What is the point of stable rugs.

A friends horse used to wear a all in one sweetitch rug. She left in on her horse for a week with out looking under it when she did the horse had come out in an awful allergy and was covered in painful sores. I like to change rugs as I have always done it since a kid so its ingrained in to me, I remember taking off the canvas t/o rug off my 14h pony when I was 8 and it was that covered in mud I couldn't lift it :)
 
When I had the last pony out 24/7 I still liked to change rugs before night whatever the weather. I don't like them being in the same tog rug all the time & always swap to a lighter one in the day, even if only slightly lighter. It's just how I was taught ;)
 
Yep at our yard with 14horses none of us use stable rugs. I've used mine once under a lightweight turnout for extra warmth.
 
I don't own any rugs :eek: My mare is a Thoroughbred, 21, retired and lives out 24/7 with access to a barn if she wishes but she never comes in and the field has some pretty good natural shelter anyway. When we first moved over (to Ireland) I spent a fortune on new rugs for her as I was expecting it to be very wet (it was!), but she told us what she thought of them by ripping them off at every opportunity, I was forever fixing her rugs. We never even got 2 out of their packaging - a lovely, plush quilted stable rug and a very fancy turnout. I sold them recently! She is unclipped and has a very good winter coat, I put my hand under her coat to feel her skin to judge how warm she is. A couple of winters ago it was minus 20 for about 2 weeks and she didn't bat an eyelid. But, I make sure she gets plenty of forage, and if I think the wind is blowing through her she gets a warm feed of unmolassed beet. I'm not saying I'll never rug her but it's not necessary at the moment.
 
Bojingles said:
Oh God, me too! And they only came in green and, more rarely, blue. They were bloody awful! And I'm ancient ;).
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Me too - they were soooo heavy when wet, took weeks to dry, and never stayed in place! Good old New Zealands.


I don't get why people think it is a bad thing to put a cold rug on a horse - I put cold clothes on each morning and deal with it, they're warm in two seconds anyway. If you're putting a damp rug on, thats a different thing.

Do people know, if you make a high string across your stable wall, like a washing line, or have a rug rail in the stable, the rugs dry from the heat of the horse without using the horse's bodyheat. Everyone should have a spare turnout rug anyway.

Nice to see people still do stable rugs. I hate that we use turnouts 24/7. If I didn't go away for work regularly and leave hubby with the yard, schoolruns etc. ours would still be in stable rugs.
 
My mare has two rugs, a rain sheet and a medium weight, they don't get wet on the inside so even when wet on the outside she is warm and toasty underneath and the rugs dry very quickly. She does still get the rugs removed regularly as I do brush her and even ride occasionally! I haven't used indoor rugs for years and years and find it far easier and less smelly leaving her in her outdoor rugs after all those living out 24/7 wear them at night. If i'm turning my friends horse out and have to change his rugs he gets so frustrated and just wants to get out so it takes even longer plus they are freezing and sometimes damp!
 
doonrocket said:
This year being the first I've had the boys at home I have hardly used their stable rugs. The turnouts - particularly the duos', where you can change the liners, are breathable and light. They are on rubber with shavings and so they seem to stay cleaner if I leave them on in the stable + I can turn them straight out in the morning.

Am I missing something or are stable rugs becoming a little bit obsolete?
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I am like you don't use stable rugs on mine only 1 exception.

My boy has a Goliath rug from fal £ 300+ so when mega cold he wears the same 400grms stable rug and I change in morning- otherwise he stays in turnout as do the ponies+ donkey. One of my liveries is currently in 5 layers:
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beats me why they don't just buy 1 decent stable- it has 2 summersheets and 2 fleeces. Then a stable or thick heavy NZ on top
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the weight on that horses back shessssshhhh

He stays a lot cleaner too

the thing a lot say is leaving wet rug means horse stays wet.

Horse is dry under wet rug, body heat could move upwards regardless of the rug being wet or not, so horse is not loosing heat keeping it on. My horses rugs a dry in 2 hours instead of throwing a cold wet heavy rug on in the am. Which water draws in and makes the inside damp and cold = horse is wearing a damp cold inside of rug against their bodies
 
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Dirtymare said:
My sentiments exactly.
I would hate to be standing in a cold stable with dripping wet rug for 12hrs.
I know of no one who leaves the outdoor rug on in overnight.
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But a decent quality turnout is not wet underneath and the horse can't see the wet bits on top - or feel them. Also it shouldn't still be dripping after 12 hours, mine are dry in about 1.
 
tallyho! said:
how do people "know" how hot or cold their horses are?

there is the usual method of feeling ears, pits etc but is there a reliable scientific method for knowing how many/type of/thickness of rug to choose?

or is it really a case of "I'm cold so horse must be cold"?
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or is it really a case of "I'm cold so horse must be cold"
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THIS^ is one thing that bugs me like crazy. Owners saying its cold or i am cold so up the rugs. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR hate it..



