'Roughing' off a mare

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juliehannah58

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I have a 5 month pregnant hanovarian mare, she's due on 20th March so I'm aware that I need to start preparing her to winter without a rug. She's quite a tough sort but has hardly any coat! She's out 24/7 at the moment but will be in during the night pretty soon and out during the day.

How do you do it? Will she have to be rugless all winter or could I use a LW turnout with a view to her being bare for end of Feb?

With all this rain recently I feel guilty already (not that she's showed signs of being cold) and feel I need a plan of action to stick to!

Any help appreciated
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We rugged up both our broodmares when the weather got really awful - one is an ISH mare who really could go bare but is a total wimp, and the other is, like yours, WB with an incredibly fine coat - we tried to rough them off as much as possible, but if it was too wet and cold (the combination that is the worst) we'd put lightweights on them, being very careful to give lots of room with the straps, and no leg straps .... But I know that quite a few people aren't keen on rugging up brood mares at all.
 
i find waterproof turnout rugs with no insulating layer really useful for unclipped horses in winter

keeps the wind and rain out yet doesn't heat them up at all.

and they don't take forever to dry out.

so if the weather was going through a phase where it never stops raining for the week i'd use one of those on her to prevent rainscald and to give her a bit of protection from the elements

then on dry days she could be rugless as you haven't made her soft by using an insulating/heating rug
 
My Hann mare is due at the end of March & is in at night & out during the day & wears "normal" weather appropriate rugs the same as the other horses, but slightly lighterweight later on.
She foaled in March this year & we did the same last winter & both her & her foal wear rugs in the rain - which seems to be pretty much all the time!!
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My Oldenburg mare live out last winter whilst she was in foal, she doesn't grow a thick coat so i kept her rugged but as lightly as possible, she looked better than she has ever has looked!
 
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