The great rug debate!

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nightfury

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Ahh, horses - once wild and free and now pampered by us crazy horse folk!

We sure are having some crazy English weather at the moment. Plenty of rain, which in turn means plenty of muddy horses.

Should they be brought in rather than live out?

Should they be rugged?

These are some of the questions I see over and over again being asked.

When we get weather like this, do you rug your horse or bring them in?

I mean... It is only a bit of rain right? In the wild they wouldn't have the luxury of a raincoat, and do they really need it or is it us fussy owners just overprotecting our four-legged friends?

So... My question is... In this rainy season - do you rug your horse Yay, or Neigh?
 
Neigh - its too warm to rug mine yet. They have plenty of shelter and seem happy without rugs.

If they didn't have good shelter I might be tempted to put on a LW turnout over night.
 
I have a rain sheet on mine he is getting old and getting a chill earlier and earlier we have no shelter either �� when he was young I didn't use to rug until November I think it's always different depending on everyone's circumstances
 
nightfury said:
Ahh, horses - once wild and free and now pampered by us crazy horse folk!

We sure are having some crazy English weather at the moment. Plenty of rain, which in turn means plenty of muddy horses.

Should they be brought in rather than live out?

Should they be rugged?

These are some of the questions I see over and over again being asked.

When we get weather like this, do you rug your horse or bring them in?

I mean... It is only a bit of rain right? In the wild they wouldn't have the luxury of a raincoat, and do they really need it or is it us fussy owners just overprotecting our four-legged friends?

So... My question is... In this rainy season - do you rug your horse Yay, or Neigh?
Click to expand...
Ours are out at night from around 5.30pm - 6.30pm and back in around 7am the next day. Mine is 18 so I would look after him a bit more than say, an 8 year old. I tend to guage temperature and rainfall. So if its going to be say 10c but dry he can stay out naked, but 10c and raining and he can have a rug on in the rain. The rainfall we had on Saturday night meant my horses lightweight turnout was absolutely soaking, even the most waterproof rug when subjected to hours and hours and hours of rain will start to let water in. I had to buy a new one yesterday..... as a spare. At least he went out warm and dry to be subjected to again hours and hours and hours of overnight rain! Bet that's soaking wet through!

My biggest tip EVER for people when buying rugs - remember the weight of them when you buy them as so often the weight is not written inside them. Its difficult to tell the differenece between a light weight and middleweight for example, especially a couple of years down the line. So write it down in a book specifically for the purpose. And also write down in a 'rug book' when you had them reproofed too so you don't end up doing them more than you need too!

I have a dozen rugs, but half of them I can't remember what weights they are as they are so old. There's not much between a 200g and a 300g for example when you hold it up but there is in temperature! I was putting what I thought was a lightweight on my horse only when i came to replace the rug and wanted the same rug was told that they only sell this particular rug in middleweight! Poor boy was a little over rugged! :)
 
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I have always said no at this time of the year!! But... I arrived at the yard at 9:30 on Bank holiday Monday in the rain to find my 'hardy' Welsh from the top of Scotland shivering (and is now a bit under the weather). So after bringing him in and warming / drying him I have now put his rain sheet on. He is still out and it will come off when the constant rain stops.

Edit: I don't think the fact that it was lovely and hot Sat & Sun to then turn into torrential rain over night helped!
 
My horse gets a rainsheet when it's raining but currently nothing else. Although I did go up and get him from the field once to find that someone had put him out with his medium weight rug on. Poor boy was sweating. He doesn't get a stable rug either yet except on nights before competitions (I dunno why I bother though he still needs cleaned in the morning anyway). He is a grey 6 year old half warmblood and I have given up on him ever being fully clean. But I do like him to be at least dry we live in the mountains of Scotland it's a bit unrealistic to think he can cope with the weather fully. If he is dry he is ok for now he can have the thicker rugs when the weather gets colder.
 
Our horses go out until October or November and stay in from then until around May or June. In the Summer they don't have rugs on and we are just putting rugs on the older ones now.
 
applecart14 said:
Ours are out at night from around 5.30pm - 6.30pm and back in around 7am the next day. Mine is 18 so I would look after him a bit more than say, an 8 year old. I tend to guage temperature and rainfall. So if its going to be say 10c but dry he can stay out naked, but 10c and raining and he can have a rug on in the rain. The rainfall we had on Saturday night meant my horses lightweight turnout was absolutely soaking, even the most waterproof rug when subjected to hours and hours and hours of rain will start to let water in. I had to buy a new one yesterday..... as a spare. At least he went out warm and dry to be subjected to again hours and hours and hours of overnight rain! Bet that's soaking wet through!

My biggest tip EVER for people when buying rugs - remember the weight of them when you buy them as so often the weight is not written inside them. Its difficult to tell the differenece between a light weight and middleweight for example, especially a couple of years down the line. So write it down in a book specifically for the purpose. And also write down in a 'rug book' when you had them reproofed too so you don't end up doing them more than you need too!

I have a dozen rugs, but half of them I can't remember what weights they are as they are so old. There's not much between a 200g and a 300g for example when you hold it up but there is in temperature! I was putting what I thought was a lightweight on my horse only when i came to replace the rug and wanted the same rug was told that they only sell this particular rug in middleweight! Poor boy was a little over rugged! :)
Click to expand...

What a great thought. always forgetting what they are.
 
I tend to rug depending on the weather . In winter most people seem to permanently rug once they've started rugging theyre in them till Spring.. Same as I don't always rug when they are stabled, as I think they are out of the cold and wind so should be warmer? But, they are standing still ! I always do the ear test and feeling under their back legs though.
 
Mine don't get rugged when they are out.

They are out 24/7 from May to November and then in for winter with half day turnout each day. On the coldest nights they will have a thick fleece on in the stable but they are quite hardy.

It was interesting a few years ago because we stabled somewhere (a private yard) where the field opened right off the yard, for a good few months over the back end of summer and into autumn we left stable doors open and the field gate just to see what would happen - we didn't rug.

On the sunniest warmest days we would get up there in the evening to find them all in the stables - without fail. Freezing cold and out they would go no bother, they would also go out in rain but not stay out for very long and all of them chose to come in at night most of the time - the only time they hadn't already put themselves in their stables before we got there was on warmish (but not too warm) days where there was a nice breeze. They also quite liked going out in snow.
 
Mine are natives so won't be rugged for a while yet unless it gets seriously muddy. They live out 24/7 no problems so I know I am lucky on the rugging front. When in doubt I tend to under-rug mine but if I had a 'colder' horse I would rug far more, obviously. I think that most people know their horses well and rug accordingly. I only have a problem with serious overrugging. Some owners just like to mollycoddle, which is fine as long as their horse isn't sweaty because it's in a mediumweight in early september because it looked like it might rain...
As I said though, I think most people get it about right bar the odd day once they know their horse.
 
nightfury said:
So... My question is... In this rainy season - do you rug your horse Yay, or Neigh?
Click to expand...

Depends on the horse, the temperature and how long the rain continues. If they look miserable then I blanket them, I have one now who is a serious tough cookie that has a coat like a yeti who walks away when she sees me pick up a blanket, the other one (I can't believe that I only have two horses now :( ) stands there glaring at me and shaking her blanket in her teeth, not so subtly hinting that she is cold.
 
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