Over / Under rugging.......

Halfpass

Halfpass

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 May 2005
Messages
3,527
Location
East Sussex
Visit site
Alee is 3 1/2 and is just returning into very light work after 3-4 months off. She is lunged / long reined 1 / 2 times per week and will be hacked ouy the same. So all in all worked lightly 3 times per week.
I had her in a light weight turnout until the last cold snap and upped it to a medium weight but she really seems to be feeling the cold and is now in a heavey weight stable rug at night when the temp in below 0.
I have just ordered her a heavey weight turnout.
My question is am I rugging her too much? She is uncliiped but not hairy. I am worried that I am going to run out of options!!
Plus what will she be like next winter when she is clipped?
Any advice much appreciated. Am I making a rod for my own back?
 
Sounds fine to me, if she feels colder I'd put warmer rug on.

My mare is also unclipped and in a heavy weight as she was cold.
 
its always better for a horse to be too cold than too hot. i always feel the base my boy's ears a bit after i put his rug on and if they're hot then he's too hot, and if they're cold then he's too cold!
 
Hiya , why do you say she is feeling the cold? Has she lost condition? If so is it just cos she is doing another growth spurt? I know you have to be careful about feeding too much so it would make sense to keep her warm with rugs , she will be a different horse by next year so dont worry and just do what she needs now. If it helps Kiri is sporting the latest fashion of a kingsize duvet under her rug cos I'm too tight to buy her any more , warm as toast and easy to put in the washing machine!
 
I rug my lad up well to prevent coat coming through,purely because i dont do enough work to justify clipping him,but if i do work him i am limited to time for cooling down with coolers etc,and i could not turn him back out knowing he wasnt completely dry,i will not put a rug on with sweat marks either as i like to brush them off,and if i didnt rug him up early enough like this yr
shocked.gif
i have a big hairy pig,lol!!If they are stabled they tend to get colder as they havnt got the freedom of movement they would have outdoors!You know your horse and if she feels comfortably warm and has not sweated up you have nothing to worry about!
grin.gif
 
I think it depends on the horse really.

My horse is hunter clipped, he is stabled at night with a HW & LW on and has a HW turnout on during the day. I upped to this weight when I gave him his 2nd clip last weekend. Before that he had a MW turnout on & HW stable at night. All have full necks.

He is the type of horse that gets hot easily.
 
Well I've never got as far as a heavyweight rug even in my clipped horses, I tend to put a blanket on underneat if it's going to be really cold at night. During the day I use only medium weight rugs when turned out. I can't see how a stabled unclipped horse would ever need a heavyweight rug I'm afriad.

What makes you think she is cold? Perhaps a bit more hay would be a better option as this will keep her warm from the inside.
 
She just doen't feel warm and is dropping weight. She gets fed 10lb haylage and adlib hay so is getting plenty of that.
Upping her hard feed isn't really an oprion I want to entertain as she is so young and I don't want to fizz her up too much. The heavey weight turnout is really only for when she is turned out at night.
She hasn't really grown a winter coat and I left her un rugged for as long as I could with out her dropping too much weight.
Think I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and put the heavey weight on when she is out at night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top