Who is rugging already?

[CDR]

Just wondering as today was such a scorcher and it felt like the middle of summer!

So is anyone rugging up yet? Anyone clipped? I'm guessing we've probably got about another month before most people need to - what do you guys think?

[Kilota]

Blue is not clipped, and no rugs in sight for us yet. Me and my sister are always the last to start ruggin gin our yard and are always the first to unrug as well.

We always feed before rugging and our horses seem to be better because of it.

[Spockky boy]

Spock wouldn't be rugged just yet. I always wait to clip him (usually a high blanket or full) and then start rugging up as he doesn't have many rugs. Hes a warm horse anyway with a fairly thick coat.

[black crow]

I clipped Scottie last week. He and Spud are now rugged.

[Twizzel]

Ours were rugged about 3 or 4 weeks ago now.

Both were out in the day in lightweights, in at night- cob was in a fleece and tb in a stable rug as he's a wuss!

However because of the nice weather and time issues, both have been out 24/7 this week. Cob trashed his lightweight so is naked and tb is in lightweight, but both seem to be dropping weight so will either be rugged up more or start coming in again as it's cold at night down here.

[CityLights]

Most of ours at work are in one light stable rug now, the HOYS horse is in two so we dont have to clip him, i feel really sorry for him but he doesnt actually seem to get that hot and it is cold at night now

[Kelza]

Sultan has his rug on if it's wet, but these past days have been lovely so he's been without.

[CDR]

Right so it looks like I need to be rugging soon then, as soon as the lovely weather goes away!! He'll be out 24/7 for 3 or 4 weeks as from tomorrow before he starts coming in at night so I'll put a rug on unless the weather's lovely.

Got to try and psych myself up to clip him now - not something I'm looking forward to, I'll probably make a right pigs ear of it!!

[Teej]

Mine will be out 24/7 until it starts to get cold and dark, usually towards the end of November. If it rains at night, they have lightweight rugs on otherwise they don't need them. Chip's a TB and Baby is an Anglo Arab.

If its wet & windy, as it was a couple of weeks ago, I bring them in for the night.

[CDR]

Do you have a thermometer at the yard?!

[Teej]

Check the weather report before you go to the yard :) Although I do have a thermometer in my storeroom at the yard !

[Ali27]

Rhia won't be rugged until I clip her! I would usually clip in October but she is soooo hairy already so trying to hold out a few more weeks! Then she will be in a lightweight until it gets colder!
I can't understand rugging horses unless they are clipped or it is late Autumn, Winter or of course they are old!
I hate over rugging with a passion!!!!

[Teej]

Completely agree with you Ali27 ! Drives me mad to see horses rugged in summer!

[black crow]

Scottie is clipped due to health reasons, i will add. He is rugged anyway as he catches chills.

Deffinatley dont agree with over rugging at all. If theyre a native, why the need for a heavyweight and 2 mediums? Let them be natural!

[lil_legs]

Mine are out 24/7.

Jasper is currently still on box rest and his stable is surrounded by hay lol, so he is still nice and warm at night.

It has been getting cold at night here, when it drops below 8 degrees, i tend to get my lot in their lightweights. We haven't got great shelter so if it is a little bit windy they are better off with the rugs on.

Jasper is a massive wuss when it gets cold, he wouldn't be able to live out unless he had 3 rugs on in the middle of winter. He much prefers to be out, he hates being in, so you can imagine how he is reacting to being on box rest lol!! So as far as i am concerned if 3 rugs is what he needs to be happy then thats what he will have. I have been told i mamby pamby him and that he'll get used to it, but he never does, if i go round and check him at night and i haven't put all of his rugs on he will be stood at gate shivering.

As for Alfie, most people might think it is strange rugging him as he is so young, but last year with his awfully long winter coat, the hair tickled him, and he hated his belly being brushed as a result of it. I have now got him to realise it doesn't tickle anymore and this year i am going to try not to let him get so hairy!!

[WeeB]

B is rugged all year round. In summer he wears a lightweight at night (he's in during the day with nothing on unless its chilly then he gets a wee fleece)or his med/light rug if its raining and cold and in the autumn and winter he's in a variety of rugs during the day and night depending on the weather. He was out yesterday naked and by the looks of the weather today he'll be naked again.(he's in at night - he just came in last week due to not being well, so i'm keeping him in now till spring/summer next year)

[CDR]

Right I've got local weather on my google home page so will check that daily. Seems to be OK until Wednesday night when it drops to 8 degrees.

