Shivering........

SilverSkye

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Just reading the post about putting a rug on and it got me thinking... my mare is out at night in all day naked all the time, is in through the day to stop her ballooning on the grass ( she is well covered but not obeses by any stretch) Got her in this morning and she was shivering stopped with 5 mins of being in, now as i am trying to watch her weight i would prefer her to be naked and use some energy keeping warm but obviously dont want to make her ill by getting cold, if i put a rain sheet on her she always shivers just as badly as if she was naked ( as she cant fluff up to keep warm ) so dont really see the point in that, so if i rugged up i would put a light filled rug on. So what to do answers on a postcard.....
 
I was taught its when they don't shiver then it's time to worry. Do you not shiver? I shiver and quickly warm up. Its a natural way of warming up. The thermoreglary centre in the brain tells the mucles to contact because your cold.

It would depend on the type of horse to whether I'd put a rug on - Whom I kidding my native yearling wore a heavy weight combo all winter
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Our boys were shovering the other morning too and I felt terrible!!!

The weather is very interchangable at the moment and it is hard to keep rugging up and un-rugging. We put them in last night with PJ's but this morning they were too hot and desperate to go out!!!

It is not that cold and shivering is the natural way to warm up, just be sensible x x x
 
My native yearling was shivvering yesterday, it was freezing so I felt sorry for all 3 of them and rugged them in their medium weights!
They are all natives!
 
It really did throw it down last night and was windy (although I think we got off lightly compared to the south for once!). I had mine out in his lightly filled rug last night and he's OK warmthwise but it's still wet through so he may have to stay in tonight! He's just got a rain sheet on but agree they only keep them dry but not warm.
 
She is a 16hh id x connemara, will defianately want her out tonight as she has been in all day, i think i might well be a cold hearted b~~~h and put her out naked will be bringing her back in about 7 tomorrow morning so she will get a chance to dry out, thanks for the advice.
 
As said, it's their natural way to keep warm so I wouldn't worry, it's not actually THAT cold for a horse, remember they are made to live out in all weathers! I would only consider putting a rug on if there was not enough natural shelter be it trees or a field shelter for the horseor possibly if a horse was very underweight or in poor health.

Mine at the moment have more than enough fat covering to keep them warm, are all fit and healthy and have trees to shelter by so I am not worried about them.
 
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