Rugs ??‍♂️

[OrangeAndLemon]

Luckily he’s a dark bay ?
What’s a waffle rug?

A waffle rug is just a simple, plain, non waterproof rug, mine is made of a knitted (waffle pattern weave) fabric. Most will have a simple fleece (but I couldn't find a decent fleece in 7'6") or splash out on a lovely thermatex, but I have my cheap & cheerful waffle rug. I find it hugely useful even though he never wears it for more than a few hours. I guess its like a show rug; just something to keep them clean for a few hours without generating any warmth.

 

[Winters100]

My favourite subject! I can separate my rugs into 'essential' and 'nice to have'.

The quality that I buy depends on the horse. My lovely schoolmistress mare who would not dream of allowing others to rip her rugs gets nice quality ones. Naughty geldings who like to play get cheaper ones which won't make me cry when they trash them.

My personal preference is to use stable rugs at night as they are lighter and more comfortable, but many other owners successfully leave turnouts on with no problems.

I would say my essentials would be:

Fly rug
Fleece cooler
Cotton sheet
turnouts in 50g, 100g and 200g plus polarlined.
Stable rugs 100g and 200g

I like to use detachable necks on turnouts and have with and without fill. If turnout rugs come without D-rings for the necks I have them sewn on.

Rain sheets I am not a massive fan of, but I do have some nice ones with mesh inside. I don't use them too much, but would if they did not have a shelter.

Then we come to non-essentials:

Microfibre type for drying them
Turnouts in 300g, which I only really use in very cold and windy weather, and you could just use a turnout with something under
Heavier stable rugs. I have them in 300g, but hardly ever used, and to be honest a 200g with something under would be fine

Most used are 50g turnouts and 100g stable rugs in winter, fly rugs and sheets in summer.

I tend to buy inexpensive stable rugs and more expensive turnouts, but you need to think how long will the horse be between rug changes and what drying facilities you have. If you cannot easily dry turnouts overnight then it is good to have 2 of each.

The thing is to get to know the horse and monitor how he does. Don't fall into the trap of over-rugging, I have seen a few charts which give details of what rug for what temperature, and they are way above what I would use for mine - it is very personal to the horse.

In the spring I usually do an inventory of rugs and order whatever winter rugs that need replacement in the sales

Happy shopping!

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Also, just to add further confusion to the mix. Don't always assume that because the horse next door has its thick rug on, that Coco will need theirs and Totally agree, if you feel cold, there’s no guarantee your horse will also.

For example, a previous horse I had, always felt the cold, he would refuse to come out of the stable on a wet summer’s day, without his thick rug on, my current mare is a hot horse, she’s never even worn her 50g rug I bought her, she’s spent all turnout during winter either naked or in a rain sheet. Even when we got to minus 14 windchill!

Horses armpits and a gentle sliding of the hand (with a bit of warning) on their inner thigh will help you to best decide if they’re the right temperature, too hot or too cold.

If you want to get super technical there are also gadgets you can buy that fit into pockets inside certain rugs that monitor their temperature (The name escapes me currently).

 

[Winters100]

Also, just to add further confusion to the mix. Don't always assume that because the horse next door has its thick rug on, that Coco will need theirs and Totally agree, if you feel cold, there’s no guarantee your horse will also.

For example, a previous horse I had, always felt the cold, he would refuse to come out of the stable on a wet summer’s day, without his thick rug on, my current mare is a hot horse, she’s never even worn her 50g rug I bought her, she’s spent all turnout during winter either naked or in a rain sheet. Even when we got to minus 14 windchill!

Horses armpits and a gentle sliding of the hand (with a bit of warning) on their inner thigh will help you to best decide if they’re the right temperature, too hot or too cold.

If you want to get super technical there are also gadgets you can buy that fit into pockets inside certain rugs that monitor their temperature (The name escapes me currently).

This is a very good point - my older mare is always in at least 100g more than my geldings. I do have Orscana sensors for them, which I quite like. I ordered them because we get very cold winters and I had no idea how the temperature was in the barn overnight. They were very useful for that, and made me realise that I needed to use thinner rugs at night because the grooms closed all the doors at night.

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Totally agree, it can be a bit of a constant battle at times and I really can see the benefits of the Orscana (thank you!), I have really noticed the difference of a night time rugging requirements since I’ve gone from wooden outdoor stables in the UK, to block stables inside a big brick barn (first time I’ve ever had them in indoor stables).

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Wow there are some seriously pampered horses on this thread.

Mine get a 50g turnout on when it’s below 5 degrees consistently, and a 300g turnout with neck when it’s below 5 and wet / snowing or consistently below zero.

They are out 24/7 unless the weather is totally awful and if I bring them in, they are fine in their turnouts.

Mine aren’t clipped though. One is an Arab, the other is Spanish and I’ve previously kept and ISH the same way.