[lilholley]

wow it seems so early to be rugging?! I tend to let them grow a good coat first, I feel if you start rugging now you don't leave them to grow any natural protection.. Last year I didn't rug my old lady til at least mid october..
Bella my New Forest I don't rug at all, last winter she was out in all weathers, including the week of heavy snow we had in Bristol and was still plenty plump enough. Her coat was in such lovely condition too, I hate how scurfy their coats get under rugs!
So basically - I'm not :)

[My Crazy Clan]

Its far to hot to rug, I would rather under-rug then over rug, I am a fussy cow lol Mine were in ruged end of july augest last year! but they get too hot.

I do actually find many people rug early because they think their horse will have no coat by doing this but they are wrong, horses coats change to the response to the amount of daylight. (thats what i was trying to say)

[Twizzel]

The thing is, every horse is individual just like every person. I am a cold person- this summer I've been wearing jeans and jumpers most days, whereas my dad wears shorts whenever the sun is out regardless of temperature.

I went up to the yard yesterday for the first time in a couple of days, cob is losing weight- now he's well built and not a wuss, growing his winter coat rediculously fast but despite that has dropped weight over the past week since he wrecked his only lightweight turnout rug and has been out 24/7... just because it may not be 'right' for us to rug him because he's a big cob etc etc, doesn't mean we will just ignore the fact that he is probably chilly.

Go by how your horse reacts to the weather- if you see him dropping weight either rug, bring in at night or up the feed... don't just go by what everyone else is doing ;)

[bimba]

Mine won't be clipped as Mac doesn't do enough work when I'm away to need it and TJ's only a baby, they won't be rugged until the weather gets either really cold or really wet.

[black crow]

Very well said Susan!

No point slating others who rug early, they can get cold quicker then others, plus horses used to stabling will fare differently to horses who have nearly always lived out. Plus rugging up all year is actually done to stop the coat growing thick for competition horses

[Twizzel]

I do actually find many people rug early because they think their horse will have no coat by doing this but they are wrong, horses coats change with the season times.

Rhea horses' coats change according to how hot/cold they are- hence why they start to get winter coats in autumn when the temperature drops. If you keep them well rugged during this temp change, it will prolong the start of the winter coat growing as the rug is giving the extra warmth that the winter coat would.

[My Crazy Clan]

Erm, was that aimed at me BC? because I wasn't slating anyone!

[My Crazy Clan]

every horse is individual

Totally agree, magic and merlin have lost weight already! and they are cob types, who said cobs don't lose weight quickly! :lol:

[My Crazy Clan]

Rhea horses' coats change according to how hot/cold they are- hence why they start to get winter coats in autumn when the temperature drops..

What makes a horse or pony lose it's winter coat isn't the temperature rising, What makes them start to lose their coats is increasing daylight hours.

[flipper]

It's quite cold at night, so 2 of mine are in polar fleece rugs at night,(they're stabled at night!). My other pony is growing his coat and doesn't need rugging yet.

[Smurf]

Vinnie and Hugo are unclipped and only lightweight rugs on if its raining

[XenaWarriorPrincess]

Mine are coming in over night. If it is raining when they are out they have lightweights on, if its cold at night anni has her fleece on!
I clipped Xen beginning of sept last year!! She grew her coat so quickly!! Xanth is getting fluffy at the moment now too!!

[Twizzel]

What makes a horse or pony lose it's winter coat isn't the temperature rising, What makes them start to lose their coats is increasing daylight hours.

Yes you're right- increase in daylight hours in spring = more daytime = higher temperatures.

Decrease in daylight hours in autumn = less light = lower temperatures.

[lil_legs]

I think you have to take each horse as they come, some do well unrugged some don't. I don't like mine unrugged in winter, but i won't over rug, if all they need is a rainsheet then that's all they'll have, which is what Alfie and Hannah are wearing at the minute, just keeps the chill off them without allowing them to get too warm as we don't have much in the way of shelter, and then they aren't wearing them all the time only on nights when it is chilly, i go and check the temperature last thing and see whether they need them then.

When they haven't had them on when it is cold, the next morning their coats were all up and fluffy. Plus by putting the lightweights on at night, they aren't growing a huge winter coat and sweating during the day at the moment when it is still getting above 20 degrees.

