Rugging for winter – is it so necessary?


A


s winter approaches horse owners in UK will be digging out rugs ready to keep their charges warm as temperatures drop. At the same time, those changes in day length will


have triggered the horse’s body to start growing a longer, thicker coat with more oil to help keep it warm and dry in cold and wet weather. Horses have a remarkably wide thermoneutral zone, which is the breadth of temperatures in which they will feel comfortable. While their core temperature is 38°C, it’s only when air temperatures exceed 25°C or drop below 0°C that they will experience physical discomfort.


Horses can tolerate a wider range of temperature than humans can thanks to thermoregulation, which is the physical and anatomical processes that help them maintain their body temperature. These include the lifting of their coat using pile erector muscles to trap warm air next to the skin and the generation of heat from digesting feed, in particularly the long stems in forage. Given that horses have evolved to trickle feed for 17 hours a day, the heat from forage is incredibly important to keep them warm in winter.


If a horse does get cold, their body will divert blood low to their internal organs, meaning extremities such as their ears might feel cold to touch. That’s normal for a horse in winter and doesn’t mean that they need to wear extra rugs. If you want to ind out how warm a horse is, place a hand in their ‘armpit’ or behind their withers. It should go without saying that if they are sweaty, they need fewer rugs!


If horses have evolved to stay comfortable in everything bar extreme weather conditions, why do we rug horses as soon as there’s a nip in the air when they are turned out in the morning? We anthropomorphise horses and love seeing them wrapped in rugs when we’re feeling cold, but over‐rugging has a negative impact on them. Rugging too early will inhibit the growth of a


protective winter coat and may stop the pile erector muscles from functioning properly. Excess energy from food that doesn’t get used for heating or for movement will be laid down as fat. Horses have evolved to lose condition during winter so that they are less susceptible to conditions caused by getting fat on the richer grass in spring, therefore heading out of winter over‐ weight isn’t ideal.


If you can, minimise the rugs you use this winter and feed ad lib forage instead. It’s a great way to combat vices, stave off stomach ulcers and keep horses warm naturally. There’s just one thing to note if you do feed more forage this winter. Even good quality hay can contain dust, bacteria and spores which trigger respiratory disease in horses, so it’s important to manage exposure to them. Recent research found 88% of the horses examined were suffering from inlammatory airway disease (IAD), even though many showed no outward sign. Steaming hay with a Haygain Steamer reduces the risk of a horse developing an IAD by 66% and has the added beneit of making hay far more palatable for horses.


Take a closer look at the Haygain Steamer and the huge range of beneits for horses of steaming hay here: https://haygain.co.uk/pages/beneits‑of‑hay‑steaming‑1


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80