rugging ?????

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Chukkas

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I have 2 Criollos and they are a hardy breed so I was thinking would it better not to rug them? They have 4 acres to graze with trees lining 50% of the field. They are both getting quite plump now and are starting to grow winter coats due to the colder nights. I do have stables for them and would rug if they came in but when they are out would it not be better to leave them unrugged?
 
Yep far more natural for them ,especially if they are a bit podgy as horses are designed to put weight on in summer, store in autumn and lose it in winter. We prevent this cycle with all the rugging and feeding hence a nation of fat horses.

Also means they can self regulate themselves far better than being trussed up in rugs ;)
 
Can't see the pictures but I'm sure they will be fine if you leave them to grow big coats. Be prepared that if it rains lots or theres a cold snap you may want to give them hay/hayledge.

Best to just keep an eye on them and see if they start dropping weight and act accordingly.

What I do is take pictures of them every month through the winter as it can be hard to tell if they are dropping weight if you see them every day but if you can compare pictures it makes it a bit easier.
 
Not yet. I wont rug until it's consistently 8 degrees or lower at night. Unless it's really wet and muddy. Even then it will only be light weights. Normally start rugging once I've clipped :)
 
We've got a pony at our yard that was fully clipped 4 weeks ago, owner says he needs clipping again and is already in a heavy weight rug overnight.

Awful.

Leave rugs off as long as possible!
 
TigerTail said:
Yep far more natural for them ,especially if they are a bit podgy as horses are designed to put weight on in summer, store in autumn and lose it in winter. We prevent this cycle with all the rugging and feeding hence a nation of fat horses.

Also means they can self regulate themselves far better than being trussed up in rugs ;)
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Echo the above 100% Chukkas.. :)
 
Thanks guys I wont clip as we only do light hacking and one is only a 2 year old (3 in Jan 2015) but she will come out on the lead rein once we have mastered that in the paddock lol
 
For the health of the horse, it is far better to leave them unrugged, over-heating causes all sorts of problems, including 'rainscald' type fungal infections, which novices think is impossible in a rugged horse.

I'm just not sure why you would rug if you start to stable the horse, unless your stables are particularly cold. It is actually digesting long fibre which is the best way of heating a horse - and completely natural!
 
Sounds sensible OP.

The yard down the road had two ponies out in July in turnouts, in full sun in the middle of the day. There was no shade in the field! What is wrong with people?
 
No rugs for my boy either. He's a native so very hardy and naturally warm in himself, I'm fairly sure that he'd either keel over from heat exhaustion or destroy the rug if I put one on him now. He's not working hard enough to get more than slightly sweaty around the girth area so I don't need to clip, which mean he has his own natural rug. Nothing really beats that and whilst I'm not anti rug, it's a lot easier not having to second guess the weather every day and wonder if I've put a warm enough rug on or not.

I don't really plan on rugging at all, but am open to it if he needs it. Last year he wore a rug from around Christmas to February, as the grass really dropped off and he was starting to look and act as though he was miserable during prolonged wet spells. The most he had on was a medium weight and even that came off in the stable (he comes in for the afternoon each day). I took it off again when they moved on to fresh grazing in a field that has lots of natural shelter, and he was absolutely fine. He dropped the bit of summer weight that he'd put on, which was what I'd hoped for, but never looked miserable.
 
I don't have either of mine rugged at the moment, either. One is a Welsh B and the other is Conn x TB. The Welsh B turns into a woolly mammoth in winter but he's in overnight at the moment anyway, in an effort to keep the pounds down. The TBx, on the other hand, is out 24/7 at the minute and only just beginning to shed his summer coat, but he won't be rugged unless it drops below 8 degrees.
 
Our lad is a bit of a fat heifer despite restricted grazing, so no rugs for him. Ours don't come in for overnight stabling until November usually, he also has a field shelter. If he wasn't mainly white I doubt I'd rug at all, he only has a lightweight on when it's foul as he will dither when really wet. He's a ID x trad cob so your guys should be fine.
 
