Would you allow your horse to get cold in order to loose weight?

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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Question really, i was disscussing this with one of the girls at the yard, whom has a pretty fat horse whom still has not fully got a summer coat... she was going to leave his rug off tonight in a pretty open stable to purposly "freeze some weight off him" - i said it was cruel as he had no way of running round to keep himself warm and she should be leaving off his t.o. rugs instead - so he can have a run round if he gets really cold - we are really windy at this new yard... i think it is cruel to leave him to stand in cold - but also agree he needs to loose weight - but i do think there could be a better way.
 
In a stable no, as you said they can't run around to keep warm. I have, however put a lighter TO than might seem logical when I've been wanting a horse to lose weight and I would do it again.
 
Hmm, I've joked about it in the past :rolleyes: but tbh I try to keep my horse comfortable and just work her more and/or use a grazing muzzle when she needs to slim down a bit.

I really don't like the thought of them being unable to keep themselves at the right temperature - once we clip horses I think it's our duty to keep them comfy, regardless :)
 
I don't personally like the idea.

My mare was in need of losing weight a few years ago when I got her, so I stripped grazed her and exercised her every other day. She wasn't rugged either however she wasn't clipped.
 
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Have done this but only outside as feel at least they can run about to get warm so using energy either way.
I'm with you don't think I could leave them totally naked standing in a stable if thought it was going to be cold,windy.
 
Yes and infact in a discussion with my vet the laminitis clinic now recommend, clipping the top of the horse off i.e. neck mane down to the hindquarters (think of an upside down chaser clip).

Horses produce warmth by eating, rugging etc and lose weight by shivering using the stores of body fat, so not cruel, it is what they do to naturally keep warm it is the way nature lets them keep warm, we seem to forget (myself included) that they are far tougher and able to maintain themselves better than we think.
 
Not in a stable as can't move around to generate warmth but have depending on the horse and depth of coat left rugs off or much lighter rugs on to help with the waistline - but nothing subsitutes good old fashioned - correct diet and good exercise !! For Humans and horses !!
 
Well have done it with our two, but they live out and both have thick coats. Took their turnouts off about a month ago to try and shiver a bit of weight off:o. However when the weather turned really horrible and wet again they had their rugs back on.
 
Didn't do it for weight loss but last year during the snow vet told me to leave all rugs off my TB. He had allergies and the vets felt that leaving him naked would be better. I felt awful at first but he was fine, his coat (what there was of it) all fluffed up to keep the heat in. They're tougher than we think.
 
On the advice of a vet, yes I have and yes, I would do it again.
I'd rather have a cold horse than one who is running the risk of lamintis.
 
I did with my mare, but only because she was absolutely obese and needed that weight gone asap as she was past the point where she should have really got laminitis for the state she was in! So yes, she was left completely unrugged [this was with all the snow] and stabled outside the majority of the time until she got to a slightly more stable weight. Usually, she'd be fully fit, normal weight and hunter clipped...but rugged up to the nines also.

Cruel to be kind I guess was the story there.
 
Better to be a bit cold and lose some weight than end up with laminitis. Inside a stable, where it's dry, and with a warm bed to lie on, hell, horses are easily able to keep themselves warm!

Maybe if people started treating their horses like the animal they are, instead of treating them like a human baby, then maybe, just maybe, there would be fewer horses suffering from preventable illnesses like laminitis.

It's like people thinking that their horse is bored in the stable, so we'll give it a bucket full of molasses sugar to keep it happy........................................

It's a bloody horse for god sake, of course it can cope without a rug in SPRING!!!!!
 
I feel its mean to clip a horse then leave his rug off to slim him down if he is a bit fatter than you like. Mine is out without a rug tonight as the overall temperature is mild, even though windy and light rain. He was last clipped in Feb and his summer coat is coming in. He is a bit too porky still.
I try to dispense with his rugs on and after 1st April (I'm old school.) I would never leave him out in winter, if clipped no matter how fat he was.
He has a field shelter and a big field full of last years old grass that he has moved into. Still, - I do feel a bit sorry for him and worry he may be cold, but I know he will be too hot in a rug by morning at this time of the year, and that is worse.
 
Agree with everything lhotse has said.