I put my hand under the front of the rug ( shoulder area) then put my hand on top of their bum and feel how warm. Then make a judgement on that . people who rug according to the weather not the individual horse need the light to come on in their brain. IMO
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
This. I consider taking the rug off twice a day and properly checking the horse all over and handling it all over is a basic part of horse care. Anything less has an element of laziness on owners part IMO . Fine if you want to put the same rug back on after checks, but not to fail to take it off and check the horse all over.

Also if its not a combination layer rug, normal turnouts dont have the stretchy flexibility that makes them comfy for the horse when indoors eg turning round in confined space.

And if its wet, I dont want my possibly already not that warm horse using what warmth he does have drying it out. I want him in something dry to get him warm and keep him warm.

Modern technology makes it quick to dry turnout rugs and easy to have an under rug on them when they are out. They shouldnt be a substitute for basic horse care.

tin hat on....
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This.

By their very nature of being 100% water proof, mud proof, play proof etc, turnouts are heavy rugs,esp when wet.

would you feel comfy coming in from the rain in a heavyweight winter coat and sitting round the house in it, or trying to sleep in it-no, you want a couple of lighter layers to keep you warm whilst allowing you to move round easily, same for the horses.

personally know someone that hasnt taken her horses rugs off for weeks if not months and it drives me insane!
 
Clodagh said:
But a decent quality turnout is not wet underneath and the horse can't see the wet bits on top - or feel them. Also it shouldn't still be dripping after 12 hours, mine are dry in about 1.
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It may well be dry after an hour (if it has only showered or lightly rained), but the floor is soaked and the bedding is too!
I still wouldnt want my horse to stand in its stable for hours on end in a sodden rug - even though it may well be dry underneath. I think you will find that water gets in at the front -over the chest - cant be very comfortable for the horse.
Dont you all like to check underneath the rug, give your horse a groom or even just let it have a scratch? What happened to spending time with your horse?
Just my oppinion FWIW!
 
My other pet HATE is people who use two stable rugs to keep them warm:mad::mad:

All that does is put weight on not warmth, as if you put your hands between the rugs the air is cold as stable rugs are designed to keep heat under the rug so heat will not travel to the air between the two thus waste time having the second, instead of a good under blanket and rug combination.


I had one livery hear whose horse had one blanket and 4 stable rugs.
the horse was warm between rug and blanket and blanket and body, but all the air between 1st rug and second - second and third- third and 4th was COLD. thus weight added not warmth
 
Clodagh said:
But a decent quality turnout is not wet underneath and the horse can't see the wet bits on top - or feel them. Also it shouldn't still be dripping after 12 hours, mine are dry in about 1.
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Exactly.

Mine keep their turnouts on at night. I only buy top quality rambos; they never leak, they never rub, they aren't heavy, the rain runs off them, they don't soak it up. I see them without their rugs on when I groom and ride, change the liners etc, but it seems a waste of time and money to buy rugs just for stabling and then be changing them round all the time.
 
Dirtymare said:
It may well be dry after an hour (if it has only showered or lightly rained), but the floor is soaked and the bedding is too!
I still wouldnt want my horse to stand in its stable for hours on end in a sodden rug - even though it may well be dry underneath. I think you will find that water gets in at the front -over the chest - cant be very comfortable for the horse.
Dont you all like to check underneath the rug, give your horse a groom or even just let it have a scratch? What happened to spending time with your horse?
Just my oppinion FWIW!
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My horses live out! But when they do come in, like they will tonight, the two hairies will be naked and the feeble one will have a MW turnout, out he would have a HW. Also mine have 'patios' outside their stables and I don't shut the doors so they tend to stand outside anyway and I would prefer not to have soaked stable rugs.
So I am not typical in my management.
 
