Does rugging cause foundering?

[Cupcake]

My YO told me today that my pony could founder very soon. I don't think she is at all, so I need your advice :)

She is 21 years old, 13hh, retired and no longer able to be ridden. For the past 3 days she has been rugged in a light weatherbeata landa. She has unlimited hay and gets 2 scoops of oaten chaff a day and a carrot (or she panics and almost cuts herself open on the fence :rolleyes:). There's no grass at all in the paddock, gotta love the drought....

She is overweight but I'm not able to exercise her at the moment. Very very very good doer.

My YO said that by rugging her I'm basically asking her to founder....something about it keeping in the heat :confused: I've rugged her every year at this time because she tends to loose a lot of weight in the cold if I don't, a thing that is getting worse as she ages.

Normally I would ignore him but it made me a little upset that he thinks that I'm asking her to founder which I think is rediculous.

[touchstone]

Hello cupcake, rugging by itself certainly wouldn't make your horse founder - but being overweight definitely could.

By rugging an overweight horse it won't be burning calories by keeping warm, so it will make it more difficult to shift the weight. If she is currently overweight it might be worth while removing the rug until her weight is where you'd like it to be, and then rug to minimise any further weight loss.

Hope that helps!

[doris]

I agree with touchstone. I've never heard of rugging up actually causing foundering.

If you're a bit worried about her getting perhaps chilled and/or wet without a rug, especially as she's in her twenties, why not invest in something like a Weatherbeeta Light, which is 100% waterproof and windproof, but has no thick lining.

[MelanieD]

Rugging causing founder is basically a load of b*ll*x :rolleyes:

But, since she's overweight and you have no other way of getting weight off removing the rug would help with the weight loss which would decrease the risk of laminitis. Whether its worth doing or not depends on how overweight she is and how miserable she'd be without the rug.

[Daffy Dilly]

I found weighing Daffy's hay and feeding as appropriate for the weight he ought to be has helped him lose weight really well. He's still a little tubby, but mostly I think he is just a bit unfit. During the time I've been doing that he's had a heavy weight rug on before down to a mediumweight (fully clipped and he caught a cold, not taking the risk now) and he's still lost the weight.

[kturner]

with mine I either take the rug off so he can use the weight keeping warm, or if the weather is too bad, keep the rug on, and reduce the hay and feed instead.

mine is 280kgs and has 5 kgs hay , 2kgs morning, 3kgs night, or substitute some hay for food, dengie hi fi lite can have up to 5kgs per day, but have to cut down the hay instead.

total feed can be 5kgs split between hay and hi fi lite.

[Cupcake]

MelanieD - She is not terribly overweight, but does have a typical welsh belly. And she is extremely miserable without her rug, shaking with her tail tucked in and the whole deal :rolleyes:

I'm glade that rugging won't cause her to founder, would have thought if that was the case she would have foundered in the 7 years I have owned her.

Unfortunately I can't cut down her food anymore because she has a round bale and the grain I give her in basically nothing anyway.

Hopefully it will start raining soon and I can put her in the back paddock and her walking around to eat might shift some of the pounds.

Thankyou for your help, has put my mind to rest :)

[Tatooed Lady]

maybe when he said the blanket would cause her to founder that he meant because of her weight, not using calories to keep warm, etc. some people don't think in stages (or explain in them) but just make leaps of logic that leave you looking like this: :confused:

[Cupcake]

But he said something about it keeps in the heat which causes them to founder :confused: I would ask him but he rambles on beyond belief and it drives me insane :o

[touchstone]

He could mean that if you pony was to overheat it would create stress, which can in turn trigger laminitis. As long as she isn't too hot I wouldn't worry, but I'd rather have a pony cool than too hot.

[mikh]

Sorry to be dumb, what is foundering?

[Cupcake]

mikh - http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?Story_No=1801

That is a pretty good discription.