How cold is too cold?

[notasausage]

For an unclipped native to have no rug? It’s -9 here at the moment, they are in the stable but 1/2 doors open to the outside so not any warmer really. We have snow and it’s barely been above freezing for several days - they’ve seemed fine in the field during the day but with plenty of hay. Help me decide whether to give in and stick a rug on or tell me not to be so soft!

I use this as a guide.

Deep straw beds, ad lib hay and no draught? Stick your hand under the armpit and that should tell you.

My unclipped native lived out (totally unrugged) for the first 5 years of his life. He had partial access to a covered shelter, but it allowed in a lot of draught/rain. He had plenty of hay, grew a coat like a woolly mammoth and only needed one feed a day towards the end of winter when it was obvious he was dropping a little bit of weight.

If he's stabled, with a straw bed and lots of hay and looks generally happy I'd leave him unrugged personally.

I'd be guided by them, rather than by what people think you should or shouldn't be doing with them. Condition score them and if they start dropping weight (more than they might need to!), think about rugging. I think if they can get some shelter and if they can keep eating hay, there's a good chance they'll be quite happy without rugs. In fact a rug might make things worse as it will make it more difficult for them to cope with changes in the temperature during the day.

I follow Meadow Family Rescue on Facebook. Their take on rugging is "Horses may need different care in the same environment. In very wet/cold weather Bartley and S wear a rug as they are both older and not native hardy breeds. Whereas Tulla and her boys have never needed to wear a rug as they need the wet/cold weather so that they lose weight over winter as they naturally would. When managing horses with different needs it is about levelling out the playing field so that they all keep at a healthy weight."

My 3 natives live out, unrugged, with access to a big winter straw bed in their big field shelter...but they very rarely use it in winter! I'd never stable a native, they need to keep moving with ad lib hay , well all horses do really, but natives are perfectly suited to our weather. I lived in Sweden and if our natives ( Dales, Welshes, Shetlands and Gypsy Cobs) can live out unrugged in their winters and thrive, which they do...then we have nothing to worry about. I'm a vet nurse and all the horses with problems are rugged up to the nines , stabled, shod and basically killed with ' kindness'. It's well known in our practice that the ones we only see once a year for boosters are the ones living the most natural lives. Horses are so much more hardy than a lot of humans think...they need freedom, forage and friends to be happy and healthy, and not much more :)

We've got a lightweight rug on a older welshie that lives most of the time outside, although comes in for a morning snooze or if it's horrid out (stable opens onto paddock). I'm old fashioned though, and think that the trend for Shetland rugs etc is ridiculous and that all horses benefit from being outside as much as possible.

Unclipped native ponies do not need rugs. In my youth it would have been unheard of, and it is only the invention of lightweight waterproof and washable materials in the past 30 years or so (and marketing by numerous rug companies) that had made rugging become commonplace and seen as a necessity. Hardy, healthy well fed ponies will not get cold, in fact, putting a rug on will flatten the coat, possibly making the pony cooler as the coat is not being allowed to operate as it should.

We have a connie x.
He lives out 24/7 all year round, in a herd.
No shelter apart from tall hedges and a few trees.
This is the first winter we have not clipped and subsequently rugged him.
He has grown a coat like a woolly mammoth and is thriving. Much happier than when he wore a rug last winter. (hard to quantify that statement, he just seems chirpier and he is a pony that lets you know his moods rather freely)
He is also barefoot.
I am a firm, firm believer in keeping him as naturally as possible (although I do get some comments from fellow liveries, to the extent of "is he coming in tonight, no?, oh dear!" which make me feel awkward...

Some unclipped natives need rugs some don't. Depends on the horse.

I've got quite a few natives, and not one of them is rugged. I find that as long as the weather is just cold, they're fine. Equally, just windy. Or just wet. It's when you get a combination of those they start to struggle.

Most of ours cope fine with just having some hay put under the trees in their field, and don't need further rugging.

I have a couple who I'd class as a bit vulnerable due to age, and on horrendous nights, I just pop them in stables so they can eat their heads off dry, rather than having to use calories to keep warm & dry.

I only rug for my convenience - not for theirs. I have a youngster who will enter work this spring, and he'll be clipped & rugged so that I don't have to spend hours chipping mud off him, as he's a mud monster. Nothing to do with keeping him warm & dry.

2 natives here. 1 is rugged to keep him cleaner for work. He is a secrion a. Only put it on monday as he will start work this week after a couple of months off.

Highland mare is unrugged atm and also due to come back into work. But she doesn't tend to wallow in as much mud so will see how we go.

My mates has 2 welsh cobs. Both in rugs as their coats aren't as thick as my 2s coats. Mine both look like yetis compared to hers.

If I rugged the highland without clipping her she would probably sweat on milder days.

Ive got an elderly welsh ( she’s 36 ) and she cannot abide having a rug on , unless it’s properly in minus figures , and even then she can’t wait to get it off, before having a proper roll to feel better . Likewise with my other thug . He’s actually a warmblood , but has had a rug on a handful of times this year , and really just prefers being a woolly mammoth instead . And he’s warm as toast .