Rugging up a wet horse?

[Shanny_mare]

The weather here today has been as bad as in winter - 8 degrees C and a cold easterly wind. Horse has a SUMMER coat at the moment, not a winter coat. If she shivers, she's cold and in her case is on limited grazing with a muzzle so can't eat to get warm. I had no issue with rugging her, even tho' wet. She's in tonight, with her haynet - UNrugged as she is now warm and dry

 

[Echo Bravo]

My 3 boys still come in at night so no rugging,but my 2 mares are out full time, the younger one was ok, but my old mare shivering and yes she is TB, so went home and got her rug, tonight when I got the boys in they were ok, young mare ok and my old mare as happy as a bug in a rug and if my young mare is cold and shivering in the morning, I'll rug her up as well. The weather doesn't help from wet and cold to very hot and dry back to wet and cold, so you do what you think is right.

 

[Auslander]

I worry more about them being out in the sun and flies than I do with them being out naked in the rain.

I have walked around my lot and it has been raining heavily for at least an hour - they were all in the middle of different paddocks happily grazing.


A question for those of you that do rush out to rug as soon as there is a spit of rain

How many of you practise Natural horsemanship?

I don't - I'd put myself firmly in the no-nonsense school of horsemanship. My horse is new to me, he's 15, and has come from a competition yard where he has always been rugged. Hes out in a field with no shelter, natural or otherwise, so I think its only fair to him to protect him from the elements. He comes in during the day when its hot and sunny, and he has come in tonight because he has no rugs, and it's lashing down sideways. If it were spitting, he would be out - but it's horrible, and he was very pleased to come in and dry off. Last seen crashed out having a kip in a nice deep straw bed.

 

[Echo Bravo]

Forgot to say what do you mean NH?

 

[mulledwhine]

I was always told neverto rug a wet horse, but that was when NZ rugs were all you could get!!!!

Now if mine are wet and deffiantly cold, I rug.

Modern rugs breath , so I do not have any worries in popping a LW on to help them dry out x

 

[Starbucks]

Ours have got rugs on tonight (turned out). We've got a new one who has been clipped and and was used to having a MW + HW stable rug on 2 weeks ago (WTF?), he was out naked last night and the poor poppet was frozen this morning!

I don't know why people seem to have such an anti rugging opinion on here when everyone in RL seems to have them rugged up to the eyeballs when it's not even cold.

What's wrong with common sense?

 

[all about Romeo]

Ill give you a list of the rugs ive got as I'm not very good with this sort of thing:
Lw masta no neck
Lw requisite with neck
Mw weatherbeeta one with neck and one with out
Waffle rug
Fleece rug
Hw with neck
Various stable rugs
which one/combination do you think would be a good idea? Btw she is an irishX so fairly chunky
Thank you!

I would put cooler/waffle rug on then light weight with neck on over the top.
If my TB is wet or needs washing down after exercise I do this and it works really well x

 

[smellsofhorse]

Agree decent rugs breathe and allow horse to dry.
So although not ideal if caught out and I have lack of time I do put rugs on my horses when they are wet.

 

[ausipaliboi]

I have never hesitated to put a rug on a soaking wet horse, have never bothered trying to dry off first (during a tropical storm there is no point!). Rug and leave. Always come back to a perfectly fine dry horse.

 

[Luci07]

Crikey...getting a little heated!!! And opiniated! Seem to have a bit of an anti rug mafia on board..

Had horses for donkeys years, Yup remember the lovely jute rugs though dispute that they smelt worse than modern ones!

My young ISH is out tonight. Over the last week he has been out in a fly sheet, then a rain sheet and tonight rain sheet with filling but no neck. I will rug him as I see fit! I choose to keep him in a certain manner ( so groomed, bathed etc)' therefore I rug to compensate. My horse... MY choice!!!

 

[Cobbysmum]

It has rained constantly for 24 hours here, old pony, young pony and usually pretty tough TB all very wet, cold and miserable. All rugged this morning and happy as larry ( whoever he is) tonight. Don't practice NH, am not a fluffy bunny hugger and have owned horses for 47 years. Mine were cold, they let me know the only way they could and now they're cosy, where's the harm in that

 

[Kallibear]

If I couldn't rug up whilst wet the horses would never get their rugs off! They live out 24/7 and I can't rush down the road every time it rains (which is pretty much constantly in Scotland!).

Even the shiveriest, wettest, coldest horse warms up quickly once rugged. For a horse like that I put a thicker-than-normal rug on: it's the body warmth that drives moisture out of the rug, so they need to be warm to make the rug 'breathe'. That's why many lightweight rugs don't seem waterproof: they don't generate enought heat to force the moisture out.

 

[Ladydragon]

I have TB's and if they shiver a bit in a summer shower then so be it. It toughens them up.

*sigh* I consider a 'summer shower' to be an actual shower - in temperatures of 15 deg C +... Not pelting down with rain, heavy winds and 5 deg C... My TB would be cheerfully naked in a summer shower...

If he needs a rug, he gets one and has had one on the last two days and tonight... Ditto the others but at the moment, the two hairy native ponies are wet but warm as is the yearling D and QH so don't need one...

A question for those of you that do rush out to rug as soon as there is a spit of rain

How many of you practise Natural horsemanship?

As we're not talking a spit of rain...there's no relevance to you point...

 

[Enfys]

Leave her would not rug wet horse

So you'd leave her out to get cold?

If a horse is cold then rug it, simple .