Dirtymare said:
It may well be dry after an hour (if it has only showered or lightly rained), but the floor is soaked and the bedding is too!
I still wouldnt want my horse to stand in its stable for hours on end in a sodden rug - even though it may well be dry underneath. I think you will find that water gets in at the front -over the chest - cant be very comfortable for the horse.
Dont you all like to check underneath the rug, give your horse a groom or even just let it have a scratch? What happened to spending time with your horse?
Just my oppinion FWIW!
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Sorry but even when my rugs are soaked and sodden they are dry in two hours I always check horse her is very toasty even with wet rug. Liveries however i have to change some. I have to put sodden- wet-cold-heavy rugs on which they have to wear all day - making the horse cold specially if its a cold day outside and turnout does not dry in the cold- thus horse stays cold all day instead of in a draught proof stable no wind thus horse warmer thus rugs dry quick.
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Prince33Sp4rkle said:
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would you feel comfy coming in from the rain in a heavyweight winter coat and sitting round the house in it, or trying to sleep in it-no, you want a couple of lighter layers to keep you warm whilst allowing you to move round easily, same for the horses.

!
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Your looking at it through people eyes not an animal who does not think like this.

  • humans don't sleep in coats (unless homeless)
  • when shopping in your wet coat do you take it off?
  • traveling in a wet coat then you go on the underground for two hours your coat is more or less dry is it not??

same thing

I have had many wet coats during mucking out and when it stopped raining or i went into the barn to make haynets and more the coats have dried on me, I feel no worse for wear or colder because of it.

as mentioned good quality rugs and designed to be light and dry quick.

would you really want a cold wet rug on it the morning and everyone knows damp travels in if not hung up or on a rug dryer so dampness against horses body
 
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My mare lives on a farm where she is free to wander between her stable and a yard all night when she's in, so she doesn't have any stable rugs because they'd be pretty useless in that situation. We tend to have different rugs for night and day and they get a flick with a brush at the change over.


My other 2 at the livery yard both have an enviable set of stable and turnout rugs (they came with a lot) I turn other people's horses out for them most mornings and have to say it is a lot easier if they're already in their turnout rugs, I spend a lot of time faffing about layering rugs and stuff but I don't mind doing it.
 
What happened to spending time with your horse?
Just my oppinion FWIW![/QUOTE]

That is all very well if your horse is on livery and you go up and want to groom etc. ( been there done it for years)


But as a YO mucking out haying watering- all day from 6.30am till 5.30pm the last thing i want to do is groom horse so he only ever gets a quick flick when I ride, sad though it is.
 
I use stable rugs because they are lighter and softer, the turnout rug may be weighed down when wet through with cold muddy straps.

Even the best fitting TO has pressure points and a wet rug is extremely heavy and restrictive in the confines of a stable. Changing to another rug relieves those points particularly with the lightness of stable rugs. The Insulators are seam free and so comfortable. Easy to bung in the machine and dry after washing very quickly.


Changing the rug means that you're not tempted to forgo visual checks when in a rush and the rug gets aired which helps lessen bacterial skin problems.

I always check the weather report before turning out each morning and use the most appropriate rug for that day, so not using a stable rug wouldn't save a rug change anyway.
 
I use stable rugs because they can go in the washing machine weekly unlike a turnout rug.

I use the 100g rambo liners under all my turnouts because I can't bear the inside of rugs being greasy.
 
I don't leave the turnout rugs on mine. I don't want them standing in a heavy ( with mud and water) rug all night and I think they'd be too warm as we have barn type internal stabling so it's a lot warmer than the courtyard external type stabling arrangement due to the body heat of the horses warming the building. I like to check them over for rubs or whatever everyday too so this involves taking the rugs off anyway, so may as well put a clean, dry lighter rug on afterwards.
 
Stable rugs are a great way of keeping a horse warm and clean . . . of whicking sweat or other moisture away from the horse after vigorous exercise or a bath . . . and of emptying owners' pockets ;).

I have a variety of stable and turnout rugs and whether or not I leave Kal's turnout on depends on a variety of things. He is wearing a turnout today and will come in wet . . . his turnout would certainly dry better on him than if I took it off, but his field is quite exposed and his stable is very warm/sheltered so he would probably be too warm if I left his rug on to dry tonight - so it'll be going into the rug room to dry (will probably take several days) and he'll be wearing appropriate stable rugs tonight (have additional turnouts for tomorrow).

In the summer, if he wears a rain sheet and it gets soaked, and it's going to be chilly-ish overnight, he'll probably keep it on. Yesterday he went out in a turnout with no neck - went round the gallops to do some schooling over cross country fences and came back sweaty so put a thermatex on him last night. Tomorrow he'll be turned out in the rain in an appropriate turnout but will have a bath tomorrow afternoon ready to go out competing on Sunday morning so, again, will be wearing whicking/warm stable rugs to go to bed.

