plenty of grass and has lost a little weight, but not much!
 
I will admit I over rug my horse, but they never seem worse for wear, but it is a personal thing.

We recently had a new livery who stated she does rug up well etc etc, but putting 2 lightweights on to me is not over rugging but she said the other people at her yard thought she over rugged, so it does depend on the yard also.

I go on the horse, my mare loves to be really warm - very moody if she gets cold!! but others prefer to be cooler and not over rugged.
 
I think it's worth cosidering why people may over rug, before judging someone on it.

I've always hated overrugging, but now that I have a horse who suffers badly from tying up I have to keep him over rugged. Temperature seems to be one of the main factors for his problem, and even in the summer I will usually put a cotton sheet on at night, apart from the very very hottest part of the summer.

My other boy has no issues and I keep a rain sheet on him mainly for my convenience as he is grey, but it's an unlined sheet and he's never over warm in it.

The brown horse has to be kept o warm that he's practically sweating.
 
No I do not over rug if anything I've under rugged my trace clipped mare this winter she's a little bit over weight and I wanted her to shiver off some fat :).
My horses field mate is definately over rugged she's a heavy ID x the owner is convinced she's lost weight and put 2 heavy weight rugs on her thro the snow! Fair enough but she is now in the same rugs now it's 15 degrees! She is sweating like mad but her owner said she would rather her to hot than cold :eek:.
 
I think a lot of horses are seriously over-rugged and I am stunned by the number of people who rug unclipped natives. Why? Mother nature provides them with a coat so save your money! This winter, for the first time in years, mine is in a livery yard and the level of rugging is ridiculous with some of the other liveries. OK, we had a severe December and I resorted to some really warm rugs but some of the others are still being rugged with the same ones as they used then. Poor horses, they are boiling.
 
I definitely under rather than over rug our horses, who all live out 24/7. On the basis that if they are on the cool side they can move around to keep themselves warm whereas if they are too hot there is nothing they can do to cool down.
 
my boy has a blanket clip and has spent the winter out with mostly a medium weight amigo , although i did pop an insulator underneath during the really cold snowy days , he's out today in a 1200d light weight cos he was piping hot this morning even though it was frosty. Some horses are hotties and some aren't , good mums make sure they know what they've got and dress accordingly!
 
I accidently over rugged my mare but soon realised it, shes fully clipped so when it got really really cold below freezing i thought id better slip her an underug beneath her stable rug, she seemed about right temp and everything though after about a week she must have been overly hot, she came out in really bad hives and was so itchy, they wept and scabbed over. Im very careful now about what rugs I put on her and would much rather her be in a rug thats too light for her than too heavy as she has enough fat on her to keep her warm shes not the type to lose condition in getting cold. I know a lot of people that over rug their horses but i wil certainly be more careful about it in future.
 
Tr0uble said:
I think it's worth cosidering why people may over rug, before judging someone on it.
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Click to expand...

ditto this, thankfully not for the same problems that Tr0uble has, but just in general. my friend has a cob, who by rights should be hardy, but he is quite pathetic and will literally just stand shivering, tucked up and drop weight in a blink if he gets cold and so needs far more rugging up than some of his field friends!

my two arabs are generally pretty 'hot' horses - they are both naked this afternoon when i'd finished riding the sun was out, it wasn't too cold and they both seemed to enjoy it. they'll have a rug on when i go back down in an hour or so as they live out 24/7 and the temperature is still dropping at night.

providing horses have no medical reason, i personally prefer to under rug slightly as believe they find it easier to adjust their temperature up, rather than down.
 
I hate over rugging! Our two mares have full clips and have been out in a M/W turnout most of the winter. I put heavy weights on them for the few weeks when it snowed and was freezing cold! A few weeks back, they had light weights on during the day when it warmed up! Hopefully next week if it warms up again then they will be in light weights again as their summer coat is stating to come through! Can't wait until their rugs come off for good! I'm lucky as ours are both good doers and don't seem to feel the cold!
 
Over rugging is a pet hate of mine.
Furry natives or cobs don't need a rug let alone 1 or 2 heavy weights - unless of course they may be ill or old or very poor doers.

I don't even have a heavy weight rug, Meg is in a MW through most of the winter, take it off on sunny days. She is now naked and fine! The ponies won't need one, full stop. I also hate hoods personally, can't see the point in them aside from keeping greys clean! But even then, they find a way of getting mud where you think is impossible.
Why do most rugs come with a full neck cover - I struggle to get one without these days!
 