My old (23) mare gets a blanket tossed on her if she's shivering whether she is wet or not. In her case she'd shiver weight off overnight, warm and damp is better than cold and sodden to the skin. Overnight, for a few hours I don't think it will kill a horse, it isn't as if the temperatures are dropping down to 10 below at this time of year.

As always, everything depends on the individual horse. That mare I mentioned is a purebred arab and a poor doer, I've had other arabs that winter out, unrugged, in feet of snow and -25C as an average temperature. Horses for courses.

 

[Enfys]

The weather here today has been as bad as in winter - 8 degrees C and a cold easterly wind. Horse has a SUMMER coat at the moment, not a winter coat. If she shivers, she's cold and in her case is on limited grazing with a muzzle so can't eat to get warm. I had no issue with rugging her, even tho' wet. She's in tonight, with her haynet - UNrugged as she is now warm and dry

MINUS 8C? Hopefully I read that wrongly.

 

[hunteress]

Surely horses coats were designed by nature to keep them OK when it rained. I understand to rug when a horse is clipped, very old, thin etc But a healthy adult horse with enough to eat should be able to cope with rain in June.

I left my cob with out a rug for th 1st time ever while this rain is around his field is sheltered so probably put a rug on if it was windy cold !! but I too thought its june looked at the temp still above 10 and he was very happy he is a thin coat cob but this time of year got a good round body not like when he's hunting fit. my 2 year old colt was also without a rug .

 

[hunteress]

Temperatures fell as low as 5 degrees here overnight accompanied by high winds and heavy rain. My horses were shivering in their lightweights this morning. The mare and foal had been brought in for the night because they could not wear rugs. I changed the rugs on my two to their middle weights.

Toatally agree I watch the temps and wind .

 

[Shilasdair]

It seems to me that those of us who have quality, expensive horses, are the ones who can buy the best breathable rugs, and are therefore willing to ensure horse welfare is optimum.

Those who have the more common-bred, poorly conformed animals, who are perhaps more suited to pulling flat-bed trailers, may look at their extensive musk-ox/yak type coarse coats, and decide they would rather invest in another bottle of 'Buckfast' or 'White Lightning' than purchasing a decent rug. They term this neglect 'natural horsemanship' and to an extent it does reflect nature in that horses are left to die without human intervention in the wild.

I do hope this clarifies the position for all.
S

 

[asbo]

I worry more about them being out in the sun and flies than I do with them being out naked in the rain.

I have walked around my lot and it has been raining heavily for at least an hour - they were all in the middle of different paddocks happily grazing.


A question for those of you that do rush out to rug as soon as there is a spit of rain

How many of you practise Natural horsemanship?

I rug mine and nope i don't paractice NH, most people i know who are into NH leave theirs out naked!

 

[Queenbee]

Shils rock!

 

[cptrayes]

It seems to me that those of us who have quality, expensive horses, are the ones who can buy the best breathable rugs, and are therefore willing to ensure horse welfare is optimum.

Those who have the more common-bred, poorly conformed animals, who are perhaps more suited to pulling flat-bed trailers, may look at their extensive musk-ox/yak type coarse coats, and decide they would rather invest in another bottle of 'Buckfast' or 'White Lightning' than purchasing a decent rug. They term this neglect 'natural horsemanship' and to an extent it does reflect nature in that horses are left to die without human intervention in the wild.

I do hope this clarifies the position for all.
S

Laughing in spite of myself

Where do I fit Shils? I have expensive horses and the cheapest rugs I can find on eBay?

 

[Shilasdair]

Laughing in spite of myself

Where do I fit Shils? I have expensive horses and the cheapest rugs I can find on eBay?

They should never have let you back in - you are clearly a troublemaker.
S

 

[Shanny_mare]

MINUS 8C? Hopefully I read that wrongly.

Oops! Was meant to be a dash. But it did go down to 5 degrees last night here so I hope cold wet horses were rugged up

 

[Auslander]

It seems to me that those of us who have quality, expensive horses, are the ones who can buy the best breathable rugs, and are therefore willing to ensure horse welfare is optimum.

Those who have the more common-bred, poorly conformed animals, who are perhaps more suited to pulling flat-bed trailers, may look at their extensive musk-ox/yak type coarse coats, and decide they would rather invest in another bottle of 'Buckfast' or 'White Lightning' than purchasing a decent rug. They term this neglect 'natural horsemanship' and to an extent it does reflect nature in that horses are left to die without human intervention in the wild.

I do hope this clarifies the position for all.
S

Laughing my socks off!!
I am an anomaly though. My horse is a common old carthorse/racehorse cross, and cost me next to nothing - but his record makes him rather special, so he should really come under the quality/expensive bracket. However, I have NO rugs, until tomorrow, when I plan to go and buy him the cheapest one I can find! What does that make me?

 

[B-B]

The fabrics used today are breathable. So I would rug if concerned. I have left a younger horse but rugged an older one who didnt cope as well.

The idea of not rugging a wet horse came about before the modern fabrics and I think it had more to do with wet as in sweat than rain.

Can anyone remember why?

 

[touchstone]

The fabrics used today are breathable. So I would rug if concerned. I have left a younger horse but rugged an older one who didnt cope as well.

The idea of not rugging a wet horse came about before the modern fabrics and I think it had more to do with wet as in sweat than rain.

Can anyone remember why?

I'm sure that it was because the horse would remain wet and so risk chilling.