This may be long sorry. I've had ale 7 winters now and he's a haffy with a trace clip.
Normally over winter I put him in a medium weight rug, sometimes with a neck. And when it gets into minus figures I put him into a heavy weight.
This year after reading various threads on here I decided to rug less to help with weightloss. So I left him naked alot longer than I normally would of, I think it was a couple of months longer TBH. I only started rugging him (no fill) because he was coming in too filthy and was making it hard to ride.
And from then on I have been waiting for him to feel cold to up his rug a weight. But he never has! I did up him to a medium weight for a week when it got to minus 6 at night, but in the mornings he felt too warm and it was still minus 4/5 then so I decided to go back down again.
I'm just fascinated by the fact he feels warm all the time now, whereas before he would feel cold. I guess he simply grew a better coat being naked longer?
At the moment it is about minus 2 in the mornings when I get to the yard, he feels warm and seems happy so I don't intend to use the medium weight again unless he starts feeling cold.
He is the only horse on the yard in a lightweight rug. I just think its really interesting how their bodies adapt, and it has certainly helped in keeping his weight at its lowest ever.
One pleased pony mum
Normally over winter I put him in a medium weight rug, sometimes with a neck. And when it gets into minus figures I put him into a heavy weight.
This year after reading various threads on here I decided to rug less to help with weightloss. So I left him naked alot longer than I normally would of, I think it was a couple of months longer TBH. I only started rugging him (no fill) because he was coming in too filthy and was making it hard to ride.
And from then on I have been waiting for him to feel cold to up his rug a weight. But he never has! I did up him to a medium weight for a week when it got to minus 6 at night, but in the mornings he felt too warm and it was still minus 4/5 then so I decided to go back down again.
I'm just fascinated by the fact he feels warm all the time now, whereas before he would feel cold. I guess he simply grew a better coat being naked longer?
At the moment it is about minus 2 in the mornings when I get to the yard, he feels warm and seems happy so I don't intend to use the medium weight again unless he starts feeling cold.
He is the only horse on the yard in a lightweight rug. I just think its really interesting how their bodies adapt, and it has certainly helped in keeping his weight at its lowest ever.
One pleased pony mum
