Exam help - Rugs

[dappleton]

Hi,
As some of you may know I live in a rather hot country where we never rug horses. I have a BHS exam in 2weeks time in UK and I hear its still very, very cold....so please, please take 5min to tell me about your horses rugs - last time I had horses in the UK we had the old green NZs, string vest type sweat rugs and duvet style stable rugs - things seem a bit more advanced now):
What rugs are your horses wearing (turnout/stable/coolers/for travel..anything) if you can find a link with a picture it would be really helpful.
Thanks a million and when its boiling hot in the UK and you want to know about keeping horses cool i'll return the favour

[SandwichBag]

Best thing to do is look at one of the big online retailer websites like Derby House, Premier Equine or Robinsons for all the types of Rugs you can now buy. They come in every type of combination, weight, shape you can think of.

Modern Rugs are made of breatheable fabric so can be worn inside and out. Alot of people now only buy turnout rugs and use them both inside and out.

I'm a fan of using an outer rug with a liner and use Rambo rugs as they are very lightweight. That way when my boy comes in, the yard simply take off the outer layer (covered in mud) and replace with a stable rug, but he has the liner on so never has a cold rug on his back.

I have a Rambo Supreme (no fill) and then have 100g, 200g and 300g liners. I also have a Horseware Vari Layer heavyweight rug for when its very cold and he is fully clipped.

For the stable only I have cotton summer sheets (quite a few as in the summer they are constantly being washed). 2 thermatex rugs (for drying off, traveling and as comfy days rugs if he has to stay in), a 200g Amigo Insulator, 300g Amigo Insulator and 350g Rhino Heavyweight Rug.

I live in the SE so it never gets very cold, I used to have a 450g rug that I never used so sold it.

I have also had in the past (now sold as never used) a magnetic rug, a back on track therapy rug, snuggy hoods for turnout and the jams... IMO all a waste of money.

[SandwichBag]

oops forgot fly rugs and masks... truth be told although I have them I rarely used them and just smother him in fly repellent instead as they rub him

[Pixel]

Mine lives out all the time and he's got this one on at the moment.
We used to have the string vest type 'sweat rugs' as well but I haven't seen one for years so I'm not sure you can buy them anymore. We tend to use the 'waffle' rugs which are a soft cotton material (woven in a waffle texture) and wick away the moisture without the horse getting chilled.

[ADishBestEatenCold]

For varying degrees of cold weather we use three weights of stable, light, medium and heavy; which we achieve with layers or liners. We used medium and heavy last winter, but only light and medium this year as it's not been really cold.

Likewise, turnout rugs we use a light fill, medium fill (or either of these with various weights extra fill liner, to get heavy and +); depending on how cold. We do have no-fill rainsheets, but tend not to use these on there own a lot, as they seem to get quite 'sticky'.
In the continuous 'wet' we've been having of late, we do often put a rainsheet on top of a turnout as it seems to stop leaky patches.

We do use different rugs for stable and turnout, although I understand lots of people are opting to leave turnouts on in the stable.
Though that's not to my taste, it does dry the turnout rugs effectively, and some people find it works fine.

Amid all this rugging, we do have two horses at the moment that don't get rugged at all. Not in the stable or during turn-out, even in heavy rain. These two thrive better and have healthier skin and coats without rugging, and (it shows) we don't just automatically rug for the sake of it.

We also have coolers, sweatrugs, fleeces, vests, liners. etc and (imperative here in midgie country) every equine has a myriad of fly and bug rugs, necks, hoodies and face covers!
Turn out on a nice day with clegs and midgies swarming can be nothing short of sheer torture!!

[goodasitgets]

If you are rugging for BHS - tie the surcingles in a knot, fold the rug in half and place it further up than it sits. Do the chest straps up before pulling it back into place

[dappleton]

Thanks everyone, sorry for delayed reply, been trying to study and MN is a bit of a distraction so have tried not to log in for a while. Will have a good look on online retail sites at the rugs you're all using. Thanks x