I dont have any heavyweight rugs and only use the medium on very cold days for my WB. Native has a little clip but still out with no rug apart from the really cold snowy days, last year he didnt have a rug even in the snow, it keeps his weight down.
 
Trouble is a lot of native ponies ( and other horses/ponies) are overweight all the time :( they should lose it in winter and gain a little in summer as nature intended; But grazing these days is so rich that many don't seem to lose weight at any time! They are kept in smaller area's to resrict grazing, but this also restricts movement, its a bit of a catch 22 situation for a lot of people.

So rug less and let them keep themselves warm!
 
I think that a lot are! My mare has a high blanket clip and only has a heavyweight on in the snow. Middleweight most the other time. Rug has been off two days this week.
I hate seeing layers and layers looks so uncomfy! (mind this is how i dress, hum?)
At the livery yard i used to work at a cob had a fleece, stable rug and a heavyweight through til spring! I used to charge rug change x 3!
Fleeces under rugs annoy me especially when they slip right back behind withers and when they are sticking out at the back getting wet!
Another pet hate is ponies living out never getting rugs checked/taken off have seen some horrid injuries/mites/skin conditions under rugs
 
I'm not much of a rugger but it's hard to resist the pressure from others, I've been told that my unclipped horses need to be rugged up, it was only the autumn, I just said "I don't do mollycoddling" & walked away.
My unclipped anglo arab has been naked all winter & again I've had a few comments, a less confident person might have caved in.
 
Contentious subject. There is NO hard and fast rule on how to rug, you need to rug according to your horses personal requirements. I have a pretty wide selection of rugs acquired over the years and get to use most combinations. I had a wb x who even in the depths of winter, fully clipped only just made it into a HW rug on its own. I now have an ISH who is in full work, is fully clipped and needs to be kept quite toasty as he will drop weight if cold. My 22 TB x mare is now back home, she had a bib clip but needs a LOT of rugs on her - even now has thermatex wraps when really cold. And before some smarty pants asks why she had a bib clip - I couldnt even walk her out for 15 mins without her dripping in sweat so a compromise on a bib clip kept her cool. Previously she didn't need as many. So, use your common sense and rug accordingly!
 
Find myself agreeing with Tr0uble and Luci07.

Why judge someone without knowing their reasons?? Unless it's causing physical harm to the horse...why does it bother anyone else?!

Ours (Shetland aside) are in 3 rugs at the moment. They are fully clipped out and in competition level fitness and work. Our TB would drop weight like nothing without so many layers. ISH feels the cold a surprising amount too. None of ours are rugged so they are sweating, never ever. They are just kept nice and toasty....

Regarding natives etc....if they have a full coat and are unaffected by weather extremes....then yes, rugs are not needed. My showing section B I used to have, always wore rugs, because he was clipped out. Our Shetland wears rugs! Before you judge, it's because he has to travel on a lorry, he gets sweaty easily, if he was unrugged he would get a chill. Therefore - we rug him, he is less hairy than your average Shettie because it is easier for us.

Both the big ones wear hoods in the fields you'll all be pleased to know :D. Keeps them clean and stops them getting hairy faces.
 
I think we all agree, its an individual thing, and obviously people do what they want. We are just having a discussion on over rugging which to me means rugging when they don't need it!

I do think however there is a lot of people with rug fetish's :D
 
I think people do tend to have a thing about rugging as it makes for an easier life if they are not covered in mud. My horses are always rugged according to what they need, if they are cold another one goes on or a thicker one, if they are warm they have rugs reduced or taken off. I think good owners should rug to the needs of there horses, i know of TB's who do well all winter in just a rain sheet but a native that requires a full neck HW to keep warm and not drop weight.
 
I don't overrug personally. I adjust my rugs alot with temperature, horse weight, how its clipped how much the horse feels the cold etc.
My current mare is still in a heavyweight with a neck but its bloody cold here and she was fully clipped, legs and all.
Last TB mare, neck and belly clip would be in a medium/lightweight right about now.
Each horse to their own.
 
It depends what you call 'over rugging' tbh.....If you mean, do the horses NEED to be rugged, then I over rug....I'm sure all of mine would live if they didnt wear rugs.....

