Tranquility
New User
So three of my horses live out 24/7, are naked and fluffy and have been all winter (none in work currently owing to my back injury). My newest we got in spring and previous owner said they'd never rugged him in winter so we haven't bothered. Up until now he's been fine, but a few nights ago we had a storm come in from the north east and I found him soaked and shivering in the morning.
He's blind in one eye so I don't think he moves around much at night as he can't see well, and the only shelter we have from the east is hedges down a bank. It's lovely and still down there out of the wind but he hasn't got a good view of his surroundings so I think he'd rather stand freezing in the wind and rain than not be able to see all around him. Also, owing to a fence blowing down during the night he was cut off from his hay stash for several hours, and the field they were in has very little grass left, so I'm sure that didn't help.
I felt so guilty, and still feel awful because he looked so miserable. I dried him off and threw a friend's rug on him, and he'd dried out properly by the evening, however the rug is too deep in the chest and had slipped back behind his withers so I took it off. He's been fine since, but we have a big storm coming in tomorrow and we're expecting heavy rain and gusts of 75mph but this time coming from the south west, so a little warmer, plus they have a lot of hedge shelter from that direction. I've also let them onto their winter grazing so they have plenty of grass and hay. I ordered a rug for him but they sent the wrong size (by a foot) and now everything is closed until the 27th so can't get my hands on another!
I really don't want to put the spare rug back on him as it really is too big, do you reckon he'll be alright without? He's weathered storms like this already this winter and is a healthy weight so I'm probably just worrying too much? Also, we have no access to stabling so can't keep him in.
He's blind in one eye so I don't think he moves around much at night as he can't see well, and the only shelter we have from the east is hedges down a bank. It's lovely and still down there out of the wind but he hasn't got a good view of his surroundings so I think he'd rather stand freezing in the wind and rain than not be able to see all around him. Also, owing to a fence blowing down during the night he was cut off from his hay stash for several hours, and the field they were in has very little grass left, so I'm sure that didn't help.
I felt so guilty, and still feel awful because he looked so miserable. I dried him off and threw a friend's rug on him, and he'd dried out properly by the evening, however the rug is too deep in the chest and had slipped back behind his withers so I took it off. He's been fine since, but we have a big storm coming in tomorrow and we're expecting heavy rain and gusts of 75mph but this time coming from the south west, so a little warmer, plus they have a lot of hedge shelter from that direction. I've also let them onto their winter grazing so they have plenty of grass and hay. I ordered a rug for him but they sent the wrong size (by a foot) and now everything is closed until the 27th so can't get my hands on another!
I really don't want to put the spare rug back on him as it really is too big, do you reckon he'll be alright without? He's weathered storms like this already this winter and is a healthy weight so I'm probably just worrying too much? Also, we have no access to stabling so can't keep him in.
