Erm, oops

The yard I’m on now no one weight tapes or BCS, I think because I’m constantly aware of the Lami risk to Belle it’s second nature for me to do both regularly, same as checking her for raised pulses and heat in her feet, I think some people think I’m a little bit obsessed 🙄
Or it goes the other way, my friend keeps her new forest trim year round but at the moment she's on the skinny side as coming into spring and they can't strip graze so she likes her to be slim before the grass starts to grow. She's getting accused of neglect 🙄 she's fully clipped and there is maybe a slight hint of her ribs being visible that's all.
 
Really interestingly I did lots of body condition scoring yesterday and of course it's so much easier being someone who doesn't know the horse well and hasn't seen them properly since October last year. I didn't look at previous scores or anything before I went but just at seeing the horse I could instantly notice the change in them. When I said to the owners I think they have lost weight the majority said oh I wasn't sure. Honestly some of them had had a really significant change and it was really good to see, nearly all of the ones I've done so far have had a loss, there was one I scored in October as either a 7.5 or and 8 and yesterday I put them at a 5.5 so that was really nice to see. Surprisingly to me the only 2 that I noticed had put on weight, and I mean quite alot of weight were the two warmblood X tb. They are in hard work and owner said before winter they drop off as poor doers. She said this time they are looking very well! Anyway sorry I'm rambling but I don't know many people who BCS or weightape either so I don't think this winter weight loss has been on purpose
 
Or it goes the other way, my friend keeps her new forest trim year round but at the moment she's on the skinny side as coming into spring and they can't strip graze so she likes her to be slim before the grass starts to grow. She's getting accused of neglect 🙄 she's fully clipped and there is maybe a slight hint of her ribs being visible that's all.
And I bet all the people saying it are those with overweight horses :mad: Many moons ago I was reported to the RSPCA for neglecting my the young arab by not rugging him sufficently, when he was in an American barn with 12 other horses with the doors shut at 2c and I only put a fleece on him. The inspector came out, said mine looked perfect and went on to scold a woman for her poor pony that was wearing 2 duvets and a HW stable rug, sweating and breathing harder than it should have been stood still, karma worked, she was the one that reported me!
 
Or it goes the other way, my friend keeps her new forest trim year round but at the moment she's on the skinny side as coming into spring and they can't strip graze so she likes her to be slim before the grass starts to grow. She's getting accused of neglect 🙄 she's fully clipped and there is maybe a slight hint of her ribs being visible that's all.
I’ve been accused of neglect too Ale, I can’t count how many times over the years I’ve had to explain why I keep her the way I do and the basic science behind it.
 
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I was reading suggested rugging temperatures today and was surprised to see one rug company suggesting unclipped horses that are stabled should be rugged between 5-10 degrees. I was also talking to a friend yesterday who used to own horses in Germany before moving here, she told me how she had never even heard of clipping or rugs when she moved over here (a long time ago now though) but they were commonly used over here. But that's not to say either are wrong of course there is a use to clipping and rugging I just think it can be misunderstood and some rugging companies perhaps like that. Sorry I'm off on a tangent again I just find it all really interesting
 
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Ive had a neck peice on chunkys rug for the last 6 weeks. He has hardly any mane these days. Neck peice came off at the weekend. Will be way too hot this week if it stays on. The only downside is his neck was minging tonight.

Most people are surprised when i say our cattle are outside all over winter. They seem to think that all cattle are housed in sheds in winter. That was also the perception of the general public in a recent local fb thread i saw.

We dont rug the cows and they manage. Think id rug them if i was riding them everyday. 🤣 I did once rug a newly born calf that its mum rejected. I also have rugged some of my older poorly sheep from time to time so that they can continue to go out in the field for exercise and get strong.
 
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I was reading suggested rugging temperatures today and was surprised to see one rug company suggesting unclipped horses that are stabled should be rugged between 5-10 degrees. I was also talking to a friend yesterday who used to own horses in Germany before moving here, she told me how she had never even heard of clipping or rugs when she moved over here (a long time ago now though) but they were commonly used over here. But that's not to say either are wrong of course there is a use to clipping and rugging I just think it can be misunderstood and some rugging companies perhaps like that. Sorry I'm off on a tangent again I just find it all really interesting
I tend to rug a little more when they're in a stable, if it's an outdoor block type (not American barn type) as think they can't move about to warm up or get out of a draft. But one of the big companies had an add that really irked me this winter, something along the lines of show you horse you love them by rugging them, it shouldn't have annoyed me so much but it did 🤷‍♀️
 
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