Rugging when shivering

[Frances144]

My miniature Shetland pony, Albie, was orphaned at 8 weeks old. He came to me very stressed out and unhappy. His whole life changed in a minute. From a confident foal in a happy little herd, he suddenly had no one and nothing. It was an extreme shock for him.

A few months on, he lives now with a miniature mare and her Colt foal. Although the mare won't let him suck, she looks to him and know he is her responsibility. She won't groom him either.

Albie is fed three times a day. Divide 2.5 litres of milk into 3. He drinks out of a bucket and in the morning, he also has a scoop of foal creep mixed with Mare and Youngstock hard feed.

But when it rains, Albie shakes and shivers and is dithery. He can't think straight and is totally wet through. He has no waterproofing in his coat. They all have free access to a lovely open shed, but it makes no difference.

So would you rug? I want Albie to grow up to be a "normal" Shetland pony and I don't want early rugging to stop him from achieving a natural coat, ability to stay warm, etc, but I struggle watching him when he is shivering and dithering and this is summer rain too, so not that cold.

He is a robust little chap, keeping up in height and weight with his colt foal friend, but it is the lack of waterproofing that worries me.

What would you do?

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

I don't believe in rugging natives in general, but I do remember that when you bought a rug for Storm it was a great success. If the poor little thing is cold and wet he won't find it easy to thrive.

 

[Jessey]

The first year I got Hank (he arrived at the end of October, 5 year old, rescue) I didn't rug him through winter and he was fine, but in the spring when his summer coat came in I found him in the field several times shivering in the rain uncontrollably, I rugged him to dry him out and until the rain passed. It took him probably a year to learn that he could put himself in the stable/under a tree/bush when he needed to, the vet suggested he was probably locked in a stable or small garden for a lot of his early life as both his stifles lock like they never had the chance to develop properly, so this could well be why he didn't really know how to cope with the weather initially. I haven't had the shivering problem in the last couple of years. His condition has improved vastly over the time he has been with me, not that he was skinny when he arrived but he had a poor, ratty coat and lacked muscle, I suspect he was just generally under nourished and its taken time for his body to recover.

 

[CharliesAngel]

Id hold off as long as you can, as you say in case you risk him not developing a full foal coat.... perhaps once he weans onto more hard feed and hay this will help. Id say if he’s still shivering once the weather really starts to turn then consider it then? But for now if he’s robust, growing well and keeping weight Id watch and wait x

 

[newforest]

I have seen farmers put coats on the lambs when it's really bad or bring in.

Can the three come in out of the rain when it's really bad and let him fluff up his coat.
If the mare won't groom him, she isn't drying him off or stimulating blood flow?

 

[Frances144]

We do bring in, but I would prefer the mare was outside as it means she will produce milk for her colt foal.

 

[Gimp]

A good diet will make a mare produce milk, I wouldn't worry about bringing in as a way to avoid any nasty weather and that's probably what I would do in the circumstances of his background etc to avoid rugging him at this stage.

 

[Gimp]

The first year I got Hank (he arrived at the end of October, 5 year old, rescue) I didn't rug him through winter and he was fine, but in the spring when his summer coat came in I found him in the field several times shivering in the rain uncontrollably, I rugged him to dry him out and until the rain passed. It took him probably a year to learn that he could put himself in the stable/under a tree/bush when he needed to, the vet suggested he was probably locked in a stable or small garden for a lot of his early life as both his stifles lock like they never had the chance to develop properly, so this could well be why he didn't really know how to cope with the weather initially. I haven't had the shivering problem in the last couple of years. His condition has improved vastly over the time he has been with me, not that he was skinny when he arrived but he had a poor, ratty coat and lacked muscle, I suspect he was just generally under nourished and its taken time for his body to recover.

Thats really sad Jessey, I didnt realise Hanks background. Bless him!