Urgent - What to do ? Rugging soaked horse?

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niagaraduval

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It is raining so so much over here since last night, rained all night woke up also to a total down pour and it has not stopped since. My fields are loving it, finally growing nicely after our awful drought all summer (have 14 acres for 2 and resorted to giving hay as the heat just scorched every blade of grass... whereas would normally make hay and have enough to last the whole year).

The temperature has also rapidly dropped, I can't describe how hard is is tipping it down. Horses are out and I'm sure they are very miserable. I was hoping it would stop when I woke up this morning and they would dry out to be able to go and put a light weight TO on them. That hasn't happened.

What would you do ? I just hate the idea of rugging a soaked horse.. also can't bear the thought of him stood there shivering..
 
Can you bring them in to dry off??

If not, i would put a rug on, but change it for another one in an hour or so, and repeat again if necessary until they have dried off under the rugs, but are not left in a rug that is wet inside
 
I can't bring them in my stables are at my home 5 miles away, I planned to bring them back on the 1st of octobre (3 days time).

I don't have enough rugs - 1 light weight TO 1 very heavyweight TO, a fleece cooler and a stable rug..
 
could try putting a fleece cooler on under another rug - leave both on for an hour or so then go and remove cooler - it usually does the trick - only downside is that the coolers are sometimes longer and hang down outside rug and get wet.
 
Do you have anywhere sheltered you could attempt to towel him off and put a rug on? Have you checked the horses are actually feeling cold as they might be OK? My loan TB is always warm so he's ok mostly!
 
do you have a cooler rug? (pref waffle weave) if so put that on then a lightweight waterproof rug over the top... the cooler will wick the wet out of the coat then the rug will dry from the horses body heat and the turnout on top will stop anymore rain and wind chill getting to the horses body and making them cold x
 
If you can't bring in to dry, I'd put a cooler or similar under the turnout rug, thatched with straw unless its something like a thermatex thats very efficient. Then just change the under rug when either horse is dry, or under rug wet.
 
Can you borrow some spare rugs perhaps?

Although, if the horses are not old, ill or in poor condition, they'll probably be fine, especially if you can give them some more hay/haylage/feed. THe act of digestion with help keep them warm.
 
Have no one I can borrow rugs off unfortunately. It can't rain 24/7 surely ? He dries of very quickly I will try and wait it out until this evening and then if it hasn't stopped put a cooler on underneath.. They just have natural shelter (trees) but as most they don't really have enough common sense to shelter they usually enjoy having a shower..


Grr ! :(
 
I rug 'em wet all the time, better wet and warm than wet and cold! Run down the field with a bath towel, quickly rub them over to get the soaking wet off them, and then bung the rug on. They soon warm up under them, wet or not, and modern rugs are breathable.
 
Or sweat scrape off the worst of it and put a thick rug on rather than the light. He'll warm up and dry off quicker in that. You may find if you go to change it a few hours later he'll be nicely warm and dry underneath and you won't need to! I always find that! :-)
 
If not standing looking miserable and shivering then I wouldn't bother. If actually cold then I would rug even if wet will soon dry as they warm up.
 
If they are not sheltering and looking miserable I wouldn't bother. If they are out and eating they should be OK. You could give them a nice big pile of hay under the trees, but unless they are looking truly miserable I would leave them be.
 
Lots and lots of hay will give them enough calories to have the energy to shiver. I think shivering is just the bodies way of keeping itself warm, so provided they could do that they be ok.

It's when they don't have the energy in them as in a field with very little grass or mud.

They are waterproof to a point anyway.

I freaked with the bad rain earlier in the year and desperately tried dragging my horse out of the rain to eat a hay next and as soon as I took halter off and gave him the choice he just charged into the centre of the field and put his head down and ate.

We have two massive field shelters but most the time they stay out eating.

No nice worrying though, Hannah
 
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