Rain and Wet Horses

[NoviceNic]

I was feeling guilty tonight as my horses were looking like drowned rats when they came in. Usually there is either my friend or I available on hand to bring the horses in when it rains but today neither of us were at the stables. Now I know that I am being silly and that my horses can really cope with getting wet but I couldnt help feeling guilty.:( Can I just check with you all what you would do though. The natives ones where rugless as we like to take off their rugs as much as poss to let their skin breath. So as they were wet I popped on their fleece rugs for overnight. I was wondering whether to put on their stable rugs but decided that the rugs would then soak up all the rain and the horses would end up with wet rugs on their backs all night. So do you think I did the right thing? Or should I have done something else?

[Vicki&Milo]

Can't be a lot of help I'm afraid, but when I used to work at my RS and the ponies came in wet (were all out all night and very few were rugged) we used to towel dry them (which was always entertaining with the slightly less sane ones) and then leave them as long as possible to dry out, but being an RS they usually got tacked up still somewhat damp :( we were always told not to groom wet ponies though-to stop the water getting rubbed in-dunno how much of this is just the way things had always been done!!??
Vicki

[Peanut]

NoviceNic - you felt guilty bringing in wet horses to put them in their nice warm stables with fleeces on! My girl came in, ate her supper, got thatched with a dry rug (the rain creeps in around the neck) and went straight back out into the pouring rain again - now that would make you feel really guilty!

[Bebe]

I did the same as you, in stable with fleece rug on to dry off. I did take the fleece off after a bit but was rewarded with the dirtiest look and a pointed nose on shoulder as though to say "what are you playing at, put it back!". So, she got it back on and I left her in it overnight.

She's gone out rugless again this morning, though it's still raining!

[amandal]

I do the same, fleece rug to dry her out, if the towel's at the stable and not in the washing at home I towel dry her non muddy bits and then if the fleece is wet swop for another rug before I go home. If it's just her legs I leave them to dry overnight and then groom her in the morning. People at the yard I'm at now use a water brush to brush the mud off legs but I'm worried about rubbing the mud in so just leave it to dry.

[Kazzie]

I know what you mean Nic. I brought my two in yesterday afternoon they were absolutely soaked and Robbie was actually shaking with the cold, though Wills wasn't too bad. I hosed their legs, de-rugged them put fleeces on and towelled their legs, necks and faces. I put their stable rugs on over the fleeces. Their turnout rugs were put in the drying room for today and its still raining!

[Big Ears]

mine all came in, had been rugged with necks, so took rugs off, night rugs on, lights out. all that was wet was faces.

one of the rugs - brand new from ebay - has leaked so one of the donkeys was wet - first day i have used it in rain so not best pleased, now the argument to get it changed/refunded.

have kept donks round the back of house today as they really dind't apprediate the weather yesterday but cobs are out with rugs on again while other rugs dry!

[Mimi + Me]

Just read bigears comments and how funny, I bought a brand new rug from e-bay (at what I thought was a bargain price) was really pleased with myself, put it on my mare Sunday - it rained overnight and it leaked through as well. Not such a bargain then! :mad:

My mare used to be stabled but is now in a big field with a walk in barn, so she can choose whether or not to stand in the rain. Most of yesterday she did choose to stand in the rain!

I'm always told to leave wet rugs on them, and that their body heat will dry it off eventually. Not a nice thought though, I got soaked through riding yesterday and I couldn't wait to get out of my wet clothes.

Never mind, we have to remind ourselves that they ARE animals and if they were out on the wild moors they'd be lucky to have any shelter, let along rugs.

[Jessey]

For leaky rugs buy some tent re-proofing spray from a camping shop and just spray the bit that leaks, its far cheaper and easier than the special rug one and is dry in an hour or so, thats if you can't get a refund/exchange.

J x

[Big Ears]

I have some rug proofing stuff here but for a rug purchased on 7th February 2006 I want it exchanged or refunded as quite frankly it shouldn't leak!

[Mimi + Me]

Thanks for that Jessey, Milletts/Blacks here I come!

[Mehitabel]

next time, when you bring them in have a look through their coat - part the fur and you will see that next to the skin they are entirely dry. assuming they have about an inch of winter coat, like our lot, about the last quarter of an inch will be entirely dry. once you see it for yourself, you will be able to stop feeling about them as if it were you out in the rain.

horses are waterproof.

[Kazzie]

Robbie's been clipped and so he does get cold and wet.

