What temperatures for horse rugs?

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lbubb

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ive been trying to find some kind of chart on the internet to give an idea of what weight rugs horses should have on at different temperatures ( look back some years and wonder if they should have had heavier rugs on )

eg. medium weight - 10 down to 5 degrees c
heavy weight - 4 down to -3 degrees c

would appreciate ideas or links to websites with charts!!!
 
I don't think I've ever seen a chart, every horse is too different!

Mine has changed as he's got older. Inside: below 0 is 400g, 0-4 is 350 or 300, 4-9 is 200gm and 9 upwards is 100gm (rare in winter!). Outside it depends more on if its rainy or windy rather than temperature.
 
I've never come across such a thing, but would be interested to see it if you did.

Tbh I rug according to the horse, their clip, their weight and tendency to lose/gain, their health, their workload etc etc etc. Too many variables for a simple chart to my way of thinking, but perhaps I'm being too complicated.
 
There are no charts because there are too many factors.

First - how hot is your horse? Mine is hot... he's living out happily unrugged and has been fine down to -15.

Second - is your horse clipped and if so, what kind of clip?

Third - wind chill. Met Office can say -1, but with wind chill it can be -6.

Fourth - differences in rugs. Full neck rugs make horses significantly hotter than standard rugs. Different brands of rugs may be nominally the same weight, but different in practice.

Fifth - well, you can just keep adding :)

Use common sense and trial and error - if the horse feels comfortable under a rug - not "toasty", not cold, then it is the right rug. If a horse feels "toasty", they are likely too hot. If they're shivering, they're probably too cold. If they're roasting, even under a LW rug, take it off (that's my fella ;)).
 
lbubb said:
ive been trying to find some kind of chart on the internet to give an idea of what weight rugs horses should have on at different temperatures ( look back some years and wonder if they should have had heavier rugs on )

eg. medium weight - 10 down to 5 degrees c
heavy weight - 4 down to -3 degrees c

would appreciate ideas or links to websites with charts!!!
Click to expand...

I am sorry, I can't help with the charts for temperatures, if you really wanted to know perhaps the rug manufacturers themselves would be the best people to ask?

It really does depend on the horse, as you get to know them you get to work out what suits them best, the only rule about rugging is that there are no hard and fast rules :) Good old common sense is a huge factor as well, oh, and listening to your horse, not what the girl next door or the well meaning peeps of HHO (any forum) says. Your horse, you know him best. :)
 
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Agree brightbay. I really don't like a set temp for a rug even with the same horse. Temperature really means very little when wind and rain are thrown in too. Let alone when you add other things into the mix
 
How long is a piece of string?

My unclipped 2yr old ISH is in a middle weight full neck. Friends unclipped hairy pony is in a full neck heavy weight. My cob is Hunter clipped and in a standard no fill (although he's the extreme end of warm horses).
 
Brightbay said:
There are no charts because there are too many factors.

First - how hot is your horse? Mine is hot... he's living out happily unrugged and has been fine down to -15.

Second - is your horse clipped and if so, what kind of clip?

Third - wind chill. Met Office can say -1, but with wind chill it can be -6.

Fourth - differences in rugs. Full neck rugs make horses significantly hotter than standard rugs. Different brands of rugs may be nominally the same weight, but different in practice.

Fifth - well, you can just keep adding :)

Use common sense and trial and error - if the horse feels comfortable under a rug - not "toasty", not cold, then it is the right rug. If a horse feels "toasty", they are likely too hot. If they're shivering, they're probably too cold. If they're roasting, even under a LW rug, take it off (that's my fella ;)).
Click to expand...

Depends on the stable/ field as well.
Some of my horses are in modern stables which are lot colder than the stables in an old barn which are really well insulated.
Same with a field on the side of fell, or a field with large hedges sheltered in a valley for example.
 
Totally depends on the horse.

It's currently freezing here (minus 2) and I have my cob living out in a lw rug with no neck, my fully clipped Arab x in a MW combo (he's in at night) and my in clipped t.b. (in at night) in a hw combo. All are nice and warm and happy.
 
Agreed depends on the horse, and the rug!! As an example, my 40g Fal and 100g Shires feel about the same weight, my 200g JHL turnout is far thicker than my 200g Rambo stable rug (which doesn't feel much more than the 40g).

It's a case of trial and error I'm afraid. I have a chaser clipped cob (partly grown out), he's usually naked if it's 5 degrees or over (or in a no fill if it's likely to pour down). Going down towards 0 he has a Fal Domino rug on in the stable, usually a no fill in the field. Colder than that, his Rambo 200 / Fal 40.

Then there's the fact that the weather always changes anyway!
 
Going by that chart half the horses on my yard are definitely over rugged!

It really does depend on the horse unfortunately, when I first bought mine last year I wished that there was some sort of chart to tell me what to put him in as I wasn't sure!! Unfortunately it's just trial and error. I tend to go lighter than heavier if i'm unsure as I think it's better to underrug slightly then overrug.

When mines unclipped he's naked unless the weather is really rainy and then he's in a no fill.

When he's clipped (blanket normally), as a general rule - over 10 nothing/lightweight. Under 10 - medium (without neck preferably) 1/2 (or below freezing) - heavyweight. But there are other factors to consider. If it's sunny then I would wait until it got colder than normal before I put him in a MW. I tend to actually wait until it's around 7 to put him in his MW unless the wind is up....

It's so difficult to say.
 
30F is -1C and if I followed this for my horse he'd fry alive in his unclipped state. He didn't wear a rug until late February last year as he was only in gentle rehab work so unclipped. When he's clipped he still doesn't need rugging that much. The first winter I had him I only owned a MW stable and MW turnout rug and we had temperatures below -11C. I panicked and put his fleece underneath his stable rug but he was too warm the following morning!
 
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