Views on over-rugging to avoid clipping?

Kokopelli

Kokopelli

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My boy is petrified of the clippers, normally I would get him sedated so I could clip but as he is scared of the vet and tried to kick him repeatedly I want to have minimal vet visits.

I was talking to someone and they suggested rugging him a lot so he doesn't grow a winter coat.

What are people's views on this? I know it is used a lot for show ponies so they don't lose marks for clip marks but is this nice for my horse? Is it healthy?
 
Its not natural for a horse to be rugged. Some horses hate being rugged at this time of the year and some horses would be uncomfortable rugged. x

Also this year my boy is also petrified of the clippers have not a clue why so if i do decide to clip him i think i am going to have to get him sedated. x
 
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Not really what you were asking, but my old pony was petrified of clippers, even the small battery operated ones. We did rug him early, but not so he sweat. We used the hand ones, like these
http://www.robinsons-uk.com/products/ProductDetail.asp?ProductCode=46076&campaign=Basefeed
it took a few days as you can imagine! We started of with a bib clip and built it up over a couple of weeks
We sold him on, we told the new owners about his clipping problems, he was a very nervous pony, took him a year till he trusted me. She only rode him once a week but decided she wanted a full clip, so got the vet out to sedate him, he remembered the whole ordeal and she could not even catch him in the field, let alone ride him again.
 
Erm, I don't want to disappoint you, but it doesn't work, at least not in the way you describe. When rugged up, the hair might be flattened, but it doesn't stop them growing a winter coat. Horses grow coat according to available light rather than current temperature, so you could try tricking them into not growing winter coat by providing extended *daylight* hours - not quite sure how successful would that be, but you can have a go;)
The only way to keep the hair short is to clip them.
 
horsecrazy25 said:
Its not natural for a horse to be rugged. Some horses hate being rugged at this time of the year and some horses would be uncomfortable rugged. x

Also this year my boy is also petrified of the clippers have not a clue why so if i do decide to clip him i think i am going to have to get him sedated. x
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Sedation is good, I found after getting my old boy sedated once he was fine after that and I could clip without sedation so I would recommend it.

He has a fly rug on atm as he gets eaten by flies very badly.

I was told by someone if you literaly rug them up to there eye balls they do not need clipping as they do not grow a thick winter coat. I've also seen someone do this, but I personally think its a bit unfair as I normally just make my horses rough it, they get not sympathy from me :p
 
I always thought over rugging did stunt the growth of their coats.
When I was over in Ireland looking at horses I went to a comp yard in March, they all had duvets on and heavyweight stable rugs with necks, their coat looked stunning and soft like a summer coat, I asked how their coat was so soft for clipped coat, they told me they didnt need to clip as they started rugging up in late september, and they kept their summer coat all year long.
 
I do this.

I don't clip because I don't ride enough but at the same time I don't want the old boy to catch a chill if he gets sweaty (as they invariably do with a full winter coat). My boy has no problem with being clipped but if I clipped him I think it would really be for presentation sake rather than his welfare.

I usually start rugging mid/late September and progressivly get thicker rugs on him to stop his coat growing too thick. I have been doing this for a number of years now and its worked well for my old boy and I.

As for your question of "healthy". I think this is far healthier for him than being unclipped and under rugged thus getting sweaty when ridden or being clipped and getting cold. He is brushed off twice a day in winter when I do his rug changes and I make sure that I have plenty so he always has a dry one on.

As for your horse being scared of clippers I do everything in very very baby steps with any fear any of my horses have. So I would recomend starting of with your horse being around the noise and watching other horses being clipped (keep it all as relaxed as possible and make sure you are not getting nervous). Hum a little tune while all this is going on and give them a groom or what ever you do. Keep everything normal except the fact the clippers are running. Do this a few times then run them, turn them off and gently stroke him with them. Again do this a few times until he is happy then keep them running just for a few seconds as you stroke (you may have to place your hand between the clippers and his body the first time to dull the sensation) before turning them off keep going until he is relaxed and comfortable with a few seconds. Gradually and very slowly build it up over a few months and pretty soon you will have a horse that is happy as larry to be clipped. Remember that clippers are really tickly so it may be that you will need to clip a bit each time if yours is one that is particularly sensitive. Also clipper nicks really sting. They are not the worst injury to have but they are a bit like a paper cut on humans! So if (s)he has been caught with them in the past this could be a factor.
 
My sisters ponies a show pony and that has been rugged literally all year. It dosent seem to mind it at all, and we always make sure she is wearing nice comfortable rugs. It does keep their coat flat, and it dosent grow hardly at all.

Why dont you try herbal remedies to calm your horse or ACP? I know its not the best way, but it might calm him down enough that you can clip and then you dont have to rug him or drug him again?
 
Paddydou said:
I do this.

I don't clip because I don't ride enough but at the same time I don't want the old boy to catch a chill if he gets sweaty (as they invariably do with a full winter coat). My boy has no problem with being clipped but if I clipped him I think it would really be for presentation sake rather than his welfare.

I usually start rugging mid/late September and progressivly get thicker rugs on him to stop his coat growing too thick. I have been doing this for a number of years now and its worked well for my old boy and I.

As for your question of "healthy". I think this is far healthier for him than being unclipped and under rugged thus getting sweaty when ridden or being clipped and getting cold. He is brushed off twice a day in winter when I do his rug changes and I make sure that I have plenty so he always has a dry one on.

