unrugged Welsh A - am i being mean?

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Jericho

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Sorry another rugging post with lots of little queries....

My little 14yr old Welshie who is basically a lead rein / companion, has a huge coat and a huge belly is unrugged and I was quite happy with that arrangement as I think she was. But it is now -6 degrees and I just went out to turn them out (they have been in to eat their tea for an hour and so) and I felt just a little bit guilty not putting a rug on her. She felt quite warm and has loads of hay out and I only tend to rug if cold AND wet and windy.

To be honest her rug is only a lightweight and I have heard before that rugging wooly ponies flattens the coats and prevents the insultating effect and actually makes them colder. Any one else heard the same??

Also a couple of mornings she has had frost on her back which I worried about as I thought the heat of her body would keep any wetness on her from freezing???

Who else has unrugged natives and someone tell me that she is fine and for me to stop fussing!!!!!!!!
 
leave her be!! all my friends welsh a broodmares are out unrugged and loving the fact it's so dry, they are fluffy little puffballs and very happy doing what nature intended!! if it was -6 and raining that would be a whole different ball game!!
 
Your Welsh A will be fine. There may be ice on the outer edges of the coat, but stick your fingers into the hair and near the skin, bet it will be toasty!
 
I wouldn't rug! I agree about rugs flattening coats. Their coats are meant to keep them warm and help to insulate them. A rug stops the hairs from doing this. Plus, welshies are designed to live on mountains. As long as she's not dropping weight or looking miserable, I wouldn't worry.

Sue
 
I'm sure she is totally fine - although I have a native but have always rugged her - I am a complete softy and can't stand the thought of her being cold - saying that before I had her she was out 24/7 unrugged - i've probably ruined her.
 
i also felt mean this morning as shetland was out all night but he was lovely and warm under his coat. so i don't feel mean any more so your mare should be fine.
 
My Welsie is naked in this weather...like you, I only rug her (for the first time this year...she's 14 too) when its cold and wet ...
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No I don't think you're being mean. I don't understand when it became the norm to rug un-clipped natives and hardy types. I know if they're in work people want to keep them clean but really I see them out in medium-weights in autumn??!!

My two TB X's are unrugged (admittedly they are stabled at night) but they seem happy enough. They're the only ones un-rugged at the yard (neither are clipped, one is retired, one in light work) and I do feel like I 'should' be rugging them sometimes when everyone else is. But then, they're both in good weight and seem warm when I arrive on a morning. That's what the hair is there for after all.

x
 
No, not mean at all, -6 is probably nothing at all to her.

No panic, snow and ice on her back is GOOD, proves that her insulation IS working, no body heat escaping to melt anything.

Burrow through that coat of hers and I'll bet that even in the worst downpour she'll be dry.

Unless she is losing weight before your eyes and is feeling cold, I'd save yourself the trouble.

OK then, STOP WORRYING, I have a handful of mini ponies masquerading as yaks and they are fine just living in the woods here, their only problem is that the snow in the woods is about 2' in the clearings, they have very short legs. This morning at 7am it was -14, so probably colder during the night, -6 is nothing, honestly.
 
Our sec c mare (18 y.o.) hasn't worn a rug in nearly two years and she's still a fatty! We've had -8 overnight recently and she's been quite happy - she has a massive coat and is always toasty underneath. I'm sure your pony will be fine. Natives are made to survive this kind of weather!
 
No you're not.

My own 2 NF ponies are clipped and rugged, but I spent a couple of hours this morning with my friends 2 foresters who are both "au naturelle", carrying plenty of condition (one looks like theres a foal coming, she's so fat) and very happy about life in general. They just looked superfluffy today where it is so cold. It's the wet and windy weather combination that makes them cold and miserable.
 
Dont feel guilty, its dry, if it was blowing a gale and chucking it down with rain it would be different, its dry and not windy, your pony has a thick coat and a big tum you say, it will be fine, our welsh A mare lived out all year round with nowt many moons ago, i remember some cold, snow filled winters back then too
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Keeping her without a rug will help keep her coat thick enough to keep her warm.
Work on the old hay = central heating system. Give her plenty of hay, but not loads of hard feed. She'll keep warm. If it starts chucking it down and gale force 9 winds then keep a close eye on her.
 
Have a Sec A and a miniture Shetland who are both unrugged. They waddle over for their hay (both look like they are in foal!) and have frosty manes,tails backs and whiskers most mornings at the moment - but both are toasty warm inside their fur. As previous poster said I would be more concerned if they didn't have frosting on them as it would mean their internal central heating had broken down. Sec A only ever has lightweight on if absolutely lashing down for several days in a row - my sister is a softer touch than me!
 
Was it Tia that posted the other week the pics of her horses out in about -20 with a blizzard going and they were all fine? Choosing to be outside rather than in the shelters. The natives especially have been bred to live out in worse conditions than we have now and I think that over-rugging is the current phenomenon to sweep the horsey world.

As everybody else has said, if she's warm and happy and keeping her weight leave her as nature intended
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[ QUOTE ]
Was it Tia that posted the other week the pics of her horses out in about -20 with a blizzard going and they were all fine? Choosing to be outside rather than in the shelters.

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably. Mine frequently look like this and completely ignore their shelters:)
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My friends Welsh A is woolier than a mammoth, and has no problem with the cold, never has done. The main trouble is he is petrified of rugs so he will never ever be rugged, but he is the warmest out of the lot of ours, even with snow on his back!
Don't feel guilty they are designed to adapt their coat to the weather.
 
We have a section A that gets rugged when it is consistently below freezing, but that's only because he's an oldish chap. I'd still not rug him but my wife has gone soft in her old age as she'd never rug anything when she was a girl.
 
Unless she starts to lose condition a id leave her unrugged...lets face it has anyone ever heard of a healthy horse dieing from hyperthermia in ireland or Britian?..i no i havent
 
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