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

~No its really ignorant and makes me mad when people do that. Its like when people say "he/she's been really naughty, I'm not going to give them their tea". As if the horse knows that going without his tea is a punishment for being naughty. Sorry but they don't have the same thought processes as humans.

Deliberately allowing a horse to get cold to lose weight irritates me. Would they go without their duvet in their bed at night if they were on the porky side?? I think not!!
 
Deliberately allowing a horse to get cold to lose weight irritates me
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Think of it more as not allowing the horse to get overly warm.

The health implications for fat horses far outweigh any 'irritation' you may feel. And as long as the horse is not allowed to literally shiver, and is given enough hay to last through the night, should not come to any harm.

An 'ignorant' owner may allow their horse to remain fat, or continue to put on weight, however.
 
applecart14 said:
~No its really ignorant and makes me mad when people do that. Its like when people say "he/she's been really naughty, I'm not going to give them their tea". As if the horse knows that going without his tea is a punishment for being naughty. Sorry but they don't have the same thought processes as humans.

Deliberately allowing a horse to get cold to lose weight irritates me. Would they go without their duvet in their bed at night if they were on the porky side?? I think not!!
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Not the same comparison, or right comparison, to use IMO, anyway.

Having been on the receiving end of a horse with laminitis and having a horse of my own which was really way past the point where she should have been down with lami....it would have been cruelty to allow her to keep that weight[and risk!] longer, than it would have been to not rug her.

We as humans don't come with the risk of lami or similar weight diseases [not overnight or as sudden as horses can anyway, I know associated artery clogging, heart disease risks, etc etc]. Like said in the start of your post...horses don't have the same thought process as humans so duvet or no duvet to them, they'll just bide their time keeping warm in the way nature built them to if they really are that overweight.
 
applecart14 said:
~No its really ignorant and makes me mad when people do that. Its like when people say "he/she's been really naughty, I'm not going to give them their tea". As if the horse knows that going without his tea is a punishment for being naughty. Sorry but they don't have the same thought processes as humans.

Deliberately allowing a horse to get cold to lose weight irritates me. Would they go without their duvet in their bed at night if they were on the porky side?? I think not!!
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That's the point though. The horse is not getting cold. It's using it's fat to burn to stay warm. As i said, horses have to maintain a certian body temperature. They cannot let is slide either way, so in order for a porky horse to stay warm it will burn it's fat to stay warm and not stand there cold. It will keep itself warm.

Now a poor thin horse that's cold will not have anything in reserve to do this and this is when poorly looked after horses lose condition or as an eg TB's as they take more energy just to stay at maintenance levels and keep their condition.

x
 
applecart14 said:
~No its really ignorant and makes me mad when people do that. Its like when people say "he/she's been really naughty, I'm not going to give them their tea". As if the horse knows that going without his tea is a punishment for being naughty. Sorry but they don't have the same thought processes as humans.

Deliberately allowing a horse to get cold to lose weight irritates me. Would they go without their duvet in their bed at night if they were on the porky side?? I think not!!
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Its not really allowing the horse to get cold, its just encouraging them to burn fat to keep warm. I don't think anyone is advocating a horse standing shaking with cold for days on end. As others have said, a lot of vets recommend taking rugs off to get weight off horses at this time of the year.
 
Weightloss doesn't need to be uncomfortable.
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Taking a rug off a horse to keep it cooler, thus requiring it to use up calories to keep a constant core temperature, is not uncomfortable.
 
Amymay - you took the words right out of my mouth!!!!!!!
Totally agree with those that have said yes as long as horse has sufficient forage to keep them warm from the inside out. My big lad is naked full time - when I got up this morning & saw frost on the car I felt terrible but when I got to the yard he was perfectly fine, happy as a pig in muck!
As someone else said they're horses & should be treat as such rather than as humans. Much healthier lifestyle for them IMO - over rugging is the devils work! :D
 
amymay said:
Taking a rug off a horse to keep it cooler, thus requiring it to use up calories to keep a constant core temperature, is not uncomfortable.
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Agree. I think you're missing the point Rochana......the horse doesn't feel cold or uncomfortable since the flabby bits are burned up to keep it warm. It therefore maintains the same temperature and loses weight.
 
