Help - is it time ?

[Jay.o]

Ok, I need some help/answers and fast :D

Last night it was below 0 degrees and I feel that that it cold. We had a decent layer of ground frost on the rooves and grass. Is it yet time for rugging ?

[Mehitabel]

are the horses looking tucked up and shivering? are they losing weight? do they look miserable? are their ears cold when you touch them? ours aren't rugged yet, but they are all still fat, happy and not that fluffy. when that changes they will get rugged.
different horses deal with the cold differently, so when one is shivering and miserable the next one might still be perfectly happy.

[katieB]

We've been rugging for a few weeks now so it must be quite a bit colder near us! How thick is Mysy's coat? Ellie has quite a sleek coat so I cant comment personally but I know the 'fluffier' horses on the yard were rugged up last night - it was a cold one! I would defintiely rug her if its heading for the same temperatures tonight :)

[AJB]

if shes not clipped and seems happy when you check her in the morning then I would say no-only the clipped ones in our field are rugged (and the very old one) the others are fluffy and hairy and seem very happy to be out all night !!!-leave it as long as you can-rugging is a pain and the less time you have to do it the better for you and mysy!!

[Bebe]

Only the clipped and older horses in our field are rugged. Bebe wore a l/w rug for the first time on Sunday night, left it on yesterday and she wore a m/w turnout last night as she was cold in her stable with a fleece cooler on at 9.30pm when I went to turn her out after being in for hay.

If you can feed hay in the field and/or your horse isn't clipped, then I wouldn't necessarily say you need to start rugging now. Depends on how warm the individual horse is, how cold it gets near you, how sheltered the field is & how much grazing there is. You know your horse best.

[larri]

None of ours ruggged yet - cold itself doesn't generally bother horses their coats will grow and fluff out to keep them warm. Generally it's only when it starts getting cold & wet that they will (if at all) need a rug. The rain gets down into their under coat and flattens it meaning they don't have a layer of warm air over the skin.
My Luso has hardly any winter coat and won't stand the cold and wet as much as either the Tb or welshie - both of whom have twenty years on my filly, but who already have lovely thick furry coats.

They looked lovely this morning in the sharp frost - all blowy and bearlike!

[nat17]

We had alot of rain last night/evening and i knew it was going to be cold so both mine had there lightweight( no filling) on.
They have no grass left, dont get fed and cant put hay in the field so i wanted them to have there rain sheets on.

;)
It reached -3 here last night!!!;)

[AJB]

forgot to say that we are feeding round bales of hay as well so that I think makes the need to rug for warmth less of a priority to the unclipped ones-however my boy is in a mid weight and sleeps in the middle of the bale most days!!!

[Showjumper]

Dolly wasn't as warm as she could have been this morning, and I almost put her lightweight rug on tonight, but I haven't wrecked it yet (scribbled my postcode on it to keep rug thieves away) so I just chucked out double her usual hay to keep her warm from inside.

I'll ruin her gorgeous rug tonight, and if this horrible weather keeps up through tomorrow, she can start wearing it overnight.

[Jay.o]

Hey thanks everyone !
Recently I have noticed a bit of fat missing round her hips and neck and thought it was due to the cold. Her nuts are upped and so far has kept it at that point. She seems happy enough, but dont all hyped three year olds lol ? ;)

Tonight was forcast rainy showers and 0 to -1 degree round here. I had to rug her, I dont think i could sleep tonight if i hadnt. All the horses are now rugged at the yard as of tonight because of the horribaly cold night last night and the same forcast for tonight !

And showjump - i cant bring myself to do it ! I cant scribble on the new rug - its a lovely light lilac colour. I know though, its going to be ruined by tomorrow morning and turn a yucky brown :D C'on, be realistic - who puts a light coloured rug on a mud-loving 3yro :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ME

[rache]

hiya

Baz has had his lightwieght on for around 6 weeks on at night and since last week during the day too.

Tonight he has got his H/W on as hes a light weight TB with thin skin and NO fluffy coat!!

When our batch of shavings arrive i will start putting him in at night!

But at the moment he is coping ok, wil tell 2mro morning when i go up how cold he is with his HW

[Showjumper]

I hate to do it, but with the recent spate of rug thefts, it seems to be the only way to keep it. Mine is also a gorgeous lilac - see photo :D (if it works!)

<img src="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/436919/dollyinhernewrug.JPG" width=640 height=480>

[Mehitabel]

we scribble on all ours - names, postcodes and freezemarks. it does make them so much less nickable.

[AJB]

ES and showjumper what do you mark them with??? paint if so what type??? a yard down the road from us had 23 rugs stolen the other night-they broke into the liverys shed and took them in a wheelbarrow across the bone dry fields!-just thought I would give this a go with mine to prevent if not cure!!!-JayO dont worry about the rug-in a day or so all our rugs look the same-on a 7 year to 27 year old they all go mud coloured!!!!

[Mehitabel]

we use tippexx or paint.

[floppy]

onto the topic of rugs,

when should you use a sweat blanket?

i mean here is about 5 C during the day and -2 at night at the moment and usually if i ride elja in the morning i dont put a sweat rug on, but if i ride her late afternoon now would it be a good idea to use one or is it not cold enough? she has a good fluffy winter coat and good drainage like the icelandics doo :D

[AJB]

thanks ES-think I will get scribbling at the weekend!

[Bebe]

Floppy

I've been using my sweat sheet for about a month now, but it's a wicking one that helped to dry Bebe off before she was clipped rather than just one to prevent her getting a chill (eg just keeps her warm).

