Winter. Rugging mares with foals?

Enfys

Enfys

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 December 2004
Messages
18,085
Visit site
If your mare will still have a foal on her during the winter do you plan to rug up or not?

I've just been standing on my doorstep, peering through the sheeting rain at my canny little filly sheltering under the cottonwood and thinking "Where am I going to find a small enough rug for you? Am I going to rug you at all? Will you get tangled up in your mum's rug?"

Mine live out, shelters, ad lib hay and heated water troughs etc, but the mare is a 17 year old arab, she is not a particularly good doer and I am absolutely not leaving her without a rug this winter when there is snow on the ground for months and the temperatures don't go over -10C for weeks. My New Zealands have belly straps and fillet strings, all leg straps get cut off, I really don't like them.

Even if they came into the barn at night I would still rug the mare during the day when she was out.
 
you can buy foal rugs from sites like robinsons and ride away im sure but im not to sure on delivery to you!?
 
I've had my mares and foals rugged already this summer. A lot of my mares are old and at the moment I don't have enough stables for everyone (fortunately soon to change) and with this terrible weather have felt it sensible to rug them.
I also take off any back leg straps and if I need a fillet string I use a piece of sting that will break easily if the foal decides to jump on mother.
 
foal rugs are readily available but a friend of mine who worked at a few breeding yards in her time gave someone a cracking tip once. sounds wierd but look at waterproof rugs for large dogs!! much cheaper, similar shape and still does the job of keeping them warm and dry.
 
I rug mares with foals too, I always laugh when you first put a rug on their mum and watch them trying to work out how to get to the milk bar for the first time, they are so comical but it doesn't take them long to work out they have to lift the side of the rug
grin.gif
 
I always rug too, some of my friends who run bigger studs think i am mad as they dont..but they dont becoz they have so many and would spend there whole day going around and putting rugs back on, one guy i know has over 200 horses, all T/B's bred for polo..imagine rugging that lot up!! I bought the cuddley pony rugs for last years foals as they have a neck bit too for extra warmth
wink.gif
laugh.gif
 
Yes mine will be rugged (as all previous mares with foals have been) and so will the foals. I never use rugs with leg straps, only ever filet straps.
 
Mare has been rugged with a fly rug since the foal was two weeks old, I've kept all straps done up snugly, and there have been no problems.

I've already told the foal that she may well be living on Dartmoor, but she won't be getting a rug this winter!
 
Thankyou everyone. That has put my mind at rest. I will phone my Tack Store to see if they do foal rugs or very small ones. Oh Goody, rug shopping time then soon, well a couple of months anyway.

Lucyb, do you live on the moor then?
 
Hi,

There is a risk to any horse when it is rugged don't you think? I believe it is a case of weighing up the pros and cons and deciding which is going to be most beneficial for each individual.

I am quite prepared to stable my mare and foal overnight if that is what suits them best, however, I know my mare and she HATES being shut in, with or without company, and I'm not bringing 5 other horses in overnight just to keep her quiet. My paddocks have run in sheds and forested areas for shelter, also ad lib hay and heated water troughs.

Anyway, regardless of that, she is a very poor doer and quite honestly needs all the help she can get to keep weight on through the winter and that would mean rugging, even at night in the barn, so it would be unfair to put her out during the day in temperatures that are likely to be about minus 14 on a good day without a rug. I suppose I could always wean the foal off her, but I won't. (It is quite a common practise to wean at 3 months here)
 
my last foal coco was rugged up and so was bracken! i had no problems!! i did remove the leg straps from bracken and just used a fillet string(not to loose tho!!) coco soon learnt where the milk was and how to get to it!! they used to be stabled very close to the beach and there was no break in the wind from ireland to our yard (by that i mean houses etc!!) so was too cold for both to have no rug on although maybe not a cold as you enfys!!!! they where out all the time bar any really bad weather i.e snow or gales as bracken would rather be out than in as well!!! i know rideaway will export abroad and there foal rugs are good i bought coco's from there it was a little weatherbeta landa only probs was by the time coco was 3 1/2 months old she was in a 5ft rug and i needed to get her a pony one as the foal rugs dont go that large!! the saxon range where good as they are not that deep!
heres a link for the shop so you can have a nosey!!!!!!
http://www.rideaway.co.uk/index2.php3?sessionid=d23d42f78bf111d1f845377310045bc0&page=
check out the bargin basement!! it has the weatherbeta rug sac in sizes 4ft and 4ft3 for only £34.99!! 3 rugs for less than the price of one!!!
grin.gif
 
Thanks for the link, I haven't looked at Rideaway for almost a year!

It's the wind that's the killer isn't it? We get it here too (maybe not from Ireland though) no hills here, so it just sweeps down on us. Thought the following might amuse you! It's not always like this:
Feb2007060.jpg

Sometimes it's like this, the ploughed tracks fill up faster than OH (not me
smile.gif
) can do them
smile.gif

Feb2007036.jpg

It does get a bit bleak sometimes, and that wind is REALLY cold!
Feb2007035.jpg
 
[ QUOTE ]
I would never rug a mare with a foal at foot as there is a very real danger that the foal will get caught up

[/ QUOTE ]
Out of the 20 or so foals born at my place not one has ever got caught up in it's mum's rug. Providing you take appropriate procautions, then there is absolutely no reason why it should.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top