Under rugging

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Horsegirl25

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Last night was a challenge for me! My 2 are not the slimmest horses in the world due to multiple minor issues between the pair of them that in turn extended their winter break, the winter break that they were having on a field of rested grass...
They both have old ish clips, not too hairy but could be doing with a top up. Anyway I have been trying really hard not to over rug, I used to be a serial over rugger......
They have been wearing no more than a rainsheet (no fill) or a 50g.Last night it dropped to -4 and left quite a thick frost, I wanted so badly to pull out the 300g's but didn't, they wore their 50's and were still nice and warm under their rugs this morning! Phew...
 
Mrs G said:
Well done Horsegirl25 - it can be hard to break a habit! My first horse was like me - felt the cold, so if I was layered up - so was he. Second (current) horse is completely the opposite - he runs VERY warm and it took me a while to adjust to that!
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Thank you!! So hard especially when other people at the yard are pulling out the big rugs lol but like you say every horse is different!
It is so tempting to layer them up when your cold even tho they might not be!
 
Horsegirl25 said:
Thank you!! So hard especially when other people at the yard are pulling out the big rugs lol but like you say every horse is different!
It is so tempting to layer them up when your cold even tho they might not be!
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The hardest year I ever had with horses was when I roughed one off completely. She was absolutely fine - she thrived. But it was soooo hard not to chuck a rug on when it was cold and wet.
 
It's hard. My companion pony came down from Derbyshire and never wore a rug. Compared to here his old home was pretty bleak with only natural, but sparce shelter.

I like to rug mine. I think helping them stay warm and dry keeps them happier. So I always provide hay, a deep straw bed in the shelter and rug to keep the weather off. He was so nervous he wouldn't accept a rug, so now he does it makes me happy to see him in one. But I've had to learn that he doesn't need anything more than 100g even in the coldest of winter.
 
Horses have such a good natural way of keeping warm hardly any will need a 300g really I think I've only used mine a handful of times in about 5 years.

I only bought them because I broke my ankle so they lived out and the weather was horrible it was freezing for ages.
 
Pinkvboots said:
Horses have such a good natural way of keeping warm hardly any will need a 300g really I think I've only used mine a handful of times in about 5 years.

I only bought them because I broke my ankle so they lived out and the weather was horrible it was freezing for ages.
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Until you clip them, then you are taking away the natural way of keeping warm and should rug accordingly a full clipped in - figures, stabled, so can not move about IMO would need a 300g.


Yes you can under rug a fattie to get them to shiver some weight off. Not my preferred way of doing it though.
 
I bought my big one from Cumbria and moved her to Orkney. She had been happy in a 100g rug, out over night in winter there.
Here she has come in shivering in a full neck 200g and is always wanting in to her stable.

We don’t go into - degrees that often but the wind and cold really goes through them and makes them pretty unhappy. It must be exhausting too. Guess there’s a reason our native ponies are Shetland’s 😂
 
mini-eventer said:
Until you clip them, then you are taking away the natural way of keeping warm and should rug accordingly a full clipped in - figures, stabled, so can not move about IMO would need a 300g.


Yes you can under rug a fattie to get them to shiver some weight off. Not my preferred way of doing it though.
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Well yes I am aware of that but op said the clips have basically grown out hence my reply.

Plus they have only had Irish clips so I wouldn't of thought they would need a 300g even if clipped again.
 
This is definitely going to be the toughest rugging year for me, mine was never rugged until last year ( even in the snow) and was absolutely fine. Last year she dropped a lot of weight so got rugged up to help out with this. Turns out the weight loss was due to cushings, she has responded fabulously to the prascend so now I'm stuck between rug up as was needed last year and she's old, or as the cushings is treated now and she's a good weight again go back to treating her as I always did before this.
 
Mrs G said:
Well done Horsegirl25 - it can be hard to break a habit! My first horse was like me - felt the cold, so if I was layered up - so was he. Second (current) horse is completely the opposite - he runs VERY warm and it took me a while to adjust to that!
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My horse is confusing me, he is running much hotter this year. I dug out last late December's rugging chart (when I went away for ten days) and it is very different this year.
 
The weather is so changeable in Britain that rugging is hard. -2 and sleet when you turnout then 10 and sunny by lunchtime. What can you do.

A natural coat and good shelter and no requirement to have a clean and dry horse probably works for most.

I use a rain sheet for most of winter and never go above 100g in extreme weather and have never seen my clipped cobs cold.

Draft boy is another matter. 4" double coat and radiates heat in the stable but was looking unhappy in the field and losing weight. He's got 200g on today and appears much happier, yet to see whether he's sweaty under it.
 
scats said:
My fully clipped mare (legs on) wears between 50-100g at most pretty much all winter.
She went straight into a ‘no fill’ when first clipped as it was still so warm. She is naturally quite a warm horse though and never seems to feel the cold.
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It has been so mild some nights the past few weeks, temps dropping now but had seen the horses having some naked days actually as was mild and sunny! Unheard of in October/november
 
Lari hates being over rugged but it's a fine balancing line between under and over rugging. The y.o certainly has her work cut out.

Over rugged and he gets grumpy and attacks his rug. Under rugged, he gets cold.
 
I completely get you but from another perspective - I’m used to my boy being fully clipped and in thick rugs in this weather. Instead this year he is super hairy and hasn’t been clipped at all yet (mostly due to needing the Vet to sedate and I’ve been putting it off as long as I can) and he is in his 100g Swish and seems to be warm enough. K love that I’ve been able to use the 0g neck rug with the 100g filling on warmer days and swap the neck back to 100g at night. He is quite a warm horse and used to get rashes sometimes when fully clipped - either from being too warm or the material of the rug.
 
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