[beenie]

i wont be rugging Jake just yet, he is already a little fuzzy, il give it another month before i put his lightweight one on at night unless we are threatened with a frost!!

[Gillian]

Nycha's out all the time and unrugged at the moment. However a couple of weeks ago there was a spell of cooler weather with a lot of rain. Couple of horrendous days. All the horses at the yard had their rugs on for a week or so. At the beginning of it Nycha was out unrugged and I went to see her and she was cold and shivering and not a happy horse, dragged me in to the stables.

Its the time of year, especially up here, where there can be some nice pleasant weather, like just now, but there can also be some ****** cold, miserable days.

I don't think there is really a right and wrong here. If your horse is cold and unhappy then rug, if not don't. Simples.

[Gillian]

I can't believe what I typed there is considered a swear word lol!!

[Loui]

I have rugged Dyl for the first time tonight, purely for the fact that he is very under weight having been ill over the summer, the grass is poor, he is 27!

He is only in a light weight at night as the temps are dipping to 10 degrees at night. He will have it off in the morning.

I always know when it is time when I let hi out of the field for a wander around the yard to munch the nice grass and he come into the stable block and refuses to budge!!!

[gem]

I've advised Saffy's loaner to only stick a lightweight turnout on if the weather's changable like it has been recently. Otherwise, she's ok to be out or in with no rug on until about November when I just started putting a fleece on her. Last year in Jan/Feb when it was snowing she had a light/med weight stable rug and a fleece on then either a lightweight or mediumweight turnout when she went to play out.

[gem]

Oh and forgot to say I didn't clip her last year because I wasn't working her hard enough so she didn't used to sweat that much. She'd have probably been fine just in a fleece but I was being overprotective for her first winter with me :)

[amandaxx1]

No chance! Im holding off as long as I can get away with it!

[Loui]

What makes a horse or pony lose it's winter coat isn't the temperature rising, What makes them start to lose their coats is increasing daylight hours.

I don't get this.... excuse me if I am wrong..... but say you were to keep a horse un-rugged in regulated hours artificial sun light are we saying that that horse would not get a winter coat as the hours of daylight don't change even though the temperatures are dropping???

they would develop a winter coat as their bodies are telling them it is cold even though sunlight hours haven't changed (again apologies if I am wrong)....

What about in Iceland..... where temperatures are never as high as UK etc.... yet in the summer have very long daylight hours.... do the ponies there have a summer coat in the summer even though temperatures might only reach 10 degrees?

As a Biologist we refer to homeostasis a lot, where by the body changes and compensates it's internal conditions to adapt to the outside environment..... like humans when it is cold get goosebumps (where the hair is actually standing up to trap as much heat between hairs).... a similar mechanism must work in horses when the temperatures drop.....maybe triggering a growth of winter coat.....

just speculating ....... :cheekywink:

[My Crazy Clan]

Loui - That gave me a headache :lol: god knows! Just going by a documentary I watched.

[Loui]

:lol: sorry it is has been a long week.... I think I just went into overdrive!!

[Puss in boots]

Seren is not rugged yet, she is not clipped either.
It has been dry and i do not understand why some of the horses i have seen have been rugged in honesty, there has been no rain and they are not clipped, baffling!
Some may have needed it on the odd days but we have had lovely dry weather for horses.
Seren feels the cold more with age, so we will need to rug when the rain comes, but its dry and she is a warm horse

[Loociiee]

I'm rugging Capper up at night and putting the fly rug on in the morning although sometimes he has the rug on all day! So yeah I'm rugging now he can't get a winter coat yet I'm taking him dressage in the winter he needs to be fuzz free lol
x x x

[My Crazy Clan]

sisco is now rugged.

[Sasca]

Im mean and hold out as long as i can. As most of mine have to brave winter in what they've got, i dare not put ruggs on when they are slightly cold as i want them to develop mammoth winter coats. When we do get that horrendous weather, i know that by putting a light rug on top of their massive coats, they'll be all snug.

However, we tried it with Sully and ive never know a horse not get a winter coat! he simply doesn't get one! we left him unrugged and cold and he didn't get anything that would have been noticeable if you clipped! so now we just rug as its hard enough to keep weight on as it is!

Nothing is rugged yet though but we have some very impressive winter coats coming through!