someone prove my hubby wrong !!!!

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tontoandtigger

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hi , guys please someone prove my hubby wrong, i have a shetland pony that we got about six years ago when she arrived she had never had a rug on in winter and the first winter she was here i didnt rug her, however after the first winter of her comming in wet i decided in year two to rug her,just in a lite weight to keep her dry however as the years have gone past she has gradually got better and thicker rugs. last week my husband came home to find i had put lite weight rugs on our horses and yes the shetland. he announced at the top of his voice that i must have the only shetland in the country wearing a rug in august. so please someone tell they have a shetland in a rug.!!!!!!!!! i just cant stand to see her wet.!!!!!
 
No Shetlands here but my horses have worn a rug a total of twice when the weather was very cold (in the 40's) and hard rain was falling. And on one of those occasions the one in the pasture got his off!

Sorry I couldn't help! :o
 
Sorry, but shetlands are not designed for rugs - not in August anyway!! If she was ill, poor or very old in WINTER then I would, but now? Are you mad?! lol
Spoilt Pone.
Iam also with hubby - sorry.
 
You can't make sweeping statements - noone except OP knows what the weather is like/surroundings when sheltie is kept. As a for instance - when I moved my horses upto my current yard, they were toasty warm in unlined turnouts, moved up and were in h/w (and so was I). So - down here in Surrey, it feels like we are getting months of rain in one night and even the section A has a turn out on to stop him getting completely soaked!
 
All the showing shetties will have been wearing rugs most of the summer and will probably have been stabled. They will deff have rugs on now to stop them loosing there summer coats. So yours isn't the only shettie to have a rug on. :p She's just being like a posh show shettie ;) :)

I have to say though I wouldn't rug a shetland. Horrid has been out in all this rain un rugged. Some people have made comments but I just say "He's a forest bred forester, He wouldn't have a rug on if he was still on the forest" He has trees to shelter under and I think thats more than good enough. But then maybe i'm just mean :p;):D:D
 
Only ever seen one shetland rugged but that was in the depth of last winter, have to say that my sec D cross cob yearling isn't rugged yet either, wasn't all last winter either! But as said, your pony and only you know what the pony is like whether it feels the cold, whether it's prone to rain scald etc etc.
 
hi, just so you dont think i am completley mad !!! we have had heavy rain the last few days but now its looking a bit brighter rug will come off in the morning. not far to remove at night. she wont go back into it unless it turns wet again. i am at home with them all day so if it had turned hot i can take it off . i have to say she loves wearing it, goes upto the horses on her tippy toes showing off. i do know that some would say she should be wild and woolly but i had it when they come in all wet and the next morning you turn them back out and they havent dried off and its still raining. oh well lets all hope that september is going to be lovely,warm and sunny.
thanks to all of you for answering and seeing the funnyside of life:eek:
 
There is a field shelter in our paddock and some big trees that also provide some shelter. My Shetties HATE being rugged, the only times we've tried it they've ended up wet with sweat. Their coats and so thick and close. I bring them in if the weather is particularly cold or snowy but never use rugs.
 
The trouble with rugging, then not rugging, then rugging again is that it doesn't allow the horse to develop its own winter coat etc. If you do it, then fine, but you do it consistently. If you don't do it, fine, but again, consistently. What is worst is sometimes rugging, sometimes not - if they aren't used to it, then it suddenly rains and gets cold they will suffer far more than if they have been a bit wet prior.
 
Hi tontoandtigger, I totally agree with you, maybe for different reasons but I had several natives, 2 sec A's a dartmoor and in the past 2 shetlands. They are rugged all year round because they are shown and hunted and need to be clean but also because they will start to lose their coat by July if not rugged.

Nothing wrong with rugging natives, they look a lot smarter when you ride out and less grooming to do. An absolute must for showing as well. Carry on and ignore all those who want to tell you what to do. You are doing no harm, x
 
I'm a mean non rugger myself!! Suppose it's a bit different with a shettie who I assume will not be clipped in winter? But I figure if I rug my horse now, then shave all his hair off when it is actually freezing, how many rugs does he have to have on then??

At the end of the day though a shettie does not need a rug on at this time of year.
 
In torrential rain a shetland in its summer coat will get just as wet as any other horse or pony. In its winter coat, which has 2 layers, it might stay drier initially but after a good soaking a shettie will stay wetter longer. It's down to the judgement of the owner, the weather, the age and health of the pony, the part of the country it lives in, shelter in the field, if it's brought in daily etc etc etc. Just like for any other horse or pony. And worth noting 2 things: the first is that generally speaking the smaller an animal is, the relatively larger the surface area of its body so the quicker it will get cold, and the second is that although a shetland can cope with being soaking wet and cold in the middle of winter, I'm pretty certain that they're just as miserable about it as any other horse or pony would be.
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
And worth noting 2 things: the first is that generally speaking the smaller an animal is, the relatively larger the surface area of its body so the quicker it will get cold, and the second is that although a shetland can cope with being soaking wet and cold in the middle of winter, I'm pretty certain that they're just as miserable about it as any other horse or pony would be.
Click to expand...

So nature has designed these ponies all wrong? :D
 
My Arab share has been mostly unrugged in all the heavy rain we've had. He was shivering once, but he has been sweating at other times in a no fill rug. So he had a rug on for that one night when he was cold, and it's been off otherwise. Surely your shettie is sweating when the sun breaks through? All our arabs are (apart from the one from Italy who is used to warmer climates). Even the 26year old mare gets upset in her lightweight at the moment, sweating and rolling to try to get it off. So she's unrugged mostly too.

Horses are waterproof. Shetties even more so. I really do hope she's not too hot in it.
 
I firmly believe that rugging natives is a big contributory factor to laminitis. They need to use those fat stores as nature intended - to keep warm during wet cold weather.

We all rug for our benefit, not for the horse. It was hard, but we started leaving ours unrugged two years ago, and he has been laminitis free ever since, after three years of struggling with his weight. Plus, he looks great, better than he ever did.
 
I'm with hubby too I'm afraid. I haven't rugged my two since last winter and 1 is 1/2 TB and 1/2 connie, and the other is 3/4 TB and 1/4 exmoor rather than shetlands. The 3/4 TB one only wore a rug about a dozen times last winter as she grows a thick 'native' coat so can't imagine I'd ever put a rug on a shetland. But if you want to its your pony :D
 
Er your hubby is right imo :p

But then I'm a big non rugger. If your horse is shivering in the rain then maybe but if your horse is completely happy then let her get a bit wet.
 
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