Unrugged coat warmth?

DosyMare

DosyMare

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 April 2011
Messages
777
Location
Essex
Visit site
Does anyone know the equivalent weight in grams or tog of a unclipped horses coat?

So basically want to know how warm a unclipped horse is in rug weight measurements?

I know unrugged horses are better off staying unrugged opposed to lightweights because it flatten the hair. And therefore if you then do rug it needs to be heavyweight. So if you decided to clip how much warmth are you taking away?

Hope that makes sense, but can't find a thing on google.
 
Last edited:
Depends on the breed. Anything from 200gms to 600 gms I guess.To check if the horse is warm enough feel the base of the ears and the "armpit" just behind the elbow.
 
I can never see the logic in the theory that an unclipped horse in a lightweight/no fill rain sheet is colder than a naked one due to it flattening the hair.
There will be a layer of air between horse and rug just the same as there will be in the hair of a raised coat, and after hours and hours of rain they will have no chance of raising their coat anyway. A rain sheet does an excellent job of keeping horse dry and freezing north winds out without overheating an unclipped horse. This coat flattening idea just doesn't make sense to me.
 
ribbons said:
I can never see the logic in the theory that an unclipped horse in a lightweight/no fill rain sheet is colder than a naked one due to it flattening the hair.
There will be a layer of air between horse and rug just the same as there will be in the hair of a raised coat, and after hours and hours of rain they will have no chance of raising their coat anyway. A rain sheet does an excellent job of keeping horse dry and freezing north winds out without overheating an unclipped horse. This coat flattening idea just doesn't make sense to me.
Click to expand...

i agree with this! i think generally if you clip your horse (depending on the thickness of their usual winter coat) an extra fleece rug beneath your usual medium/heavy rug would be sufficent
 
But if you clip a horse therefore removing a minimum of 200grams of natural coat warmth and then don't replace it by only using a no fill rainsheet your horse will be colder. It will be dry but it will be colder.

I also don't think it works the same when air is trapped under rug. The horse's winter coat differs from the summer coat in that the hairs are longer and coarser. The horse is able to fluff up his coat, the individual hairs standing out, rather than laying flat against the skin, trapping air close to his body and thereby insulating him from the cold. The additional grease which accumulates in this thicker coat, especially in pastured horses, gives additional insulation.
 
ribbons said:
I can never see the logic in the theory that an unclipped horse in a lightweight/no fill rain sheet is colder than a naked one due to it flattening the hair.
There will be a layer of air between horse and rug just the same as there will be in the hair of a raised coat, and after hours and hours of rain they will have no chance of raising their coat anyway. A rain sheet does an excellent job of keeping horse dry and freezing north winds out without overheating an unclipped horse. This coat flattening idea just doesn't make sense to me.
Click to expand...

I agree - and what's more, a LW rug being LW means that it doesn't "mould" to the shape of the horse. I have taken my horse's rainsheet off on a freezing cold morning to find that his coat is perfectly fluffed up apart from a small area across his withers and on top of his rump - these were the areas the rug was flattening, everything else was fluffed the same as if he hadn't been rugged.

On the other hand, his field mate wears a HW rug and is not clipped. When you take the HW rug off, the horse's whole coat is flattened down and compacted by the weight of the rug.

OP, different horses have different coats. There is no way of working out an "applies to all" equivalent of rug weight to hair clipped off - the only way to find is through trial and error with different rug weights.
 
TBH I'm a rug lover. This winter the yearling is unrugged and warm and happy in his herd.

However YO is not for rugging youngstock or retired horses. In our discussion we have discussed the way the horses hair fluffs and holds the body temp to remain warm.

So my first question was really to find out how warm natural winter coat is and gather info so as when me and YO talk. YO is full of facts and details and science and when i google its confirmed.
 
Last edited:
I was talking about an unclipped horse as I said. Obviously a clipped horse needs a good rug.
As for course winter coat standing up to trap air, not when it's soaking wet it doesn't.
 
ribbons said:
I was talking about an unclipped horse as I said. Obviously a clipped horse needs a good rug.
As for course winter coat standing up to trap air, not when it's soaking wet it doesn't.
Click to expand...

