should i put a rug on my horse tonight...

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wench

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as its been raining all day here today, and as horse is TB with summer coat, dont want him getting cold. due to rain tommorow as well, but forecast says 20 deg for tommorow. Cant get down in the early morning to take it off, and there isnt anyone else that will do it
 
i went down at 10 today to find mine and friends horse laid in grass snuggled up so i brought them both in they will be stayin in overnight if it carries on, can u get him in to dry then rug him up for night..?
 
Rug on, I've got an Arab and I know she'll suffer less from being too hot than too cold. Plus you know what the weather forecasting is like in the UK, it may well be 5 degrees tomorrow
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Sorry Silverspring but I disagree totally. If a horse is too cold then he or she could move round to warm up. If they are too warm underneath a rug then there isn't anything they can do to cool down.
 
Agree with ISH_Mad, we rugged the old lady last night, but the other two are nude still. They can warm themselves up but cannot cool down under the rug.
 
Mine had their rugs put on yesterday morning when it was peeing down and have had them on since, Im not going to bother taking them off tonight cos its meant to be raining again tomorrow. It won't do them any harm this afternoon in the sunshine, maybe it will sweat their winter coats out!
 
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Sorry Silverspring but I disagree totally. If a horse is too cold then he or she could move round to warm up. If they are too warm underneath a rug then there isn't anything they can do to cool down.

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In my opinion the hot bloods should be kept too warm rather than too cold, my mare will only sweat a minimal amount if she's left wearing a heavy weight NZ on a hot summers day, however, she will shiver for hours if she gets wet and it's even slightly cool. TB's and Arabs are not designed for cold weather, hence the light coat and the ability to sweat like a racehorse. Tho if he's a porky TB I might consider just a rain sheet
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I would leave it off, won't hurt him if he gets a bit cold. As long as he has enough food he'll keep warm internally and can move around to warm up. It'll be worse for him to be boiling in his rug, as a few on my yard have done over the past few days in between showers. He probably won't care about getting cold as much as you do
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It really depends on your individual horse, just because in this instance your horse is a TB say with a fine summer coat, this can not ultimately determine if you should or shouldn't rug up.

A horse that is well covered yet still has a very fine silky coat does not necessarily need to to have a shower proof on to to stop a them catching a chill, it all depends on there own skins, body temperature, amount of grease in the coat and body fat which keeps them warmer. Some horses will sweat up where others can still remain prerry dry and unclammy with a lightweight rug on.

A lot of rugs on the market today are actually breathable, plus it depends on the colour of the rug too. I'd try with a non padded waterpoof rain sheet, nothing to tight or clingy, breathable where the air can circulate, not in a dark colour and see how your horse goes if you think he will be stood in the constant rain miserable and wet, you will be able to tell if your horse has broken out in a sweat even after he's dried off if you carefully look at your rug, if he has then I'd replace the salts and not bother next time as over heating/sweating will do more harm than him being stood a little wet and feeling sorry for himself, after all their skins are waterproof.
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Arabs are very able to withstand cold, the desert temperatures at night can drop to near freezing. They are also good doers as the quality of grazing is so poor.
 
My TB has to be well wrapped up in the winter although this time of year he's fine out naked 24/7, even out in this rain we've been having. This morning he looked drenched so I gave him the option of a rug but no chance! He was happy enough getting his coat clean and checked his temp and was warm enough. Think depends on the horse though as some other TB's on my yard have lightweights on.
 
I put rainsheets on all 5 of mine yesterday (3 Arabs, 1 Anglo and 1 TBX) because they were all stood shivering violently. I also moved them into the bottom field for more shelter (the top field that they were in really does seem to get the worst of the wind.) and yet they've all been naked for a month or more now and live out 24/7.

Within 1/2 hour, they were all much happier and the rugs came off again this morning. So it may also be worth considering where the horse is likely to be (stabled/exposed field/sheltered field etc.) when making decisions about rugs.

It's not cold that affects horses. It's not the rain that affects horses. It's the unfortunate combination of a cold wind AND driving rain which they tend not to tolerate.
 
well i got up to yard after deciding all day he will be staying in with his pal but we got some new rugs delivered so chucked em L/W TO's on and chucked em out lol! i can never stick to a decision! they seemed happy to be out tho!
 
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