To rug or not this week?

[Pleasedontdothat]

Just pondering.. chunky ISH has been turned away for a year so has been unclipped and unrugged this winter. He’s been shedding like crazy for the last two weeks - his winter floof isn’t completely gone but there’s a lot less of it than there was!

The forecast for tomorrow night is -4 and heavy snow (he’s on a hill so it’s always a bit colder there). He’s only just started dropping off in the last month and to be honest could still do with losing a bit more before the grass starts growing (he’s an unbelievably good doer). So my dilemma is do I look at the forecast and think ‘great - a last chance to shiver off some flub’ or do I put a rug on for the next couple of days?

I have TBs… so I’ll be getting the HWs out this week.
But if he’s unclipped and a bit tubby it might not do him any harm to have a few days to shiver it off a bit!
Although I am a softy at heart so maybe a very light LW to take the edge off overnight? Where I am is very exposed so the windchill really can be something else

Can you give more hay/hard feed so he can generate some extra heat for a couple of days?

Does he have access to a shelter? I have a 27 year old TB living out naked and unclipped and although he's starting to shed a bit he'd get unbearably itchy with a rug on so if the weather looks like being crap i just make sure he can get into his shelter and give him ad-lib hay. They are designed to cope with bad weather but I know it can be hard to reconcile to this when it's a howling storm outside or absolutely freezing!

I am always reassured if they have frost on top of their coats - it means the body heat hasn't escaped the grease and grime on their coats and melted the frost. If his armpit is warm - he's fine!

I’ve got mine naked during day of nice and rug on overnight. Still dropping to a low temp overnight here. Most of winter coat gone and a rug overnight helps get rid of rest as if she’s cold she holds on to it.

If he's been out all winter without a rug I'd stick with that and leave him naked as long as he has access to some sort of shelter from the weather.

He’s fine now but I’ve asked the yard owner to chuck his LW on tomorrow night if the forecast is still grim.

On the plus side, he’s lost a bit more weight -yay!

I would have done exactly what you have done!

The only problem with chucking a lightweight rug on is your are stopping the horse being able to fluff his coat up to keep himself warm and only replacing that ability with a lightweight rug. I doubled up on nuts this week rather than sticking rugs back on.

He survived the cold snap naked

He had some extra hay, refused to go anywhere near the shelter, is still shedding like crazy and according to the weight tape is still dropping off, so all good 😊

(I know the weight tape isn’t accurate but it gives me a good idea as to whether his weight is going up or down)