I'd start using it if riding at night now if I hadn't already.

[artemis]

We have had sleety snow the last two days (on & off). Horse refused to go out after her evening feed, so she stayed in.

[Showjumper]

I marked her rug with nail polish. I would have used white spray paint but the can was empty.

Dolly got her rug on today! She was cold around her ears and armpits, and really mugging me for hay! I got her bib and rug out of the car, and she didn't scarper. She stood stock still, which, with Dolly, is a surefire indication that she wants the rug on. It was a horrible, cold, windy, wet day. She also got double hay lol :D

Now there's only 2 horses on the yard not rugged. Moondance won't get rugged because she hates anything over her back end. Sunny will get rugged when someone takes pity on him and finds a rug for him.

Dolly and six of the geldings are in lightweights, everything else is in a medium!!! :eek: But no-one's stabling (mostly because only 2 people have stables lol!)

[Yann]

Are ears a good guide to comfort? Rio's ears were often cold last year but she seemed perfectly happy otherwise. I tended to check between her legs instead.

With coolers I generally stuck with an anti sweat mesh rug rather than a fleece until quite recently as until it turned cold a fleece was just making her hotter and sweatier then she already was! No problems deciding now as she's clipped and not sweating much any more:)

It's almost a relief when it gets proper cold and we can all stop worrying about whether we're over rugging or not - it 's been so mild lately.

[Showjumper]

I don't know whether the ears are the best. I usually check ears, armpits, and between back legs. If all three areas are cold, and horse is being a prat, I assume cold, and throw on a rug and give extra hay.

[western]

I always rug my horse when it is 0 or below. Thats even when my horse is fat enough that he dosent really need a blanket but in the winter i like to keep him nice warm and snug before I go to bed . In the daytime I take it off though because it is warmer. Now I am not because it still is Fall . But I always dred the winters.

[Esther.D]

Pablo and Rupert are still unrugged as they seem quite happy and fluffy and fat:D Rupert doesn't really have a thick coat but always stays really warm. Ours aren't getting any feed yet but P and R will be onto hay soon if the weather keeps on with this sleet etc the shetlands still have enough grazing out on the moors for the moment. If the weather they are getting in Scotland at the moment gets down to us (snow, rain, sleet etc) and really sets in then lightweight rugs will be going on. They have heavyweights for mid-winter but those only go on in really extreme weather.

[catlover_98uk]

I plan to winter my two out this year. Rosie (6 month old foal) is a big robust filly, with a very woolly coat (3/4 ID). Evee (mare) is cross ID, but not a particularly big girl.
We got some pretty terrible weather last night, and I was worried about them.
Problem is - do I rug the foal (my preference would be to not). Do I rug Evee - will the foal be put off suckling if I do?
Ahhhhh, who would have horses?
Also, as far as checking ears etc for warmth, I always hold my hand against them for a moment or two to let the body heat come through (or not).

Pam

[Bebe]

Pam,

I take it you can feed hay in the field? If you can and your two are unclipped (I'm assuming they are) then I'd just bung extra hay out when it's really cold and they should be fine. Really wet weather would worry me more than cold temps, in which case you might want to rug, I'd use one that doesn't have leg straps on for both though (less for the youngster to get tangled in and nothing to interfere with her nursing from Mom).

I check for warmth the same way as you do, seems to work. I tend to do it on Bebes clipped bits now as I think that will be the first place to go cold (plus its easier to feel) but before she was clipped I checked under her armpit.

[Mehitabel]

i am not a fan of rugging mares with foals at foot, or foals. they haven't got the sense of self-preservation that an older horse has if they do get stuck or a leg caught. also, if you rug the mare and not the foal, the mare may not notice the weather and stand happily grazing in the rain with a shivering baby. i'd rather put hay in a field shelter for them or bring them in on the worst nights.

[Aphrodite]

Hi All.

I rugged Tigger for the first time last night, he's a TB and is quite a good doer, but not incredibly fluffy (he is a bit, but not a great deal). I nearly had a fit when I got up the day before yesterday and saw all the frost. Apprently it was -5!! Poor Tiggs. He didn't look cold when I went up, and the two cobs in his field don't have rugs on. However the two skinny TB's that do made me feel guilty, as they've had theirs on for a good couple of weeks, so I threw it on. Plus he's been wolfing his hay when I bring him in, whereas he doesn't usually unless he's in overnight, so i guessed he must be feeling it a bit.

He seems quite pleased with the idea though. I've had trouble getting the weight off him this summer, and did worry about laminitis (i'm a bit of a hypochondriac - he's not grossly over weight, maybe a condition scoring of 4 - 4.5). He has (thankfully) lost some weight now due to the colder weather (only a bit), which I wanted. I was hoping the cold weather would sort him out. He's still a bit on the beer-belly side of things, but he's looking a lot sleeker.

Anyway, it's only his scabby (and ripped at the chest) canvas new zealand, it's more of a windbreaker than anything, as it has no filling. I took it off this morning, and put it on again this night, so that he'd feel the benefit when it started getting chilly.

I plan to weather him out most of the winter(bring him in around Christmas), so don't plan to put his main rug on until mid-late november (unless his NZ gives up the ghost!). Hope this helps. :)

[catlover_98uk]

Bebe

Thanks for the advice. Yes they are both unclipped and at the moment we have a roll of haylage in the field with them (although there is still plenty of grass).

At least they got a good day today and managed to dry out!

Pam