Rugs ruining coat condition.

[colettybetty]

Another winter gone and the rugs are coming off. Yet again Fox's lost part of her mane and her coat looks poor.The bits of her uncovered by rugs are beautifully soft and shiny, feet are good and eyes are bright, so generally seems ok. I've tried not to over rug, she has a well fitting Fal silver lined (clean-ish ) rug, so what can I do next winter to stop her coat looking so dull and sparse ?

[kturner]

I have always used Horseware Ireland as they have a nylon liner. He is beautifully polished by the nylon. I sometimes put his rug on without brushing previous dry mud off, and when I remove the rug, the mud has all fallen off and he is so polished he gleams. The rugs are not cheap, but are self righting when they roll, and front clips I find easier than buckles, especially with frozen hands and arthritis. Tough exterior. hardly ever use my other spare cheapie rugs, cant stand the cotton liner and sheepskin bits just attract the water which then goes inside the rug.

They have heavyweight with necks and lightweight with no filler for summer too.

[colettybetty]

Agree with you about the Horseware rugs,(my other horse is self grooming after taking them off !) I love the lining and the way it moves with the horse. Fox has those too, just think she doesn't do rugs, but unfortunately she needs them. I don't like the cotton lined rugs either, mine sit in a cupboard.:rolleyes:

[Konch]

I much prefer cotton lined as they breathe and dont leave a static coat. Give plenty of oil in his diet and lots of healthy brushing.

[Bronya]

Mine always have shiny coats winter and summer. We use both cotton and nylon lined rugs and ensure that they are groomed daily. They also both have a feed balancer.

[Portia]

Another vore for a nylon-lined rug - but a word of warning! Take off a fleece from under the nylon and you may well have a horse zapped by static electricity !! Took me two weeks and many packs of polo before B would happily accept a rug!

[kturner]

Funny you should mention static - I took him rug off, did lots of fast grooming with the body bruch, and held my hand out to his nose for a scratch - zap. He jumped, I jumped, took a while for both of us to go near each other again, one on each side of the stable. Rather like a shock you get from touching a car door in summer.

Talk about bonding, I think this is as close as you can get sharing the same electricity:D:D:D

[scribbler]

When it comes to rugs I dont go for all these full neck or half neck things
In the old days folks horses were fine and healthy without them.I have seen so many horses rubbed all over and half a mane etc.I was told that if you got a well made rug that fits well then there would be no rubbed bits.......But would not know if that works as have now got miniature horses and thank the lord rub marks dont matter as they are fully clipped when showen.