So cruel...

[tallyho!]

In this months issue of YH .. I kid you not


http://www.blazewear.com/heated-rug/blazewear-rug-3.html

I think every horse should have one and should be endorsed by cruelty peeps the world over..... it should also be extended to fit a range of animals e.g. those poor freezing cows, alpacas, sheep, chickens, geese, foxes, cats, dogs, mice, yes poor mice, thin coats you see,

 

[eahotson]

Actually I think that when people do question animals turned out without rugs they have a point! Sorry and all that.In the wild, which everyone seems so keen on, the horses are usually in quitelarge herds and on a wide terain.They can stand very close to generate mutual warmth.They can move and find shelter.They can go to higher ground when lower ground becomes very wet.Compare and contrast to maybe a couple of horses turned out in a relatively small and often unsheltered paddock with boggy gound.I would have thought a rug very reasonable under those circumstances.We have a new pony on our yard, a little coloured cob.Very sweet actually BUT you could see every single rib even under the long coat and she had a pot belly due to malnutrition.She had been kept out NATURALLY of course and unrugged.For some strange reason she rather seems to like her rug, her stable at night and her haynets.Another woman of my aquaintance bought a Welsh off the moors that hadn't been stabled (or rugged) for over 3 years.Everyone said he would hate a stable.He LOVED it.She said she thinks he got cold and hungry on those moors.Yes he probably did.
Of course if you have good grazing with good shelter (natural or artificial) and food when necessary many horses will live out happily unrugged.

 

[tallyho!]

Yep, totally agree there eahotson.

I'm sure equestrians who rug their horses have very good reasons to. Clipping, hunting, poor doer etc who through natural selection probably would die in winter... benefit hugely from rugging I'm sure.

The majority of horses do not hunt or work enough to warrant a clip nevermind a 400g rug. That is who I guess my post is aimed at. Perhaps I should not have commented however felt I had to as an antidote to the "namby-pamby" culture of equestrianism which was largely based on common sense.... however, that seems to have been replaced by celeb culture, marketing and sales.

I feel that horses are no longer a pleasure on yards... among those with the mostest, it's a competition in who has the best warmblood and if the boots are magnetic or not.

Ok, show my age as I might, I just feel that the good old horse-hide needs some PR!!! It's fluffy, warm and does a bloody good job keeping the meat warm underneath

(If you WANT to spend money on spotty blankets then that is none of my business but I am allowed to take the mick

 

[Fantasy_World]

There's this girl at my yard, right, just bought a foal and it's not even rugged up!!!! Even the native has it's legwarmers on! Is she crackerz?

Shall I call FWIW?? I just worry she might find a foal shaped ice block in the mornin.

Why not offer to bring home and roast on the open fire

 

[Piglet]

We have a spare bedroom with en-suite and underfloor heating, would the foal like to come to our house?

 

[tallyho!]

Why not offer to bring home and roast on the open fire

I said that.

 

[Fantasy_World]

Lol no you said would put in front of the fire with the cat. I said ROAST on an open fire.