Rugging a veteran

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Jericho

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Am in a little bit of a quandary so wondered if anyone could help. Over the summer we took on a hiennz57 22 yr old cob type pony. At the moment he is in lovely condition, well covered, can feel his ribs but I wouldn't want him to loose much condition. He suffers from sweetitch so spends much if his life in a Rambo snuggy sweetitch rug although due to diet changes he has got better and better and is now without a rug. He lives out 24/7 on a track over night with not much grass(so is moving around a lot and has big field shelter) and in a bare paddock during the day with a section of hay about lunch time plus a very small feed morning and evening.

He is growing his winter woollies already and last night the temperature dropped to 4 here and will tonight and I would rather he didn't lose weight due to being cold. Would it better to pop a lightweight on him to keep the chill off his back or up his hay intake during day to compensate?

Don't want to feed hay at night as still trying to get my 15.1 tb x mare to lose weight so she is on the same regime as him, bit less bucket feed and is most certainly not going to get anything else or wear a rug! Just a bit worried about him being an oldie and not really had one before...
 
Hi, I have an older welsh d he is wearing a light weight polly or thermatex at night now its dropped but is in so cant move around to keep warm. Will you clip him this year? if not I would hold off a bit longer so he really feels the difference when it gets even colder. I asume living out you won't want more than 1 heavy weight rug on him!?

If you do go for a light weigh rug try to get one with a small ammount of filling and lined as I have found the ones that are just a complete sheet of water proof material can hold onto water and more shower proof than water proof and give thema chill!

Hope this helps :)
 
I have an almost 22 year old welshie, I don't rug him at all unless its very windy and raining. Very similar set up to yours but mine get ad lib hay when in during the day, bare grazing on a track at night.

I would add a good mugfull of Micronised Linseed ( about £26 a bag from Charnwood Milling ) it will last months and is very good for coat/hooves and joints ( omega 3 ) This is what mine has with Fast Fibre and Hi Fi molasses free. I would also up the hay, one section on a bare paddock is not much at all tbh.
 
Mine's approaching 40 and not rugged at the moment, and he's not cold either. Like angieandben's he'll get rugged when it rains and get a MW on when it's PROPER winter.

He gets a veteran mix (redmills) and linseed and a little veg oil which helps his coat even further.
 
Totally depends on your horse... Is it cold? If it seems cold then put a rug on! My veteran pony is wearing a rug now day and night, she is grey and feels the cold and comes in looking tucked up and cold even during the day now, if she didn't then she wouldnt be wearing a rug as she wouldn't need one!
 
I have a 30 year old who I took on/rescued this spring.
I immediately assumed Id need so many rugs for the winter, but actually he has grown quite a coat already and is toasty warm when I feel him.
He is a nice weight now, so if I notice him dropping any he'll be rugged. Its more the rain that he hates, not the cold.
Hes lived out on dartmoor for about 25 years so I dont think hed appreciate being rugged up to the eyeballs after all this time :)
But I will keep him dry and warm and most probably just use his 100g rug.
 
Our 27yo tb has a lw 200gm rug on at night ATM as he is on the slim side naturally anyway and doesn't need to drop any going into winter. It's not just temp either, it's that icy wind and horizontal rain :mad:
 
My 18yo anglo Arab has already got on a m/w full neck stabled and is fed 2x day but he is a bit of a softie! And I do live in.north.of.Scotlandw
 
My 21yrs old is on grass with natural shelter and a handful of readigrass to get his supps and thats it at the minute :)

Hes well covered but not heavy and his coat is growing in nicely and hes warm whenever I check his spots :)

He wont be rugged unless its cold and WET as I believe this plus the cold wind chills them more than dry cold which it is here at the minute :)

He wont be getting a proper feed unless he needs it but when he does he will get Veteran Vitality, readigrass and linseed along with his hoof and joint supp :)

I have three rugs for him a snug 140g stable rug if he comes in, a 180g standard turnout and a 240g combo turnout which is all I believe he will need this winter with a full coat :)

Hes a welshy x
 
We check our 30 yr old's temp every evening by slipping a hand behind her elbow. So far this month she's been fine, except for one cold,wet and windy night when we put her a middleweight on. She's growing her own thick winter coat now. I wouldn't bother with a no-fill, as all they do is flatten the hair, imo, so that the horse can't keep itself warm.
We haven't started giving extra forage yet (although probably will next week), oldie is fed on soaked grassnuts, dried grass chaff (Graze-on) and linseed oil.
 
thanks all! during the day he feels fine and his coat is coming through really woolly which must mean he feels he needs it but obviously difficult to tell if he is cold in the middle of the night! He will need to be clipped probably just a bib as he is still ridden about twice a week and even today he started to get hot under his girth and saddle.

I think you have all confirmed what I was thinking - leave it off when the autumn nights are just a bit colder but rug on when cold, windy and wet. He currently only has a HW with full neck and a standard neck no fill so I am off shopping for a medium!
 
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