Why are most horses so 'Over' these days...

Your fellow liveries are fortunate to have someone like just you to tell them how to look after their horse management, step in and demonstrate the error of their ways in a popular on-line community with many thousands of members.
 
Ellen Durow said:
One reason may be financial.

The horse uses around 80% of what he eats to keep warm. If he's rugged up it takes 80% of less, therefore rugging him up saves money.

It isn't always possible to know, when the horse is put to bed, whether the temperature will drop drastically overnight, especially as many horses are left for the night at 6pm or even earlier. When kept in stables or loose boxes they don't have the space to move around sufficiently to keep themselves warm without a rug.

And taking care of one's horse in the best way one knows how is not
"humanising" them. We are not talking about your horse here and it really isn't your place to criticise the way others care for theirs.
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It is other people's places to criticise when it becomes a welfare issue and horses are becoming dehydrated through over rugging. More and more vets are reporting incidents of this happening, and are urging people to stop over rugging.
 
dressedkez said:
Beware of being too much of an evangelist - you will dilute your message, and become a laughing stock - which is a shame, because mainstream religeous parties do realise that there is often a middle ground to be followed.

There are pros and cons for most things - and one must do for ones own nags and the lfestyles that we keep them in, as long as they suit us and our equines, and neither of our methods incur equine welfare issues.....
If I was a bibical person now I would quote some sort of Matthew 1 Chapter 3 text now - but I am not - would the Manual of Horsemanship 1966 edition, Chaper 10, para 11 help instead?
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I am certainly not being an evangelist, I rug one of my horse and not the other because that is right for each.

I agree that in this modern world we keep our horses doing things that no naturally they wouldn't so we have to adapt.

But yes I am just a bit fed up of people I know (none of you because I do not know you) that just seem not to care enough to make their horses lives better, it's all convenience.

A forum is a place to vent and discuss issues but this one doesn't like to explain or give opinion or experience. Most just get cross because they think a post is about them which it certainly is not.
 
Because my horse would be so incredibly stiff in the morning it would take me about an hour to warm up. He is blanket clipped new forest pony with a med stable rug and a heavy on top...how dare me :D since 'over' rugging him he is actually the best he has ever been and working up the levels quite quickly so yes. I'm all for over rugging, sorry! :D
 
rachaelstar said:
Because my horse would be so incredibly stiff in the morning it would take me about an hour to warm up. He is blanket clipped new forest pony with a med stable rug and a heavy on top...how dare me :D since 'over' rugging him he is actually the best he has ever been and working up the levels quite quickly so yes. I'm all for over rugging, sorry! :D
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If my horse (assuming your horse isn't elderly) was so incredibly stiff in the mornings I would be wanting to know why they are, rather than just shoving a pile of rugs on.
 
Dressedkez - 'Beware of being too much of an evangelist - you will dilute your message'

Yes, so true! I am not a fan of over rugging either and I don't understand it,when the horse really is sweating, but quite often they are not. People can so easily become preachy and overbearing about this type of thing and it shuts the door on their potentially valid advice being heard.
 
Moomince Pie said:
It is other people's places to criticise when it becomes a welfare issue and horses are becoming dehydrated through over rugging. More and more vets are reporting incidents of this happening, and are urging people to stop over rugging.
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One rug with or without a neck piece is hardly "over-rugging" to the point of causing dehydration at this time of year.

And which vet has appointed you to be the arbiter in this matter?

As a responsible owner with many years of equine experience (60, to be exact) I am quite capable of deciding, in my horse's best interests, whether he needs a rug or not. The staff on this yard and certain trusted liveries know that if the weather changes and my horse is uncomfortable they may put on or remove his rug without referring to me but I would not take kindly to discover one morning that some interfering busybody with no permission to do so had been into my loose box interfering with my horse.
 
Lolo, in my case I was being asked to rug the horses and was responsible for their care. I was not comfortable doing! so and showed owners why. If I was a livery on a yard I would not make any comment unless asked opinion. One of the things I've always hated on yards is noses coming in. If I was concerned that one was over rugged (sweating up and not just a one off) I'd mention to YO/YM.
They have duty of care and I have no concern if something happened that I should have mentioned it. It would have to be a case where I worried about the horse though, not simply that I wouldn't be doing it.
 
I'm so conscious about not over rugging mine.

I admit I think wow its cold i better check mine are warm enough - but i dont then just pile rugs on.

Mine are both fully clipped and rugged.

One feels the cold a lot more than the other (who is a bit chubbier) so she has a slightly thicker rug than the other one.

It's variable and i am constantly checking them. The 'cold' horse tends to get cat hairs on her body and the other who is notmally desperate to go out - tends to hug her haylage If they are cold.

It is difficult though - when they are rugged you could almost change rugs several times a day!

I have to agree that I cant stand the whole you MUST not use shoes, rugs, anything other than snaffle etc. horses for courses in my eyes.
 
Op.. if you took it apon yourself to go into my horses stable, feel under his rugs and decide his hay ration as well as what rugs he should or shouldn't have on, you would see the less pleasant side of me! Once my horses doors are shut and I have done them for the night I would be fuming to discover an interfering livery and took it in themselves to enter my stable and voice their opinion on how I choose to keep MY horse
 
Ellen Durow said:
One rug with or without a neck piece is hardly "over-rugging" to the point of causing dehydration at this time of year.

And which vet has appointed you to be the arbiter in this matter?

As a responsible owner with many years of equine experience (60, to be exact) I am quite capable of deciding, in my horse's best interests, whether he needs a rug or not. The staff on this yard and certain trusted liveries know that if the weather changes and my horse is uncomfortable they may put on or remove his rug without referring to me but I would not take kindly to discover one morning that some interfering busybody with no permission to do so had been into my loose box interfering with my horse.
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And again, this post backs up someone else's remark about people getting so uppity and automatically assuming the comments MUST be aimed at them personally.

