Shifting pounds over winter

[Timelyattraction]

Hi

i bought a little welsh a back in may and she was extremely over weight. She was 4 years old and unbroken and pretty much just been in a field all her life. Ive broken her in shes now in a good amount of work- 5 days a week- she is strip grazed during the day and stabled over night with a mixed hay/straw net. She has dropped a lot of weight but i would still like her a bit leaner and with winter coming up i thought id use this to my advantage.
I gave her a clip the other day as she has gotten very hairy the past week and started to get sweaty when ridden. I just took her neck/ shoulder off as it was her first ever time being clipped so i just wanted to start small to begin with to get her used to it.
My question is i am wanting to keep her unrugged for as long as possible without being too cruel so that she can use her fat to keep warm and hopefully burn off some more like this. I am planning to clip her again in a few weeks and will do a blanket clip.. what sort of temperature should i let it drop too before putting a rug on? any advise appreciated. Attached a couple of photos so you can see how she is looking atm! Please no hate on the questionable clip, my clippers were also playing up ?

 

[fidleyspromise]

I would go by how she feels rather than a specific temperature.
If its raining I'd probably pop a rug on but if dry I'd leave unless she's cold.

 

[meleeka]

If she’s got shelter and doesn’t have to stand out in rain I’d probably avoid a rug if possible. You might find she isn’t bothered, or she might like my Welsh B and not mind cold, but think she’s an aspirin and will dissolve at the first sign of rain!

I’m sorry to say not rugging doesn’t make any of my natives lose weight though, only restricted grass and exercise seems to help.

 

[Widgeon]

I’m sorry to say not rugging doesn’t make any of my natives lose weight though, only restricted grass and exercise seems to help.

I'm afraid I found the same with my cob. I rug for convenience now - he's not clipped yet but I'll give it a few weeks then clip everything off and put him in a rain sheet / 100g depending on temperatures. That keeps him warm enough and he's clean to ride, so then I actually DO ride more, which is the thing that keeps the weight off.

 

[Abacus]

My little welsh A dropped weight well on restricted grazing - a very bare paddock and minimal hay. He put on weight when we had to feed hay. He was never allowed a field of good grass. The only issue was that we found he was almost scraping at the ground to eat all he could and his teeth started wearing down too much, at a point where his weight was about perfect. It is a very hard balance. Strip grazing might work if you can keep extending by a tiny amount each day. He was never clipped as not in much work and only had a rug at very rainy times.