Horses too hot under their rugs

[jill]

There is a huge difference between being less than natural (natural is over rated IMO, with natural you don't get vets to treat painful conditions for example, or abundant food in winter) and anthropomorphising.
We all need to beware of treating our horses as though they were big furry humans, who need clothes to keep warm in winter. Who for example bought their horse a Christmas present or gave them a "Christmas dinner"?

[Louise C]

Jill does it count that all my presents were horsey related?! Bar one - which was wedding related! But no Flynn didn't get so much as a carrot - he's on a strict diet for his own health:-)

Totally agree that you need to do what the horse needs - having had Flynn for nearly 11 yrs now his needs have changed over that time just like any other horse:-)

[Vera]

As it was me who wrote that thread I take great exception to your sarcastic comments. It is very clear that you do not understand the context of the post.

IF you had read it properly I was passing on MY EXPERIENCE of MY HORSE being very itchy when over rugged.

At NO POINT was I being judgemental about the amount of rugs OTHER people use. I was saying that if you have an itchy horse and can't explain the cause then MAYBE it is because the horse is too warm.

Who do you think you are to copy MY POST, posted on another forum and posted with every good intension and post it here to try to belittle it.

Thank you to those that thought my post was good.

[jill]

**scratches head in a bewildered fashion**

[mandal]

Oh heck Vera. I don't think any of us were trying to belittle your experience and certainly not anastasia55555. If you reread her post you will see she has decided to buy her old horse (Toffee) a different type of rug because of reading that thread.

[mandal]

The judgemental bit is aimed at some of us who don't rug or only rug lightly I think. That's how I took the judgemental comments anyway.

[anastasia55555]

Vera i postes your thread because it gave me the slap in the face i needed to realise i was rugging too much! it hadnt even crossed my mind thats why Toffee was too itchy till someone else mentioned it and i did a search on google and your thread came up saying you had, had the same problem :-D

i dont care if people rug or dont rug as long as the horse is happy. Our other 3 dont need them but toffee does to help her keep dry and weight on, but obviously not quite to the extent i thought she did.

Dont be offended vera i wasnt taking the pee out of ur thread, i actually found it very helpful!

[anastasia55555]

The slap me bit wasnt being sarcastic to anyone, i really did need one!! she is a horse, a hardy old mare at that, shes 35 and still giving the others a run for their money, not the fragile old thing i had got stupidly pictured in my head!

[cbc]

Chill chaps ...actually I think ths thread (havent had time to read all of the linked thread though it looked interesting) raises some interesting points, thought the old adage of doing what suits your individual horse/pony still rings true. For example:
I have one older section A pony who is prone to laminitis but doesnt carry a lot of weight; I never know whether I am doing him favours or not faffing about rugging him. Because I have to be careful what I feed him and because he has little in the way of fat reserves, I tend to rug him because I feel it helps him retain weight whereas his two section a and section c foal colleagues have wintered happily unrugged. Rugging does of course alter how his coat functions naturally, but is it worth risking him losing weight? So I can trundle this one roud and round in my little brain ad infinitum.
So many factors come into play, decisions have to be made on individual circumstances. It is very useful to hear other peoples' experiences though

[june]

Rugging is one of those interesting and difficult subjects. My two "youngsters" who are 5 now have never been rugged. They were both born in September to mares who'd come in from Argentina that summer. The mares had their coats the wrong way round for the seasons so had summer coats for their first winter so had to be rugged despite having foals at foot. Fortunately that winter was a mild one and the foals were fine rugless. They grew proper winter coats even though their mothers didn't. They've never been rugged since and never struggle despite having TB in them. They will be backed this winter and so next winter are likely to be in work. I wonder if that will make a difference to what I do with them and rugs. It seems unfair to turn out a horse without a rug if it is sweaty!