Rugging after Clipping

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eoe

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Please tell me if I am being a bit harsh, one of my liveries, a man I hasten to add, clipped his ID on Sunday, its his first horse and he is learning to ride. It took him 6 hours to clip it. He then turned it out at 9pm with a Mark Todd medium weight turnout rug on and nothing else, this horse is clipped right out except for half his face. During the day he has a MT lightweight rug on. He kept him in Monday night because of all the rain and he had a fleece on, we do have indoor stables.

Am I being harsh in telling him he must put more rugs on to keep the horse warm?
 
ditto amymay - this guy is learning. Show his how to assess his horses temperature & explain about condition being affected by the cold etc.
 
No not harsh, at the end of the day if other people see it, it reflects on you as its your yard!!
I am thinking of doing the same to our livery.... again a man!!

He really doesn't have the best management skills with his horse!! I am going to keep a better eye on him this year regards rugging, but we have already had to remind him that he gets unlimited straw included in the price and that he really ought to use more as we could see the concrete through the non existent bed!!
 
Sorry but I may get shot down here!

Has someone actually checked to see if the horse is cold ? Feeling the base of the ears is how I was taught. It may be the horse is suffiently warm enough with what he has provided. Bearing in mind we are just entering the start of the winter and it will get a lot worse! We are seeing temps at night of around 2-3 degrees.
Further to this it may be he requires the horse to use some of any fat surpluss to keep its self warm? Mine does have this problem so I am a believer of not over rugging..............

Its all to easy for us to critisise etc and yes he is a novice in his management skills. However he may and could have reasons for this - it may be these need to be explored? If we start with huge 350-400 gramm rugs now what then are people using in jan - feb when its -5?

Sorry I may sound harsh but just think many people do over rug tp early and unnecessary.

I know everyone means well but can we explore his reasons first before condemming the poor chap....

However if he genuinly thinks this is suitable and the horse does prove cold etc then a little friendly advise is great - you are then being a good YO


lol...

Ill be struck down for that one
 
Has anyone condemed him?

I've yet to find a fully clipped horse that is warm enough in a fleece overnight though.......
 
No you won't and yes I did check him on Monday and he was cold, but not freezing and he was standing with his back to the wind and he was all hunched up, have spoken to owner and he didn't see what the problem was but has said when it gets colder he will put anothe rug on.

ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Ditto scottish miss...each horse is different..my tb is always warmer than others..never seems to feel the cold...i know he would be plenty warm enough fully clipped in a medium weight rug at those temperatures. Depends entirely on the horse & whether it feels warm enough!
 
Have exactly the same problem!

My livery is complaining he has to clip his horse every few weeks and it sweats up when working.

Poor b*gger was turned out yesterday with nothing when it was 11oC. Was wearing a stable rug when turned out in the rain (and got soaked) and at the very most wears a thermatex at night.

Not that the horse is suffering as its got a good covering, but you cannot really moaning about the hair growing back and it sweating when you don't rug!!
 
As a responsible YO I think it's good you are taking an interest particularly, with a novice owner. Having said that what did the horse have on before being clipped? I clipped my ID 3 weeks ago so she went from a summer sheet to LW rugs. It's only this last few days when I've changed her into MW with neck covers because it's gone much colder. My girl is like me and doesn't seem to feel the cold and if I rug her up too much she comes out in lumps.
smile.gif

If I was him I'd welcome constructive advice
smile.gif
 
it is a good point to say that all horses are diffrent. my 16h2 clydesdale/warmblood is such a wimp shhe was cold in september even wioth her lightweight on and hasd been in a m/w since the and got put into a heavyweight last night as was starting to feel cold again but she has got under rugs for when it get realy cold jan-feb time so it all depends on the horse
 
He has not changed the rugging, lightweight during the day and M/W at night. So horse still has the same rugs after clipping as before.
 
Yeah, Id make sure to check the horse is actually cold before saying anything to him. It does sound like he's under-rugging TBH, but then some horses can be pretty hot naturally especially heavier ones like ID's. My Luso x TB and my Welsh Cob both have hunter clips (well normally) in the winter yet the Welsh Cob is naturally always hot so he needs lighter rugs than the other one.
 
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