Rugging temperature for unclipped pony when raining

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Spangles

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As title suggests ..
At what temperature would you consider putting a lightweight sheet on an unclipped lightweight cob (could benefit from losing a few kilos) when it’s raining. Currently not rugged but with all this hideous rain & temperatures getting down to about 7 degrees, should I ? Turned out overnight & no shelter other than natural hedgerows.

Interested to hear thoughts. I’m not one for over rugging but the rain is relentless.
 
I think a temperature of around 7 would make me put a lightweight on if the horse has no means of staying dry or getting out of the wind. If they have shelter then I wouldn’t. Of course it also depends on their cost. My native is like a teddy bear already and has shown no sign of being cold. Mine have hay in a shelter though so they get a break from it.
 
My two were clipped (hunter clip) within an inch of their lives yesterday afternoon, plus hogged.

They've been "out-without" all night; it was very softly raining when I chucked 'em out yesterday evening which was perfect as all the clippings and scurf should now be nicely washed out of their coats.

They are two hefty cobs who could do with losing a fair bit of weight, so shan't feel sorry for them; tho' am just off now to "do" them, so think I can expect two sorry-looking heads looking reproachfully over me at the gate!!

I have got rugs ready if they need.........
 
meleeka said:
I think a temperature of around 7 would make me put a lightweight on if the horse has no means of staying dry or getting out of the wind. If they have shelter then I wouldn’t. Of course it also depends on their cost. My native is like a teddy bear already and has shown no sign of being cold. Mine have hay in a shelter though so they get a break from it.
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Agree with this.
I've got one in a pen in the middle of the field 24/7 at the moment and she does get cold when it rains as she has no way of taking shelter. So much happier with a rain sheet on.
The others all have trees/hedges/shelter so they're fine with nothing.
 
My old pony has been out overnight at the moment with no rug and been perfectly fine, with just the shelter of the hedge. She is not currently in work and has a good natural coat, plus has a tendency to be tubby. If you run your fingers through her coat after heavy rain you can feel that she is dry next to her skin. She is not even a pure-bred native, there is a bit of finer blood in their so more of a hunter pony type (photo in avatar). On the other hand, if she was in work and I needed to keep her clean to ride then I would have no hesitation in putting a no fill on her.
 
If not in work and too tubby then no rug needed, honest!,
I just put a no fill rug on the ridden one, after I spent half an hour and a lot of dust chipping her mud coat off her 😁 she needs to loose weight but field very muddy and she likes to roll 🙄
 
it's surprising how much a good hedge can shelter horses that live out.
Mine rarely venture into the man made shelter other than in hot weather, they always find a hedge to tuck their bums into though.

The welshie in the pen has a big coat now but when fully exposed to the weather she really does suffer by comparison to the 3 that can choose the best place to wait it out.
 
If there is a good hedge it would be wet and below zero before I put a rug on unless he was obviously shivering. Winter is the easiest time to lose that extra fat.
 
Mine are out with no rugs, the old pba has grown hardly any coat yet but has not seemed to be chilly so is still happy naked, likewise the ISH and welshies, the two in work have lightweights on so they can be ridden easily without waiting for the mud to dry not because they were cold, once clipped they will be rugged appropriately the out of work ones will be rugged when they either start to drop weight or feel cold when I check them.
 
10 and no wind would be the lowest for me and my ISH, if it was raining. I expect this is because me and the horse are both a bit wussy in the cold, but he was shivering once when I brought him in from a summer rainstorm - it must’ve been around 15-20 degrees but the wind and rain make a huge difference. So he will have a 0g on when he is clipped on Thursday unless it is unseasonably warm.
Believe it or not, he is the only unrugged horse in his field right now! It’s 11 tonight, very few horses clipped, mostly chubby cobs and natives but have all been rugged up. Not that I am suggesting you do the same of course
 
Spangles said:
As title suggests ..
At what temperature would you consider putting a lightweight sheet on an unclipped lightweight cob (could benefit from losing a few kilos) when it’s raining. Currently not rugged but with all this hideous rain & temperatures getting down to about 7 degrees, should I ? Turned out overnight & no shelter other than natural hedgerows.

Interested to hear thoughts. I’m not one for over rugging but the rain is relentless.
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I’m all for putting off rurging as long as possible but my only concern with an unclipped horse in all day rain would be that he couldn’t warm up.
 
Summit said:
I’m all for putting off rurging as long as possible but my only concern with an unclipped horse in all day rain would be that he couldn’t warm up.
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I would be more worried about a clipped horse out all day in the rain with no protection. OP, if your horse isn't shivering when you visit him, he's fine. If he has a hedge to shelter under and something to eat, he should be ok, it's really not very cold yet and there isn't much wind (here, anyway!)
 
There isn't a set temperature - wind, wind direction, available shelter, constitution of said pony, how much they are groomed, etc, etc all play a part. I don't rug mine unless they are shivering.
 
I have a shettie and a cob, both bib clipped, minimal shelter in their field.

They are both absolutely fine, their coat over their backs and sides is yak like and I can find dry skin even when they both look sopping wet.

The only time I have rugged my cob over the last couple of years is when it has been unseasonably cold and wet when she has her summer coat, I can count on one hand the amount of times it has happened, and I have just brought her in, thatched her for a couple of hours to dry off and then put her back out in a no fill. I don't even own a rug for the shettie
 
Summit said:
I’m all for putting off rurging as long as possible but my only concern with an unclipped horse in all day rain would be that he couldn’t warm up.
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As long as he has enough fibre to eat - ie either good grazing or hay/haylage then he will be warming up from the inside as fibre digestion generates internal heat. Plus 7 degrees is not actually that cold in horse terms!
 
Summit said:
I’m all for putting off rurging as long as possible but my only concern with an unclipped horse in all day rain would be that he couldn’t warm up.
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I hope this is an error and that you meant clipped horse, my unclipped horses with very little coat are out all day and night in the rain and as I am here I check them regularly and so far they have been warm at every visit, they wander about eating, spend time under the trees or the hedges and are not interested in the hay I have taken them to ease my very slight guilt.
I would not turn a fully clipped horse out naked unless I was around to bring in if required but would if they had a trace or similar depending on the individual, I think the term clipped out needs to be more clearly defined, to me it means a hunter clip, to others it seems to mean any form of clip.
 
If the horse is on the plump side then unless noticeably cold & shivering it would have to get considerably colder than this for me to think about it. Horses are also individuals.

The Welsh with cushings that I used to have probably WOULD be rugged by now as he did used to feel the cold & didn’t tolerate being wet well. Just bought a Highland youngster & have zero plans to rug him at all this winter as he’s used to far worse weather than Yorkshire will throw at him & I need him to drop weight over winter so he doesn’t turn into a beached whale come Spring (not that he’s overweight but he looks like a horse coming out of summer which is fine right now but won’t be fine if he’s still this weight come the start of spring)
 
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Mines fully clipped and is only wearing a Rambo Summer Series rug, which is mesh sides but very light padding over the back. She still came in quite warm yesterday. Its raining a lot but its not freezing cold yet. I highly recommend something like the summer series for this time of year.
 
all mine that are unclipped are without rugs. That includes 21year old broodmare, 2 x weanlings, an 1 x 2yo WB, and 1 full ID. The other 2 are in rugs, but they are completely clipped out, legs ears everything. If this mild weather continues the older broodmare my well need a little bib clip, but will remain unrugged

at some point the weanlings will have a rug on, but only as a training exercise to get them used to wearing one. I find it much easier to teach them when they are small . They wont be left with one on yet, unless the weather gets a lot worse
 
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