I think last year it got to around Nov/Dec before we rugged, and that was due to nonstop rain and a dreadful cold wind and she was starting to shiver. But had it been drier she would have probably been unrugged all year round. She was then unrugged about Feb/March
 
Pearlsasinger said:
For the health of the horse, it is far better to leave them unrugged, over-heating causes all sorts of problems, including 'rainscald' type fungal infections, which novices think is impossible in a rugged horse.

I'm just not sure why you would rug if you start to stable the horse, unless your stables are particularly cold. It is actually digesting long fibre which is the best way of heating a horse - and completely natural!
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100% agree with this :)
 
Both mine are naked and are growing their lovely winter coats. Once they start to sweat when working they will both get a bib clip and remain naked unless it rains, then they will get a rain sheet. I am not anti rugging at all but I do believe that, like others have said, you warm a horse from the inside with plenty of fiber and provide shelter from the elements.

The majority of the horses on my yard are already in their medium rugs as "it's cold at night" It really isnt cold and the rugs stay on 24/7 even though the temps have been in the early 20s in the midlands this week.
 
Chukkas said:
I have 2 Criollos and they are a hardy breed so I was thinking would it better not to rug them? They have 4 acres to graze with trees lining 50% of the field. They are both getting quite plump now and are starting to grow winter coats due to the colder nights. I do have stables for them and would rug if they came in but when they are out would it not be better to leave them unrugged?
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I had a similiar question myself but when I put the question on here got told that I was silly for asking such a question!! Like Haffies Rock says the Midlands have been very warm recently, and typically 20's during the day and 10-14c at night depending on teh wind chill factor.

I am putting a fly sheet on my horse at night as he goes out about five/six pm at the moment as I am not working so riding earlier and it is still about 18/19 degrees then so very warm so even a light weight turnout is a little too much for him. But then around 4am it gets about 8-10 degreees which is very cold.

I've always been very confused about rugging in the summer. Take the scenario of it being 10c at night in the summer and your horse being turned out. Not all people would choose to put a rug on their horse.

Take the scenario of the same horse in the winter when its 10c at night and the horse is STABLED! Most people I used to know would have at least one possibly two rugs on their horse!

So why the difference? It is confusing.

I think you need to take into account when you plan to turn out if there are any clouds. A cloudless sky means a colder night.
 
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I have a young lusitano, came over here in June. He has only just started shedding and is not chubby. We are getting ground frosts overnight and he's not rugged if its not windy and wet-then he's just getting a rain sheet if necessary (lots of natural shelter). I doubt he'll grow a decent coat this year and he will need rugging at some point but not for as long as possible. The other two are Exmoors, no rugs for them.
 
I had an un-believable situation in the paddocks next to me a couple of weeks ago.

A wealthy family own paddocks next to my back fields & have 2 Welsh D ponies & an ISH mare. They went away for a weeks holiday to France (didn't think to tell me this) & left the 3 horses with medium weight, full neck rugs on. After 3 days without seeing anyone even checking their horses, & the rugs being on 24/7, with temperatures reaching 24 degrees, i did manage to make contact with one of the daughter's.

I mentioned it to my vet yesterday. She was horrified & said to call RSPCA if it happened again.
 
Thanks all, I think I felt that on a very cold night in the stable which are brick and have large open windows and a large doorway opening that due to them not being able to move around much they might need rugging. However they are huge stables which were originally for the working horses on the farm years ago. I'm
Using thick bedding of straw so a nice warm bed for them and plenty of excellent quality hay cut recently on our farm x
 
Chukkas said:
Thanks all, I think I felt that on a very cold night in the stable which are brick and have large open windows and a large doorway opening that due to them not being able to move around much they might need rugging. However they are huge stables which were originally for the working horses on the farm years ago. I'm
Using thick bedding of straw so a nice warm bed for them and plenty of excellent quality hay cut recently on our farm x
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Honestly, as long as they have hay/haylage to eat ad lib, they will be absolute fine.
 