I think you get my drift ;). Kal sometimes sleeps in turnouts and sometimes sleeps in stable rugs . . . depending on what is most appropriate for him and his management.

P
 
I change mine.

I groom when I bring them in so take rugs off anyway and I think it's nicer to change them...plus I want to adjust the thickness/layers according to temperature.
 
Mine stay in turnouts, lovely and dry underneath and if its a decent rug ( mine all Rambos) the rain runs off and they don't even look wet so not wet floors. Don't like changing the rugs and getting them cold for no reason.
 
Leviathan said:
I had one livery hear whose horse had one blanket and 4 stable rugs.
the horse was warm between rug and blanket and blanket and body, but all the air between 1st rug and second - second and third- third and 4th was COLD. thus weight added not warmth
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Sorry, genuinly confused....

Surely that is a sign of good insulation? When it was super cold last week, and I wore 2 ski jackets to turn out and do the stables, the outside of the jacket was cold, but I was warm. Because I was so well insulated from my clothing, I wasn't losing any body heat.

In terms of thermal imaging, a person who is warm under 2 well insulating coats, should not be losing any heat, so should show up as cold? Yes?

Therefore, doesn't it make sense that the top rug is cold? No heat is escaping. And shouldn't that be the point of warm rugs in cold weather????
 
nikkimariet said:
Sorry, genuinly confused....

Surely that is a sign of good insulation? When it was super cold last week, and I wore 2 ski jackets to turn out and do the stables, the outside of the jacket was cold, but I was warm. Because I was so well insulated from my clothing, I wasn't losing any body heat.

In terms of thermal imaging, a person who is warm under 2 well insulating coats, should not be losing any heat, so should show up as cold? Yes?

Therefore, doesn't it make sense that the top rug is cold? No heat is escaping. And shouldn't that be the point of warm rugs in cold weather????
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The point of a stable rug is not too lose heat through the top rug providing you use the correct under rugs - fleeces sheets.


Not penetrating through to the next layer. When i slip my hand under the outer stable rug and the inner one the air is cold and the surface of the under rug is cold , the only warmth is between the horses body and the lining of the bottom rug.

I do not mean under rugs fleeces etc I am referring to two rugs designed to be worn on top of others. These rugs have an outer layer designed to be on the outside.

I do not like adding weight to a horses back through using 3 stable rugs. Since doing my BHS exams I was taught not to do this for reasons explained. Many is a night when liveries come up and have 2 stable rugs on and I tell them to feel under the outer one, they say its not warm - exactly I said is my point. So now they have proper *under rugs* which are designed to go under a rug .

Weight is something I refuse to do on my horses like one of the liveries here (5 layers)., Mine have 2 max

MY horses do not get weighed down with loads of rugs to keep warm, they have their combination I use which keeps them toasty
 
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I started doing this in the early part of winter, and one of mine came down with a skin condition, which my vet said he'd seen a lot of when people didn't change rugs.

Problem is - horse in HW TO rug outside in -1 degrees will be fine, put it in the stable in those temps in same rug, it may sweat - sweat cannot escape or be absorbed by lining so bacteria grows.

For the sake of a 30 second rug change, I don't risk it any more. I also use summer sheets under which i wash weekly.
 
My horse lives in his turnout BUT it does get taken off to groom underneath at least once per day. A lot of problems occur through over-rugging and under-grooming / not sponging down after exercise.I keep an eye on the temperature day and night and decide the most appropriate rugging option for the temperature and general weather conditions. The rugs may get soaked but are never soaked through and the horse doesn't loose any more body heat by having to dry his rugs than he otherwise would.

I do still use stable rugs - as under rugs. This means that I don't have to have dozens and dozens of different rugs - ideal when they are still growing. He has a lightweight turnout with no neck, a medium turnout with neck, a medium / lightweight stable which can go under either of the turnouts to increase their warmth or be used on it's own in the stable and a fleece for cooling down / travelling. Job done.

I also remember the days of NewZealands and having to use blankets etc for extra warmth... there was something quite nice about blanketing up for the night but it was rather a palava and resulted either in the poor horse not being able to move due to so many layers (I still hate seeing horses wearing multiple thick rugs) or a stable strewn with blankets in the morning where they'd managed to wriggle out of them despite your best efforts... hehe! those were the days!
 
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