As for your horse being scared of clippers I do everything in very very baby steps with any fear any of my horses have. So I would recomend starting of with your horse being around the noise and watching other horses being clipped (keep it all as relaxed as possible and make sure you are not getting nervous). Hum a little tune while all this is going on and give them a groom or what ever you do. Keep everything normal except the fact the clippers are running. Do this a few times then run them, turn them off and gently stroke him with them. Again do this a few times until he is happy then keep them running just for a few seconds as you stroke (you may have to place your hand between the clippers and his body the first time to dull the sensation) before turning them off keep going until he is relaxed and comfortable with a few seconds. Gradually and very slowly build it up over a few months and pretty soon you will have a horse that is happy as larry to be clipped. Remember that clippers are really tickly so it may be that you will need to clip a bit each time if yours is one that is particularly sensitive. Also clipper nicks really sting. They are not the worst injury to have but they are a bit like a paper cut on humans! So if (s)he has been caught with them in the past this could be a factor.
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Thankyou I might start doing this, but as he's already malting his summer coat should I start rugging now?

The only thing with the clippers is he will try and kick you and is just plain dangerous and I would rather not put me or him in danger because I want him clipped. I think I'd rather get him used to the vet before I get him used to clippers may tke a while though! :p
 
Im not a big fan of rugging so you dont have to clip. When i worked in australia, the horses i worked for were rugged all the time except for riding. Even in the sun, they wore rugs. I can remember feeling inside there rugs when they had two on, and feeling them very hot. But i had to put a third rug on them.
Horses are very sensitive to temperature, and are very good at regulating their own temperature. I truly believe that there are welfare implications of over rugging because it can cause a horse to overheat. We may think that its quite cold at night, but even a horse in a summer coat will not feel the cold like us.
When a horse eats, the gut and stomach actually acts like a boiler. Heating the horse from the inside out. So when the horse is in his stable at night eating hay and rugged to the eyeballs and unclipped, just imagine how hot he would get.

Im not against rugging clipped horses, just rugging them either to keep an unclipped horse clean or to keep the short coat is really unfair to the horse.
 
My horse is petrified of clippers (he rears/strikes out/bites/kicks) also due to previous injury and mudfever before we had him, he has to have his feathers clipped off every 6weeks due to skin problems if left on, we give him ACPs (max his weight is allowed) the vet just supplies them no visit necessary, he also has to be twitched but he is improving over time, now he can be clipped on body and back legs with just sedation front legs need twitch also.
However, over rugging does keep the coat much thinner and shorter but it can be a pain if with british weather we get an incredibly warm september. ideally start to put rugs on end of september to accomodate this, and gradually change to thicker ones as the temp changes but not if its just one day thats cold. You needs to allow your horse to breath aswell!! Goodluck hope your horse gets used to them like mine has(kindof)
 
martlin said:
Erm, I don't want to disappoint you, but it doesn't work, at least not in the way you describe. When rugged up, the hair might be flattened, but it doesn't stop them growing a winter coat. Horses grow coat according to available light rather than current temperature, so you could try tricking them into not growing winter coat by providing extended *daylight* hours - not quite sure how successful would that be, but you can have a go;)
The only way to keep the hair short is to clip them.
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Ditto this. We bought a foal who had been heavily rugged and looked very sleek when he arrived in late November. None of my rugs fitted him and as he arrived Saturday evening I wasn't able to get a rug for him before Monday. However before I got to the shops his coat had fluffed up and he looked as hairy as my other foal - saved me having to buy a rug!
 
By all means put a thin rug on but horses like all animals are stimulated by DAYLIGHT!!!! So if you want to keep your summer coat or just have a thin winter coat keep the lights on from 4am to 10pm!

That's what we do for all our show horses and our mares as well in november so they come into season quickly in February ready for covering

Alternatively ask vet to sedate your boy in a vein and keep topping up and you clip!!
 
I absolutely agree it's the daylight hours, and wonder if it's the daylight hours 'on the coat' in which case rugging would keep the light out and have the opposite effect to that you're trying to achieve - in fact I do wonder if it's vit D related or something?. I did notice the native NF (rugless apart from heavy snow week mid winter) started shedding his coat in the spring a good few weeks before our veteran arab x who feels the cold, and is rugged anytime the temperature overnight is low or if it rains.
 
Horses acclimatise very well and don't feel the cold like we do as they are always out in it so their body adapts accordingly - not like us who are going from hot building to cold outside all the time with no time to adapt - we feel the difference far more, but if we were to actually stay out we'd get used to it.
Horses that are rugged are far more likely to overheat which means they can get dehydrated and therefore more prone to colic as they can't regulate their body temperature at all - so personally I'd never rug unless it is just a rain sheet when wet and cold or on an elderly/sick horse - I prefer they have add lib forage to keep them warm from the inside as they are designed to do, it's also down to genetics as to how much winter fuzz they grow!
 
martlin said:
Erm, I don't want to disappoint you, but it doesn't work, at least not in the way you describe. When rugged up, the hair might be flattened, but it doesn't stop them growing a winter coat. Horses grow coat according to available light rather than current temperature, so you could try tricking them into not growing winter coat by providing extended *daylight* hours - not quite sure how successful would that be, but you can have a go;)
The only way to keep the hair short is to clip them.
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I have lost count of how many people I have told this. And STILL they insist on rugging to the ears in the vain hope it will prevent the coat growing.
 
meandmyself said:
Keep him under lights longer. It's the change in length of daylight hours that triggers the winter coat to grow.
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and not just your average light bulb either..it has to be "sunlight bulb", the type that simulate the sunshine/uv

i cannot for the life of me think of why anyone could be so conciously cruel as to actually over-rug and wrongly believe they are actually doing any good? :confused::( as it is well known that hair is dropped through diminishing sunlight NOT as thought on here, change in Temp.

Get the vet out, sedate, clip, job done.
 
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