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HazyXmas said:
I had an un-believable situation in the paddocks next to me a couple of weeks ago.

A wealthy family own paddocks next to my back fields & have 2 Welsh D ponies & an ISH mare. They went away for a weeks holiday to France (didn't think to tell me this) & left the 3 horses with medium weight, full neck rugs on. After 3 days without seeing anyone even checking their horses, & the rugs being on 24/7, with temperatures reaching 24 degrees, i did manage to make contact with one of the daughter's.

I mentioned it to my vet yesterday. She was horrified & said to call RSPCA if it happened again.
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Oh my god, that's awful.

I would've hopped the fence and removed the rugs if I could.
 
I have two tb ex racehorses and a tb x id who are out 24/7 and still unrugged (I'm midlands) I'll probably be using lightweight sheets at night in a couple of weeks but they seem fine atm, I'm always worried about them being cold but they're not fluffed up at all.
 
I'm not sure I would class 8 - 10 degrees as being very cold applecart?! Very cold to me is below freezing; The temperature is not the problem with most horses, its the wind and rain combination
 
applecart14 said:
I had a similiar question myself but when I put the question on here got told that I was silly for asking such a question!! Like Haffies Rock says the Midlands have been very warm recently, and typically 20's during the day and 10-14c at night depending on teh wind chill factor.

I am putting a fly sheet on my horse at night as he goes out about five/six pm at the moment as I am not working so riding earlier and it is still about 18/19 degrees then so very warm so even a light weight turnout is a little too much for him. But then around 4am it gets about 8-10 degreees which is very cold.

I've always been very confused about rugging in the summer. Take the scenario of it being 10c at night in the summer and your horse being turned out. Not all people would choose to put a rug on their horse.

Take the scenario of the same horse in the winter when its 10c at night and the horse is STABLED! Most people I used to know would have at least one possibly two rugs on their horse!

So why the difference? It is confusing.

I think you need to take into account when you plan to turn out if there are any clouds. A cloudless sky means a colder night.
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I wouldn't have a rug on my horse in any season if it were only 10 degrees (unless the horse was ill, elderly or underweight). I don't quite understand the logic of people thinking 10 degrees is cold for a normal healthy horse.
 
AngieandBen said:
I'm not sure I would class 8 - 10 degrees as being very cold applecart?! Very cold to me is below freezing; The temperature is not the problem with most horses, its the wind and rain combination
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This.
Most horses have perfectly good coats of their own and rugging does them more harm than good. If your horse is feeling the cold, its coat will be fluffed up, when the hairs stand up to keep pockets of warm air near the skin. If the horse is too cold, its skin behind the elbow will feel cold when you touch it - that actually happens very rarely in dry weather, no matter how low the temperature.
We are on top of the Pennines and very exposed. There is a stud nearby, whose mares, this year's foals and youngstock are out all year round. There is almost no natural shelter, although the weanlings are usually wintered in a field with some trees, none wear rugs but all are very well and healthy because they have plenty of haylage and carrots to eat.
 
applecart14 said:
I've always been very confused about rugging in the summer. Take the scenario of it being 10c at night in the summer and your horse being turned out. Not all people would choose to put a rug on their horse.

Take the scenario of the same horse in the winter when its 10c at night and the horse is STABLED! Most people I used to know would have at least one possibly two rugs on their horse!

So why the difference? It is confusing.

I think you need to take into account when you plan to turn out if there are any clouds. A cloudless sky means a colder night.
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I guess in Winter you have to take into consideration the wind and rain that may accompany the temperature, and also if the horse is clipped or not.

Plus through Summer horses don't tend to need the extra condition whereas in Winter some horses require all the help they can get to maintain a decent weight.
 
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