Now I was told that if I rugged my yearling (not clipped) with a lightweight that he would be colder due to this flattening hair ect. And if I did rug I'm better of putting on a heavyweight on to make up for it.
 
Yes, I have also heard that theory several times. I don't think there is any proof one way or the other, but logically speaking it just doesn't make sense to me.
 
Do you know, I've been told that a lot too. But now I have reached an advanced age :D I tend to go on evidence. The evidence of my eyes - that I referred to above - is that my horse is managing to fluff up his coat (piloerection) under his lightweight turnout, whereas his unclipped friend cannot do it under a heavyweight rug. Furthermore, at the end of winter the one with the LW on wet days and mostly no rug is the one who goes straight into the fatty paddock, whereas the HW wearer (with neck) is the one with no condition on him.

What people tell you is useful, and can often be thought provoking, but it is not necessarily fact :)
 
Im not sure on this either, but would like to know. My haflinger is a very fury beast, but only once so far have I seen him fluffed up. I would say he is in a lightweight normally, and then fluffs up to a medium weight when he needs it :D Hes plenty of fat to keep him warm this winter! He is staying unclipped for now as he only gets hacked at the weekends and I have plenty of time to cool him off properly and make sure he is dry before going out.

I definitely prefer an unrugged horse, that's why I chose a hardy breed, but each to their own with rugging xx
 
Brightbay, again just thinking out loud and using logic really but what you say about the horse in a HW rug losing condition kind of makes sense. An unclipped horse in a heavyweight rug is surely going to achieve the same effect as jockeys spending hours sweating it out in the steam room trying to get their weight down.
To my mind, to hot will cause condition loss, cold and wet will cause condition loss. So for the unclipped horse surely the rain sheet is the answer.
I also use my own eyes to know if my horses are a good weight and comfortable.
 
When I owned arabs they were alwayscolder when wearing just a rain sheet then if left naked. I soon got used to starting them with a medium wt rug and progressing to a heavy wt if the winter got very cold and/or wet.
 
My old TB is definitely warmer with a good coating of mud and WITHOUT a l/w rain sheet type rug. He comes in at night and if he is wet wears a fleece/thermatex to dry him out, following morning if it is dry he goes back out without a rug. He is retired and I do not brush him so his coat is full of natural grease. He is in great condition and much happier when naked!

On the other hand my competition horses are fully clipped, rugged to the eyes and rarely go out in the mud and rain.
 
No idea what a winter coat is comparable to in terms of what weight rug but I have a section A who lives out all winter unrugged and last winter she literally had a covering of about an inch of snow on her back, looked sodden and had 'icicle whiskers'. I stuck my fingers right into her coat and she was really warm and dry underneath her layers of winter wool. If I can get away without rugging I will. I do think that nature does a wonderful job of growing winter protection for ponies/horses left unrugged.

We also have 2 TBs who are rugged for daily turnout and both are very reluctant to even leave their stable if there's a bit of drizzle coming down so it's a very individual thing.

What does really irritate me is the section A on our yard (not in any kind of work) who wears a medium weight with a full neck from the onset of September!!! Unless elderly or ill I think it's a poor kind of native pony that really NEEDS a winter rug.
 
Brightbay said:
Do you know, I've been told that a lot too. But now I have reached an advanced age :D I tend to go on evidence. The evidence of my eyes - that I referred to above - is that my horse is managing to fluff up his coat (piloerection) under his lightweight turnout, whereas his unclipped friend cannot do it under a heavyweight rug. Furthermore, at the end of winter the one with the LW on wet days and mostly no rug is the one who goes straight into the fatty paddock, whereas the HW wearer (with neck) is the one with no condition on him.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's a fair judgement - to many factors needs to be considered when you look at the condition of the horses - breed, age, use, feed, happiness ect not just rug. I think it's an important factor but not evidence.

I would then think why is your horse fluffing up his coat? (because his cold)? So I'm still not the fence with this one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top