Couple if Qs about rugs

Lottie86

Lottie86

Active Member
Aug 6, 2012
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North Aberdeenshire
I'm not very 'up' on rugging due to having natives so had a few questions about rugging horses that aren't ridiculously good doers!

Do rugs with necks add a lot more warmth than standard necks? I don't remember ever seeing rugs with necks when I was younger but these days most horses I see have full neck rugs so just wondered what the advantages of them were.

Do you use a lower weight combo rug than you would if you were using a standard neck rug due to the fact more of them is covered up?

How do you work out what weight of rug to use in what temperatures? Do people have millions of rugs to cover every eventuality?

Do people change rugs twice a day to put a warmer one on in the evening due to night temps being lower?
 
I do think combos add some warmth but the main reason I like them is if it rains hard on a standard neck I find it goes right in down the chest and shoulders and I think combos put less pressure in one spot on the withers.
Sometimes if its a chilly night with a warmer day following with no rain forcast I'll put a standard neck on, most of my lightweights are standard neck.
I have no fills (lightweight) and ones around 200g which I consider meduim weight, and a couple of other indoor type rugs I can layer up if I need to, I have a couple of each top layer so I can change out if they are totally soaked. Recently ive noticed companies advertising 350g as medium (I think this is heavy) and 450-500g as heavy (I would call this extra heavy) but each to their own. I find many horses need different weights at a certain temp so its a bit of trial and error, I like them to be warmish under but not hot.
If temps change a lot for a few days I'll switch to a lighter rug, I dont mind them being a little cooler at night but dont like them getting too warm in the day, I try to avoid doing twice daily changes, but find its sometimes nec in spring, though might be more inclined to if they came in at night.
 
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Everyone on my yard has about 9000 rugs each. I have quite a few! Some left over from my old horse who was fully clipped and not very well and needed rugging up. I haven't actually used any of those yet this year - my girl doesn't like being too hot. She goes out in a mediumweight combo (purely as a measure to keep her clean as she loves to roll in mud) and so far this winter she has been in at night in a mediumweight stable rug with no neck. If it's really cold (into minus temps at night), I put her summer sheet underneath, and she wears Thermatex boots at night to try and keep her legs warm and stimulate hoof growth so I think that's enough really. I am sure some people on my yard think I under-rug but Roxy makes her feelings plain about being too hot by rolling the instant I remove the rug. I imagine she was probably fully clipped in her last home, and she's just got a trace clip now, so that might be why she doesn't like being over-rugged.
 
I have lots or rugs. For instance, the temp this morning was 8 degrees. I turned Tobes out in a no fill rug with a 100g liner as I knew it was going to get colder.

If he was going to be out overnight with the northerly winds, I might have put a heavier rug on, but I think out moving about or in standing around equates to the same.

You get to know your horse I think. My previous horse, an ex racer, used to shiver in the rain in the summer and often had to be brought in and have a full necked medium weight on to warm up. He was a ginger though - very thin coated!
 
I thought I had an excessive amount of rugs with 2 rainsheets, 1 100g, 3 medium weights and 3 heavyweights, but my little rug wrecker is setting out to prove me wrong! All three m/w are in for repair, so he's in a h/w whether he likes it it not!

I think the combos do provide a little extra warmth, but I don't think a m/w combo is comparable to a h/w standard. I have a neck on K because he likes to play (a lot) so the neck proves a little extra protection for him (though he's still covered in bite marks).

What rug to put on depends on the horse, Kev is quite a hot horse, so even though he is fully clipped he only gets a h/w on when the temps really drop (think snow or horrendous wind and rain)

I under-rugged a lot more last year, but he's slightly arthritic, so I decided I would rather him and his joints be slightly warmer. Although, I would rather him be a bit cold at night than sweating during the day.
 
I only have 2 outdoor rugs - one is a rainsheet with a neck, and the other is a rainsheet without a neck. I prefer Ben to wear the neck rug when it's raining, just because this keeps him drier. On clear days he will wear the rainsheet without the neck, but I do find that this doesn't fit him so well. When he comes in during the day for a few hours he is naked. I did put a stable rug on him for a few weeks when he was freshly clipped but he just got too warm in it.

