rugging a mare in foal?

amaia

amaia

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Should a mare in foal be rugged? She does come in if the weathers really awful but mostly she's out in the field. If i put a rug on her now I'm worried she'll be to fat to fit into it next year :p would it be better to just go without from the beginning?
 
Unlikely she'll need a rug, especially if you can bring her in for the worst of the weather.

Good forage and shelter and she'll be fine.
 
I rugged my mare only through the coldest part of winter in a lightweight turnout just to keep her back dry. She is a comp horse so was used to getting pampered and she coped fine. Just make sure you reg check the belly straps arnt too tight :-)
 
I rugged my mare ... not so much because of the cold but because of the constant rain we had last winter! She was living out full time on decent grass and had shelter but I found her shivering more than once so I stuck a rug on her and she was fine after that.

I find they cope really well when its dry and cold...but its the constant rain that can get to them. Their coats are waterproof but even they were pushed past their limit last winter (I remember hearing on the news we had gone over 3 months since our last dry day!). I had her in a Horseware Optimo which are generous fitting but I did have to let the straps out a bit!

If you can I'd suggest keeping her rugless if its dry and just stick a rug on her if its particularly wet?
 
amaia said:
Should a mare in foal be rugged? She does come in if the weathers really awful but mostly she's out in the field. If i put a rug on her now I'm worried she'll be to fat to fit into it next year :p would it be better to just go without from the beginning?
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You just adjust the surcingles to allow for the bump obviously and take it off totally a month before foaling date so they can adapt.

I don't as a rule rug anything, including TB broodmares but you have to take them individually and some are nesher than others regardless of breed. Bea had to be rugged else she would shake and shiver, be totally miserable at the gate clamouring to come in (they came in nightly) but with a rug she'd be last to come in and would be out in the roughest weather quite happily. She had a Weatherbeeta high neck, fitted her for five years and even went with her, she's still wearing it!
 
I've rugged in foal mares in the past and plan to do so again this winter (mare was imported from America and is still coming to terms with Scottish winters). Our herd are out all winter though and even though hedges and trees do provide some shelter, I'm still putting waterproofs on those who didn't come out of last winter as well as others. The woolly mammoth brigade will have to do without, but then they've gone totally native on me anyway and prefer to be left to the elements (I still have a selection of the destroyed rugs as evidence!).

Just keep loosening out the surcingles as and when necessary and have it off totally plenty in advance of due date. My mare is due end of March/start of April so she'll move up to the stables 3 weeks before then and off the rug will come because she'll be out during the day and in at night.
 
amaia said:
Thank you for all the advice! She's quite tough i think its just me who's a wimp about the cold! :)
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If she is tough, leave her to grow a coat (it's been dry and fine so far) and you can always pop on a lightweight sheet if the weather takes a nasty turn. Most are fine out naked - but each to their own. The broodmare I had got a rug selectively in depths of winter when the weather turned vile as I wasn't wanting her to lose too much condition. She was fine and had the most beautiful glossy brown bear coat! (Trakehner) - in south west Scotland.
 
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