If you mean, are the rugs too heavy for the weather and are the horses sweating underneath, then no, I dont over rug.

My horses have good, breathable rugs with wide temperature ranges, and they never come in too hot...

I think there are greater things to worry about than who rugs what horses.....
 
I have 3 very different horses and rug them according to thier needs which range from one extreme to another.

The 24yo native breed pony normally has no rugs on ever, except this winter when it got down to -30 I did put one rug on at night or if it was snowing.

My 33yo ID x TB who has always been hard as nails and a very good doer, he never really needed rugging in his younger days except when he was fully clipped, however, he has very few teeth left now and we were worried he wouldn't make it through this winter several times. He had 2 rugs on at the worst of it to stop him dropping any weight from trying to keep warm but generally it was just down to trying to get enough hay replacers in him with no grass around for weeks on end. He is back to his old self now thank heavens!

My third is a very poor doer WB who is hunter clipped and suffers from the cold terribly. At the worst of this winter when it was -30 he had 4 rugs on. Tonight it is -1 and he has 1 rug on. But in the worst of winter it's a case of anything I can do to keep his weight on (which includes a serious weight gain feeding regime too). I nearly had a fit the first time I tried him out and he had 3 rugs on (I'd never come accross that before!) but now I know why. I got shot down in flames when I replied to a similar post to this earlier in the year and said i'd had 4 on him, but the fact of the matter is anyone on here would do the same if they owned him or just be the owner of a hat rack!!
 
Ive been away for a fornight, and had someone I trust implicitly looking after my boy... but while away, even though a bit rainy and yuk (so I hear!!) I KNOW he's had his fullweight full neck on a couple of days, and rugged up the rest... and Ive kept him naked most of the winter, apart from the really bad snow! (he's out in the day only!)... so although it's ok, and i know he;s been spoilt rotten a pampered... my unclipped fat heavy cob is now very nesh! :rolleyes:
 
I would agree on unclipped native ponies wearing rugs as generally probably over-rugging. However, all horses and ponies are different and have different needs, so what is just right for one would be way too much and therefore over rugging for another. Neurotic mothers aside of course, and livery yards are a revelation for those! ...

I have one clipped and in full work, he likes to wear 2 -3 HW rugs at night if it is frosty. If he is not warm enough, he pulls down the rugs in his stable and is liable to wee on them just to let me know he had a bad night due to me being a crap mother. Interestingly, I've never had it that he's been obviously too hot. During the day he just wears one turnout rug, either MW or HW both with necks, and is happy with that.

Then I have a mare who is clipped and was in work (now on maternity leave), she is bare during the day on these lovely spring days and just one rug on overnight in the frosts and quite happy with that.

And finally I have an in-foal mare that lives out 24/7 unrugged in all weathers. Just so you know I am not a neurotic mother myself!
 
i guess its all down to personal preference.
I go on the breed, build and whether the horses are good/poor doers.
We have 2 cobs who could really have done with not having rugs, they live off air and needed to shiver some weight off.
Then we have a load of Connemaras - one girl seriously over rugs hers. The rest have Medium weights although one always takes his off.
We also have a fat and fluffy ID X and his owner insists he has a stable rug under his medium weight with a neck cover and extra feed incase he gets cold and drops off (yeah right!)
We also have 2 TB's, one is quite a poor doer and her owner has put 2 stable rugs on and 2 turn outs on! even on a day like today :S
My TB, i chucked him out without a rug on, he is the perfect weight but i wouldnt mind him dropping off a bit before the grass comes through.

I personally dont understand why people put so many rugs on, horses are built to deal with the elements.

I was in Ireland over the weekend, i love how laid back they are with rugs and everything actually!
 
I rug my unclipped cob, which I guess could be called over-rugging.

I think, although he doesn't 'need' it to keep his condition on, he appreciates the extra warmth that means he can go out and graze rather than sheltering from the rain in his shelter :)

He only wears a 150g though, wouldn't put anything warmer on a horse than I would wear myself ;)

A bugbear of mine is when people deliberately under-rug so the pony can 'shiver off fat'. IMO that is as cruel as over-rugging. It is not pleasant to be that cold all night, even if you do lose weight!
 
My new motto is to over rug

You save on food and clipping, during this year its been -15oC and I think people are now wondering why their horses are thin!!

Better to have good ventilation and another layer than shut them in a stuffy box
 
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