Waste money on too many rugs?

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Telly14

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Hello everyone,

Thank you for replying to my thread which was Do you think that we over rugg? Alot of usful and valid opinions :)

Anyway my next question is,

Do you think we as owners/carers of horses waste too much money on rugs which we might not necessary need?

Please do give your opinion as i would like to use this information as I am doing a project on over rugging!

thanks!
 
Yep, I do! My mare is a hardy sort, fully clipped and in medium work - on account of being a good doer who doesn't feel the cold she doesn't need the number of rugs she has! That said, if the first ones I got were good quality and fitted her broad shoulders well then they wouldn't have been followed by as many others!
 
Oh absolutely. I have spent a fortune on rugs and given loads away when it became too ridiculous.

I had a TB x mare when I was 20 (20 odd years ago :eek:) and I had her for three years. I had a blanket, a thin and thick stable rug and that was it.

She never rolled and hated to be out in the cold / wet so to be fair she didn't have a turn out rug but those three did me five years perfectly well.

My current TB x gelding has an exercise rug, a high viz exercise rug, three turn out rugs, six stable rugs a rambo striped wool rug and a thermatex rug just for shows. That's after giving about six away. I think I've developed a rug fettish and don't get me started on boots !!!! :rolleyes:
 
Oh dear! I just love buying rugs but have always tended to buy cheap ones as they get torn by other horses - hence I have rather a lot as I hate throwing them away if they have still some use left in them. At present, have 2 heavy weight, 2 medium weight, & 2 light weight outdoor (plus one that needs a strap repairing), 2 stable rugs, an exercise rug, 1 fleece, 1 waffle - think that's it but I was looking at the rugs reduced in the local tack shop just this morning! Husband would get upset if I bought anymore though :D
 
Same here .... same here .....

Either am guilty of buying various rugs and keeping them for best or buying nice warm thick rugs as cos I feel the cold, I assume he's the same whereas he usually ends up gasping.

The best rug ever bought - a fuschia pink/navy thermalux rug which had to be returned as not deep enough - lovely and bright on my red/liver chestnut ISH. Such a shame - he'd have been the brightest horse on the yard!
 
We have a collection of rugs for each horse. But each rug gets used depending on the season. We have no rugs that *never* get used, and can't say we have ever had one that we have never used!
 
there was a time when the answer was yes (TB with more rugs than necessary)
Now I have 4 young ponies, each has a turnout rug which doubles as stable rug, I do have some fleeces, lightweights and koolcoats for the summer showing season.
I have a rule of not paying more than £40 a rug therefore if its grown out of quickly or trashed I dont mind. Mark Todd pony rugs are great and fit my ponies & price range
 
Do you think we as owners/carers of horses waste too much money on rugs which we might not necessary need?

I think 'wasting' money is very much a personal opinion. I buy rugs because some horse or other needs them, not because they are on sale, or are pretty, or would look good at a show, or because so-and-so six stalls down the barn has one. I don't care if someone buys a new one each week, as long as it isn't harming the horse then it is none of my business. I am way too stingy now to buy rugs just for the hell of it.

Once upon a time I had about 50 rugs (not a great deal by some standards) and owned two horses, lost one horse, sold the other and gave/sold/threw everything away. I bought rugs because I needed them at the time, and this collection had grown over about 20 years, so there were various sizes. I still had jutes, and used woolen day rugs everyday, just because I had them.

Nowadays, I think I have about 10 M/W turnouts in an assortment of sizes, a couple of cotton coolers and a couple of L/W turnouts. If I have a horse in that needs rugging then I simply put either fleece (polar tec, non static, non stretch) or wool blankets underneath a cooler, turn the neck back and use an old fashioned roller to keep it in place.

I buy rugs now purely because an old one has completely fallen apart, or I have a new horse in and no blanket to fit. If a horse is cold I simply double up the M/Ws, otherwise one M/W does one horse 24/7 throughout the winter.
 
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