[becs]

I'd second Mehitabel - many times I've fretted in wet weather, but when I poke deeper into their fur, they're dry under the outer greasy layer. Often they have a "run-off" pattern to 1/2 way down their sides; their tums are still dry & fluffy! Aaaaah.... We feel in their arm-pits & base of ears to check their core temp is ok.

[Bebe]

Echo Mehitabel, I don't actually worry about my girl getting wet, I know she'll be fine.

The fleece rug overnight was more for my peace of mind than hers, I'm sure she'd have been fine without (she's managed before) but given how cold it's been dropping at night I felt better leaving her with a thin layer on to trap air whilst her fur wasn't up to the job of doing it.

I do put thermatex leg wraps on overnight when her legs are wet. She's prone to mudfever if I'm not careful and I've had a couple of nights when the mud on her pasterns hasn't dried by morning even on a straw bed.

[amandal]

Going to sound really dim here but do you put thermatex leg wraps on wet clean legs only or on wet dirty legs to dry them off so you can get rid of the mud in the morning ? Ziz's legs have been a bit damp some mornings at this new yard - she's in the stable at the end and I think it's the coldest.

[Big Ears]

Amandal

if you put them on legs which are nice and muddy and wet, they will be toasty warm in about half an hour and when you take them off int he morning they will be lovely and cooked and clean, you can jsut about flick the mud off with your hands.

of course you can use them on clean legs for warmth only. i find them very useful

[Baileigh]

Mine are out 24/7 - although they have access to sheltered areas (a ruin, a railway tunnel, a forest etc). Currently neither of them get rugged up, in very cold weather, we rug up our mare, as she is a lighter breed, but our cob doesn't even own a rug. Our horses don't mind the rain and happily graze/run about in it - the only thing that bothers them is the wind, because it lifts the hairs of their coat, and gets to the skin, chilling them. So they seek shelter in cold winds.

[iloveshearer]

my poor boy is out getting soaked as we speak, he is a hardy type though so he doesnt really need a rug and he isnt clipped.

[LouHarvey]

I don't feel too bad when mine get wet, they're both clipped out but they have full-necks on so only get wet faces. Everything else is covered because they have wraparound tail flaps so no wet bits anywhere! But that said they come in every night anyway!

[NoviceNic]

NoviceNic - you felt guilty bringing in wet horses to put them in their nice warm stables with fleeces on! My girl came in, ate her supper, got thatched with a dry rug (the rain creeps in around the neck) and went straight back out into the pouring rain again - now that would make you feel really guilty!

Point taken Buttercup.:o Mine used to live out 24/7 before my friend invited me to stay up at her yard. I used to laugh at her when she had her natives rugged in Sept. But now I pamper mine (although not rugged as much). I was more worried that by putting the fleece on I wouldnt actually help matters and that I would create a cold. When I left them their fleeces where wet but my friend confirmed that they were all dry this morning so their body heat dried their backs anyway. So the fleece just helped keep the chill off them through the cold night.

[Dizzy]

My mare Breeze is in a high kneck turnout, which was was wet on the outside, but she was toasty warm, underneath, and has a shelter.

Hiedi, my Gypsy Cob is naked, and out, with trees for shelter, which she rarely uses, and was oblivious to the rain - I had hoped she be a little bit weather stressed, as she's still carrying more weight than I want her too, going into Spring. But though today was wet, it was warm here.

Our weather is so weird, 2 days ago, temps were sub zero, gorgeous sunshine and dry, now, wet and about 7 degrees:eek:

[Bebe]

Amandal, as Big Ears said, I put them straight onto wet and muddy legs. They're not dry in half an hour unfortunately but they do work well and seem to help prevent mudfever. I brush the dry mud off in the mornings before turning out.

[amandal]

Lovely, they sound perfect, off to find someone.

[1 morejump]

Nah, they're fine. My horse lives in the pasture with a shen until the barn is finished. He has a turnout blanket thant he gets put on around 20F and he has a fleece liner for the really cold nights. Horses are a lot tougher than we give them credit for. If you are woried about them getting wet you could buy a turnout sheet. Basicaly its a waterproof windbreaker, keeps em' dry. Water logged blankets are no fun at all, I bet they were fine.

[alwaysfallingof]

Well I chucked my pony *out* into the rain last night, with only a lightweight t/o on - and he's clipped:cool:
He'd much rather be out than in, even in the rain, and he can't be getting cold because his clip still hasn't grown back from November!