RECENT changeable weather is proving more than confusing for horse owners when it comes to deciding what rug to put on your horse. To try to make life slightly easier we picked the best two guides for choosing turnout rugs.
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN RUGGING YOUR HORSE
Is your horse clipped or not? This is one of the most important factors, if your horse is clipped what type of clip do they have? The more hair on your horse the lighter the rug they are going to need.
How long are they in the field for? Rug choices will differ between horses that are living out all of the time and those who are stabled for the majority of the day.
The time of year and the weather? Irish weather seems to be getting more extreme and if last year’s snow is anything to go by we might have to get used to putting heavier rugs on our horses.
This is also a factor worth considering when you’re are buying a new rug, try to buy one which has attachable liners and hoods, which means you can make the rug heavier and lighter as needs be without having the expense of buying two or three rugs.
SHIRES TURNOUT GUIDE
Shires Equestrian have created a simple temperature overview that provides a great starting point for choosing a turnout rug for your horse, as part of their wider guide to turnout rugs (see picture). The full guide can be found on their website.
The guide is well worth printing from the guide and keeping in your tack room.
It’s easy to end up buying a different rug for everyday of the week. Shires Equestrian have a wide offering of rugs to suit any need, ranging from lightweight to heavy weight.
The Highlander Original Lite is ideal for warmer rainy days, it keeps horses dry without restricting movement. This is also a suitable rug for unclipped, tougher horses in colder weather.
The Tempest Original 200 Combo is an ideal middle weight rug, it has an integrated neck piece and blanket chest fastenings for comfort.
For the depths of winter Shires recommend the StormCheeta 300 Combo. This weatherproof rug also has an integrated neck piece and a large pleated tail flap.
Each rug havs adjustable straps so you get just the best possible fit for your horse.
The WarmaRug System allows an additional 100g or 200g liner to be added to all Shires indoor and turnout rugs. This is a simple way of getting some extra warm without the expense of an extra rug.
HORSEWARE TURNOUT APP
The Horseware Turnout App is possibly the most futuristic rugging innovation – it takes the stress of choosing which rug to put on your horse away from you and choose for you. The app is free and is available on the App Store and on Google Play.
The app works by recommending which Horseware turnout rug will best suit the conditions and your horse. In the app you add custom information about each horse, including their age, coat, condition and size.
You then choose when you want the recommendation to be for. The app gathers weather forecasts three days in advance. After you have chosen what horse you are turning out and when it will then tell you which rug is best.
The app also offers a great feature when it comes to buying a new rug.
If you upload a picture of your horse it allows you to try on turnout rugs virtually before you buy them, and if you like the rug you can save it to the ‘My Rugs’ section.