horse inside rug question

[sarahec]

When you feel inside your horses rug, and horse is inside the rug, should the horse feel warm?

I have heard that the horse should not feel warm at all, so feeling a little confused.

It is -960(!) here in norfolk, well nearly, and i would feel mean having a horse that didnt feel a little warm in his rug... : (

Thanks

[anastasia55555]

i would have thought they should, surely if they dont then they are cold on the outside? Does the rug have fill? Have to say i am coming to the opinion along with lots of others, thin LW rugs really arent very useful when its cold, just flatten the hair, instead of letting it trap air and keep warm. If a rug is needed, something with fill is better. Toffee feels warm in her HW rug, and the others feel warm when you press down onto fur to touch the skin, they are all out naked.

[anastasia55555]

P.S. i would expect in cold weather, like us, that warmth is kept internally, to reduce loosing it on periperal surfaces, but with a rug i would expect them to be warm, as its not the outside surface, if out naked would expect them to be cooler on the outside, but armpits, behind ears, nice a warm

[sara]

I always want Lloyd to feel warm inside his rug, but not too hot

[KoLaTo]

I'd be a little concerned if mine weren't warm under their rugs to be honest, not hot but if they weren't warm then how would i defrost my hands in the morning! - LOL

[jennyb]

I like mine to feel cool to the touch under his rug. Horses have no way of cooling themselves down when they are rugged, but they can warm themselves up by playing and running around. I like the base of the ears (next to the skull), the armpits and between the back legs to feel nice and toasty, as they are good indicators of core temperature, but I don't like the horse to feel hot under it's rug.

IMHO many people over rug anyway, we forget that horses have furry coats and don't feel the cold like we do! My horse lives out and has coped perfectly well in this snow (we had over a foot) with just a 40g turnout rug on. I know there are exceptions with older or more frail horses, and mine is exceptionally hardy, but I do think lots over rug, sorry....

[emma]

I just put my hand up inbetween their back legs to check if they're warm enough

[Trouble]

I like Snip to feel toasty under his rug, but that's because he has medical problems that mean he needs t be kept over warm....but the others I'd hate to be too warm.....they can wrm themselves by eating fibre and moving around.

[mrsmills]

emma wrote "I just put my hand up inbetween their back legs to check if they're warm enough"

You can get yourself into a lot of trouble doing that! LOL

I also like to feel their "leg-pits" to check that they're warm, but prefer a cooler temperature under the rug in general. I'd get rather concerned if they were sweaty.

Oh, and WOW Trouble, those are some gorgeous horsey pics on your banner - I presume the absolutely stunning bay is Snip. Filmstar good looks there!

[Trouble]

Thanks!

They're horses past and present, only one who's not there is my first horse, Chippie.

The dark ridden bay is Dan, the head shot bay is Snip.

[alexaandtess]

I judge it by putting my hand inside my own coat. When I do that it's not toasty warm to the touch but I feel warm inside.

[Deleted]

I just think of a rug (and the horse's coat) the same as any insulation. The point of it is to keep the warmth in, so if the outside feels cold then it's not doing it's job

So if your horse feels warm under it's rug then his coat isn't doing it's job, probably because you've flattened it with a rug. If the outside of the rug feels warm, the rug isn't doing a good enough job.

My horse has been out in his coolheat rug up until a couple of days ago, that's just a lightweight with raised lumps to hold the rug off his coat so he can puff his coat up to keep warm. He was always warm enough but his coat was never warm to the touch. But he has been losing a little weight and I don't want him to lose any more, so now he's in a medium weight, and now his coat is being flattenend, he feels warm under it.

[emma]

lol I did think it sounded a bit rude when I read it back, I knew what I was trying to say. Some of you just have dirty minds

[Azrael]

I'd expect warm but not hot under the rug with warm 'armpits' and base of ears.

[limepickle]

I test mine at the base of their ears and compare it to the temperature under their rug over their kidney area, they are all used to me shoving my hand up the back of their rugs over their bum! I don't like them to be cold at all, I find that if they are, they stand around a lot more and get filled legs. I've never seen mine run around and play just to get warm, they're more likely to start sweating doing that, and then catch a chill.