I wasn't commenting about how you rug your horse. I was saying that for someone to say it's got nothing to do with anyone else how many rugs a horse has on or how they care about them, is ridiculous, because it has got everything to do with someone else if that horse is at risk of suffering from heat stroke.

And yes, actually, I am in contact with vets daily, working along side numerous different ones. I hear lots of their experiences of people over rugging, and horses becoming dehydrated. It's a lot more common than you think.

Just because you may not over rug yours, there are plenty out there that do.
 
charlie76 said:
Op.. if you took it apon yourself to go into my horses stable, feel under his rugs and decide his hay ration as well as what rugs he should or shouldn't have on, you would see the less pleasant side of me! Once my horses doors are shut and I have done them for the night I would be fuming to discover an interfering livery and took it in themselves to enter my stable and voice their opinion on how I choose to keep MY horse
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I think people who are hiding an emaciated half starved horse would say the same though if someone went in and took rugs off, then started 'interfering' by calling the authorities. (Not that I am suggesting you are neglectful or cruel, my point just being that it's all very well people saying that other people should not ever get involved with other people's horses, but at the end of the day sometimes it really is necessary).

I agree, if there is no real welfare issue, then people shouldn't be doing stuff with other people's horses. I once had a livery take it upon herself to remove my horse's sweet itch rug because she said it looked dirty. She actually put my mare at risk by doing so. So she got a gobful.

However, if I saw someone's horse stood sweating and dehydrating with three hw's on in ten degrees, yes I would remove them, if I couldn't get hold of the owner.
 
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Moomince Pie said:
Quite.

I take it that poster is judging the fact they are cold to whether their horse is, by their comment.
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No, I was commenting on the fact that s/he seems to think that 7 degrees is not cold. It's only one degree above the temperature at which grass ceases to grow in winter.

If she thinks there is a welfare issue she should report it to the yard manager and/or the RSPCA. If not, she should keep her sticky beak out of other people's business until she is asked for advice.
 
Ellen, if someone stuck a hw and neck on any of mine now, it would do so as they are not used to it and don't need it.

If this is in relation to the other thread then it sounded like a newly bought cob with a thick winter coat and whose previous owners didn't rug up massively. So it would be a shock to the system in a season when horses quite often don't drink enough because of the cold!
 
Barefoot Endurance said:
No I'm not very nice at all actually... The benefit of a faceless forum :D :rolleyes:
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So by your own admission your a nasty, nosey interfering person? God help anyone on a yard with you

piebaldsparkle said:
TBH if a horse is sweating through its rug, I think it IS suffering. So yes I WILL say something.:rolleyes:
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Where in this thread is a horse sweating through its rug mentioned as maybe I need to put my lenses back in as I really cant find where the OP states that :confused:

Barefoot Endurance said:
But it is not cold, it's about 7 degrees out there...

I'm asking people to justify it because it makes no sense...
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Why should people justify a situation that they cannot see and evaluate for themselves? Also why should people justify things to you, random jo blo on a net forum ;)

You are really bizarre and getting decidedly troll like with your threads.......
 
charlie76 said:
Op.. if you took it apon yourself to go into my horses stable, feel under his rugs and decide his hay ration as well as what rugs he should or shouldn't have on, you would see the less pleasant side of me! Once my horses doors are shut and I have done them for the night I would be fuming to discover an interfering livery and took it in themselves to enter my stable and voice their opinion on how I choose to keep MY horse
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So you think it is ok to give your horse such small rations that he has eaten them all in the 3 hours he has already been in the stable only to spend anywhere up to another 14 hours in there with NOTHING to eat???

These are people I know and IF I was to maybe give their horse a little extra hay I most certainly would ring or text to say exactly that. In all cases the owner is more than grateful!!!
 
charlie76 said:
Op.. if you took it apon yourself to go into my horses stable, feel under his rugs and decide his hay ration as well as what rugs he should or shouldn't have on, you would see the less pleasant side of me! Once my horses doors are shut and I have done them for the night I would be fuming to discover an interfering livery and took it in themselves to enter my stable and voice their opinion on how I choose to keep MY horse
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Here, here!
 
Ellen Durow said:
No, I was commenting on the fact that s/he seems to think that 7 degrees is not cold. It's only one degree above the temperature at which grass ceases to grow in winter.

If she thinks there is a welfare issue she should report it to the yard manager and/or the RSPCA. If not, she should keep her sticky beak out of other people's business until she is asked for advice.
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7 degrees is really not cold! Horses are not grass. They don't fail to thrive just because it hits 7 degrees. That is the most bizarre comment.

I walk around in a thin top in 7 degrees. If there is a bitter windchill, fine, maybe up the rug slightly.

What do you think the Welsh Mountain ponies do when it hits -13 on the mountains?!
 
Moomince Pie said:
7 degrees is really not cold! Horses are not grass. They don't fail to thrive just because it hits 7 degrees. That is the most bizarre comment.

I walk around in a thin top in 7 degrees. If there is a bitter windchill, fine, maybe up the rug slightly.

What do you think the Welsh Mountain ponies do when it hits -13 on the mountains?!
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To be fair, not all of us have Welsh Mountain ponies...
 
If I rug a bit more my horse (he's a tb) doesn't get a winter coat which means no clipping as I hate the look of a pasty clipped chestnut!! I don't over rug, he's never sweaty, doesn't wear more than one rug.. My personal choice.. His winter coat is hardly any different to his summer coat.. Sorted!!
 
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