Yes, if it is an unclipped horse not living in the Scottish highlands then (unless it is a poor doer, unlikely if it is overweight) I would lighten/remove rugs.

It's what my vet advised me to do with my TB x who is slightly overweight, and only in a LW turnout/stable blanket.

Not to the point of freezing/shivering, but the weather isn't that cold anymore. It's not in the minuses, in fact is is very very warm, and none of the horses at our yard have had rugs on this weekend.

If it's a fat, unclipped cob it should only have rugs to keep clean if the mud is bad, and in the very cold snap we had to take the chill off.

Being slightly underweight is preferable to Over feeding and over rugging which leads to laminitis. Which fat cobs are especially vulnerable to. ESPECIALLY now that we have spring and the spring grass coming through.
 
Rugs are for our conscience and convenience, most horses don't need them at all even in the coldest weather - as long as we haven't clipped them. If they're clipped, they need protection.
The horse OP is talking about has obviously been over rugged for far too long because all coats should be either through or well on the way through by now if rugs had been lightened according to the season; they're horses, not hothouse plants for goodness sake, they don't need neck covers and fleeces, they're perfectly built to cope on their own.
Even most hunters, from being clipped last in January/February, would have been slowly roughed off so that now they would have been rugless for a few weeks before being turned away 24/7 for their summer hol's and they will all have most of their summer coats through. Basic horsemastership skills and sense which seem to be lacking very badly these days.
 
When my mum started riding as a teenager, nobody even had a stable. If you had a feild shelter or a NZ rug, you were privileged!! And guess what, there were hardly any cases of laminitis about. I strongly believe also that there is a connection between obese horses and the onset of cushings. Twenty years ago, Cushings was a rarely seen condition, now it would seem it's the most common cause of losing your horse. It's about time that poeple stopped putting human values onto their horses, it's not doing them or their health any favours!!!!!!!!
 
Yes, I would take a rug off a fat horse to lose weight - they keep themselves warm through eating, not moving around, and would burn excess fat to keep warm as well.

I used to keep my cob in a LW rug over winter, he was right as rain and never felt cold. As soon as it was warm enough the rug came off.

Horses are animals and different to us - over rugging can be very detrimental - it is better for a horse to be slightly cold than too hot.
 
lhotse said:
When my mum started riding as a teenager, nobody even had a stable. If you had a feild shelter or a NZ rug, you were privileged!! And guess what, there were hardly any cases of laminitis about. I strongly believe also that there is a connection between obese horses and the onset of cushings. Twenty years ago, Cushings was a rarely seen condition, now it would seem it's the most common cause of losing your horse. It's about time that poeple stopped putting human values onto their horses, it's not doing them or their health any favours!!!!!!!!
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Perfectly true and so very well said.
 
lhotse said:
When my mum started riding as a teenager, nobody even had a stable. If you had a feild shelter or a NZ rug, you were privileged!! And guess what, there were hardly any cases of laminitis about. I strongly believe also that there is a connection between obese horses and the onset of cushings. Twenty years ago, Cushings was a rarely seen condition, now it would seem it's the most common cause of losing your horse. It's about time that poeple stopped putting human values onto their horses, it's not doing them or their health any favours!!!!!!!!
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I agree with you re nobody having stables, my ponies didn't even have field shelters or nZ rugs in the late 60s/ 70s. However I would dispute that Cushings was rarely seen, I think it was about but not diagnosed. Looking back I can think of several old ponies i knew who were probably classic Cushings cases, however generally horses didn't live as long as there wasn't the same dental care etc so not so many oldies about. Although I did have a friend who had a 35 year old pony who still went hunting.:D

Ets. I totally agree about putting human values on horses, I felt hugely guilty when deciding our 2 could live out this winter, even bought a new field shelter. The buggers have hardly used it. :)
 
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No i dont think this is right - if she wants him to loose weight, she needs to cut down his feed, maybe slightly cut down his forage so that he learns to eat it slower, and think about his exercise reigeme. If your child was overweight you wouldnt say they could only wear shorts and t-shirt in the middle of winter, the first thing you would consider would be what they are eating, and are they doing enough exercise.
 
