Summer rugs

[MrsCaecilius]

Long time horsey person here, but haven't owned my own since the '90s.

These days virtually every horse near me is fully rugged up at the moment, in 30+ degrees. Many including head/neck.

Back in my day the only horses rugged in high summer were those with sweet itch/fly allergies. Has this advice changed? Is this some sort of modern trend that's passed me by? Do you all rug your horses throughout the summer?

Just curious really!

My TB had a fly rug as the horseflies drove him mad, but new horse seems to have a thick skin and isn't bothered so I don't put anything on him. I put a rain sheet on if I'm doing something early and need him clean overnight (or the fly rug if it's too hot as that keeps the worst off) otherwise I avoid them. He wears enough in the winter, doesn't have allergies and is waterproof after all!

Likewise, I try to keep rugs to a minimum as horses have evolved a pretty good system of keeping themselves at the right temperature. Mine isn't bothered by flies all that much so I prefer to leave him without a fly rug - which I think is perhaps what you've seen horses in? He wears a rain sheet if it's windy and persistently raining as I think the two combined are likely to make him cold. Otherwise I think it must be nicer for them to be able to regulate their own temperature. Also, frankly, he needs to burn off that nice, rich grass doing something and it might as well be fuel to keep him warm at night.

Are you sure it's not a fly rug? They come in all sorts of colours now, not just the white that they used to! (One of my horses has a blue one and also a browny coloured one)

Fly rugs or sweet itch rugs?

Surely it's fly rugs? Mine hasn't seen a rug at all this year bar one day when the flies were annoying him.