Rugging .. do you?

Montyforever

Montyforever

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Just a ponder as to what you do with your horses rug wise.
I know loads of people with differnt views on it, but i think people tend to class breeds rather than the indivual horse.

My 2 are both natives, and Honey has a thick fluffy coat even though she was rugged from the very first sign of cold. And Mysti wasnt rugged until about 2 months ago and neither had rugs before i got them.

Even though Hon's got a thick coat she feels the cold so she wears whatever Mysti has on with a fleece underneath.
Mysti although shes not fluffy over heats so im careful not to over rug her.

I get v.annoyed with people who put about 5 rugs and a quilt on a unclipped shetland
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Mine never wear more than a meduim weight with a fleece but i'd never dream of leaving them rugless
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So what are your views?
 
Depends very much on the horse, workload, condition, clip and temperature!

Horses on our yard vary from flysheet to 450g turnouts with every varioation in between depending on their condition, "natural thermostat" and clip.
 
Depends on the horse - Ali is my 25year old pure bred arab and has a feece and a full neck heavy-weight, he feels the cold and I am happy with his rugging.

Pads is an ISH who is clipped and he wears at the moment a full neck heavy-weight.

It is currently -8 here tho
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It depends where you live. When Scotland is at -15, Somerset can be at +5.

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Im in kent, but obv varies to where you are lol, if i was in scotland they'd be rugged heavier but it only gets down to about -5 here at the mo
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[ QUOTE ]
Depends very much on the horse, workload, condition, clip and temperature!

Horses on our yard vary from flysheet to 450g turnouts with every varioation in between depending on their condition, "natural thermostat" and clip.

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^^this. Mine has a HW stable rug and MW turnout on top tonight as it is freeeeezing. The unclipped sturdy Highland opposite her is naked
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I agree.

It depends on the horse, the temp and the workload.

My IDxTB lives out 24/7 and is naked (but not working atm either) If she was I might clip a bit off but then it'd only be replaced by a lightweight as she's a 'hot' girl

My 34 yo arab has a heavyweight rug and a vest on but he doesn't paticularly feel the cold. He had a full clip a few months ago but only hacks twice a week.

The cob has a under-rug and a middleweight on (he doesn't have a heavyweight that fits or he'd be in that) but does feel the cold and wet a lot. He gets tucked up and shivery if not warm enough and drops weight in the winter. He works fairly hard so can't afford to drop too much.


Happy Bithday btw Milliepops!
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Depends on the circumstance and horse but I persoanlly like them to grow some winter coat before putting rugs on.

I waited until end of November before putting just a medium weight on my full tb who is elderly & my wbxtb. And since this freezing weather Ive not long changed the tb's to a heavyweight (360g) rug. They are doing fine. So in my case less is more
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It really does depend where you live and what sort of horse ya have and what they do!
I have a 12hh emoor pony who has a full clip and hunts at least once a week (when there is NO snow) and we live near the Scottish Border. She has 2 medium weight stable rugs on and a heavyweight turnout rug with neck cover! She is warm as toast under all that!
 
Why would you not dream of leaving them rugless? Sounds like Musti is trying to regulate her own temperature by not growing coat she does not need. Mine currently have a mixture of no rug, LW or MW, each according to it's needs.
 
Why would you not dream of leaving them rugless?
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My pony is out rugless, and very toasty underneath his big winter coat. I put a medium weight on him a few weeks ago and he was colder in that than no rug at all.
 
It totally depends on a number of factors.

We have some (including youngstock and a retired OAP) that are out totally naked to horses which might wear any number of rugs at any given time.

My own horse - is unclipped but is still wearing three rugs at night and even during the day, has a medium weight stable rug underneath a heavy weight full neck turn out rug.
 
It depends on the horse. Some people believe its nuts to rug a native at all! I personally do it depending on the individual. For mine, I have started rugging my 21 yr old native all winter because although he does have a thick coat, he was diagnosed with cushings a few months ago and has isnt holding weight as much as he used to - therefore I rug in an effort to keep weight on and help with his stiff-ish joints. My shetland is 19, she has mild athritis in her hind hip so I rug her occassionally if the weather is really bad - otherwise, she's always happy without. My other horse is a woosy TB x Luso, he's woosy in that he'll shiver if he even SEES rain in the distance if he's rugless, but with one on (no matter how light!) he's much happier. He's unclipped so far this winter and has on simply a MW full neck. He'll be clipped this month when he'll have on his HW turnout. If its really nasty weather he then has on a thin stable rug underneath too. I never use fleeces underneath anymore after one slipped back last winter on my Welsh cob and basically sliced into his chest so bad it got infected etc. horrendous!
 
it depends on the horse, weather,condition, natural shelter yes................. but also depends on the quality of your rug! mine wear one vg hw rug and are as warm as toast, some others have 3 or 4 crap rugs and still dont look warm! its like blankets on the bed before duvets came!!! i hate seeing horses weighed down with rugs!
 
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