I would outside. Not to the point of being shivering in the pouring rain, but in weather like we've got at the moment - if they get chilly, atleast they are moving to keep warm if they want.
I don't 'like' the idea of it I suppose but I would do it if I really needed to i.e my horse was obese and it wasn't getting as much excersise as it needed etc
 
bigboyrocky said:
If your child was overweight you wouldnt say they could only wear shorts and t-shirt in the middle of winter, the first thing you would consider would be what they are eating, and are they doing enough exercise.
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There is that human value thing again.
 
But a horse is not a bloody child for god sake. As I have said, stop putting human values onto a horse. It's a totally different animal, it can walk at 1 hour old for starters, it's covered in hair, eats constantly and therefore produces it's own central heating and it's a HORSE, not a CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Argggg
 
over rugging a horse is just as, if not MORE harmful than not rugging /under rugging.

Why would someone put a fly sheet on an unclipped horse in a stable in winter? the fly sheet would stop their coat standing up to keep them warm :confused:

If a horse is too hot, it sweats, then catches a chill.

I've clipped a pony right out to keep the extra lbs off it before. I don't rug my natives unless they are clipped. It royally pees me off to see fat unclipped natives in rugs. Nature designed them to lose excess weight in the cold ready for the spring.
It does not suprise me in the least that this country is over run with obese horses when we as owners do not treat them like the livestock they are. you wouldn't rug a cow would you???
 
bigboyrocky said:
No i dont think this is right - if she wants him to loose weight, she needs to cut down his feed, maybe slightly cut down his forage so that he learns to eat it slower, and think about his exercise reigeme. If your child was overweight you wouldnt say they could only wear shorts and t-shirt in the middle of winter, the first thing you would consider would be what they are eating, and are they doing enough exercise.
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I can't see any of my lot learning to eat slower just because they were getting less! Cutting forage is not a good idea, horses are designed to be trickle feeders and should be eating through most of the day and night.
And horses are not the same as children.
 
Doing this at the moment to shed a few pounds off a pony that wintered rather well. he is chaser clipped, and was out 24/7 with a rug during winter. He is now out 24/7 without a rug, and has been losing weight gradually the last few weeks.

i wouldn't leave one in a stable to shiver itself thin though, I would rather put out unrugged/clipped on poor grazing tbh :)
 
see bbr I would rather the horse had add lib forage and no rug on.

I dont have a problem with it, though currently frank is having more issues with overheating atm (and huffing and puffing about it!), despite having a fully clip the beginning of march and summer coat only just coming through. Even if he wasnt we have a fair amount of grass atm and I would def be trying to keep him on the chilly side if poss in addition to being worked every day.

I think it does depend on how many rugs they have had initiallly though as to whether I would take them all off, but thats just being sensible.
 
Horses do not feel the cold in the same way as people. I would leave a fatty unrugged to cut its weight if necessary.

Rather than cutting forage, a net with small holes and possibly also double netting forage is a better idea.
 
Obviously everybody has different views ;) but the boy in my siggy was always a chuncky monkey, and cut down on feed and slight cut down on forage, and a good fitness reigeme was what kept him looking as well as he did. With no rug, thier coat isnt usually as good a quility either, so i would rug him according to the weather, and how warm he felt.
 
Coat condition has nothing whatsoever to do with rugs, that comes from the inside. Overrugging can on the other hand cause skin problems.
 
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