If your horses can't walk around their stables then whether they're rugged or not isn't the mean part!!! Dorey hasn't worn a rug at all since she came back, the intention being to make her burn off some excess fat before she had bubba (omg, thats even worse, I froze a pregnant mare... come check out the size of my foal before you call me mean! Had I not frozen the fat off her, we'd have had serious problems!!!)

They're horses, for pete's sake, how do you think they existed without rugs?
 
yes i would as they are more than capible of maintaining heat through there body fat. after all i do think we over do it with rugs nowadays i have seen horses wearing 3 or 4 rugs theses days. i wonder how comfortable they are with the excess weight on there back. whoops sorry for the rant
 
Horses dont need to run around to keep warm . The fermentation of their food,in the hind gut ,produces a huge amount of heat.Its like an internal hot water bottle. providing a horse has a plentiful supply of hay, it will in all but the worst weeather ,be fine. We over rug most horses.
 
Echo what others have said about rather having a cold horse than one with laminitis.
I left Lace's rug off the other night, as I felt it was warm enough, to be told by another livery that she might get too cold, but at the end of the day we must remember that horses are horses and not china dolls.
 
Yes I would - as I would rather have him a bit cold than having him stand in all night without any hay which would be the other option to loose the weight.
 
Yep. My big horse needs to lose a few pounds so he is naked day and night now. He was hunter clipped at the end of Feb and has a full summer coat now. He's a warm horse at the best of times and I'd always rather he was cool instead of hot.

I cannot stand over rugged horses. If the horse has enough forage to eat then digesting that will keep him warm.
 
my horse carried weight though vet could still see ribs and I was advised to take rug off to help her loose weight did this only to the point when blizards started then rugged again no rugs in stable at all and even with feeds and lack of exercise still managed to loose 3" round girth and she did look better for it.
 
personally i dont like the idea of it, esp with a clipped horse, but i can just about get my head round doing it in the field where they can move round and play to warm up.

in a stable they might be stood in a draught/breeze which they are unable to get away from and i think thats not acceptable.
 
I would yes. One of the horses on our yard (unclipped and stabled) spent the winter in a fly sheet because he's not in work and is a very good doer, means his haylage rations don't have to be limited which is much better for his digestion and he's not felt cold all winter, even when it was sub zero.

I would rather have a horse a bit cool to control weight than be limiting their fibre intake. They generate a lot of warmth themselves because of the fermentation of fibre in the hind gut. That's where must of their body heat comes from, and then the layer of fat will do an excellent job of keeping that heat in
 
Well I stopped rugging my good doer some weeks back in the stable as I did not feel he much needed it anymore and he has been fine...always warm in the morning even with temps dipping down to 3 degrees still.
He was also turned out at 6am as usual this morning with nothing on purely on the basis that it will warm up soon and he will be fine then. He is down to a healthy weight following laminitis problems but it would not be a crime if he lost some more!
 
i definitely would.

if there is a draught in the stable that needs sorting regardless of whether the horse is rugged or not.

would you rather a slightly cold horse or a dead horse?

i debate how cold he will get in a stable anyway- my tb's are stabled at night over the worst of the winter with no rugs and were fat as butter even through the worst of the cold!
 
I also agree with the poster that said, as long as the horse is able to eat it will stay warmer than you think, as she said the fermentation of their food acts like a hot water bottle in their stomach.

Also though, horses have to stay the same temperature within. Even a bit out either side is no good, a fat horse will burn up his fat to stay warm.... He will use this energy. A thin poor horse who doesn't have this reserve will not be able to do this and thus will get cold and poorer etc.. Horses (being outdoor creatures) do not suffer in the cold the same way we would though and as a rule I agree we over rug alot, especially natives of all kinds.

A porky horse left with no rug on will keep himself warm - Well the above is my opinion and my understanding.

x
 
I'm doing this with my horse actually at the moment. He's on box rest and is piling on the weight - so rugs have come off, and will stay off.
 
I'm leaving my chunk without his rug day and night. He is no longer in over night and he is not having any problems. He still gets his fibre intake but has definitely lost some weight. I would rather him be out naked and slightly cold and using his fat to keep him warm that have him get laminitis.
 
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