People on my yard tend to have about 30 rugs each for their horses. Some wear 3 turnout rugs for daytime turnout.
 
I finally gave in today and popped ale into his MW combo today, icy winds and heavy rain/sleet forecast later. I rug less at night as he's sheltered in his stable and gets too warm otherwise.
 
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Just to add, I rug slightly heavier if Jess has worked particually hard, I know when my muscles ache being chilly is very unpleasnt so go with it being the same for them. Jess isn't furry but she normally winters in her 200g combo, only when it dropped to minus 16 a couple of years ago did I put an under rug on with it.
 
Having Natives only - we still have rugs - Acorn has 2 x no fill, Charlie the same, Nuts has a 200g and a 300g and Tess has 2 rugs, 1 a lightweight which I can't find and a 200g which is very old and a left over from her showing days when she had a part clip.

this year the only rugs that have seen daylight are Nuts (20) and this is only because of her arthritis and her being out 24/7 - they are doing the trick so far, we were worried about her coping with winter.
All four have full coats, 2 are in on a night and this is the first year no rugs for both of them (both ex lammi) so far , but they have shelter so they tend to stand in that if bad, they are a couple of wuss's when it comes to bad weather.

Tess (24) on the other hand we found faired better without a rug by regulating herself, shes out 24/7 and a bit of a mammoth, we found when we rugged her ontop of a full coat she lost more weight and did better for removing it and upping her feed and adding oil, since then we have left it off, hence why I can no longer find it.

tbh the boys are more likely to see a rug in spring and over the show season for turnout in an attempt to keep clean.

If we had an injury or any issue that meant they needed a rug then we would put one on if we thought it would help.

We did try the Combo on Tess, it was a disaster , it rubbed her very long mane and we found we needed a size bigger as she filled it up too much - we got separate Neck Rug and that worked better.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I only have 2 outdoor rugs - one is a rainsheet with a neck, and the other is a rainsheet without a neck. I prefer Ben to wear the neck rug when it's raining, just because this keeps him drier. On clear days he will wear the rainsheet without the neck, but I do find that this doesn't fit him so well. When he comes in during the day for a few hours he is naked. I did put a stable rug on him for a few weeks when he was freshly clipped but he just got too warm in it.

People on my yard tend to have about 30 rugs each for their horses. Some wear 3 turnout rugs for daytime turnout.
Click to expand...
Someone does this on my yard! Her horse is unclipped and in a heavyweight turnout with two sheets underneath. When it rains, the sheets get wet and cling to the horse's legs and bum. Still, the horse seems happy enough! She thinks I under-rug but we have agreed to disagree on the rugging issue!
 
I have always under rugged but Chanter is 21 this year, arthritic and not holding his weight as much as I would like so he is treated like china at the moment but that said he is out in a 200g under rug and a 200g out door with a neck, at night the out door is removed and a 200g quilted one is added leaving the under one which is still nice and warn on he, plus his stable wraps. I check every night and morning and adjust as needed for him.

Ginger pony is quite a warm boy so very careful I don't let him sweat up
 
I am not anti-rugging by any means but over-rugging is a massive pet hate of mine. My advice is to start with the least amount of warmth/protection your pony needs and only add more when, or IF, you discover they need it. Personally I say to pay little attention to what other people are using, as every horse is different - don't feel you "should" be putting yours in X,Y,Z just because everyone else is!
 
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I find this interesting since I don't rug my horse just now but may have to when he gets older.
My mate has her arab out all year round - 24/7/365. He wears a rug the majority of the time, he's only naked for maybe a couple of weeks in the year - middle of July. Friend keeps it simple. She has a lw, mw and hw rug. The mw and hw have removable hoods which are only used when its wet weather. He's been a bit of a mess if he gets cold and wet with water down on his chest. During the winter, she'll slide her hands under and lift it up like a tent to have a look, but the rug stays on pretty much permanently during that time, no changes.

I can always tell what the weather is going to do, based on the arab either having a hood on or off, the weight of rug he's wearing, or the frantic text I get asking me to dehood or hood up.
 
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