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CHOOSING THE RIGHT TURNOUT RUG FOR YOUR HORSE??
These days there are a multitude of rugs available, which allows you to choose the ideal rug to meet the specific conditions that your horse expects to face.
Most people find that they need more than one turnout rug to allow for variations in climate. Ideally, most horses will need at least 3 turnout rugs, a lightweight, a middleweight and a heavyweight.
Lightweight rugs are usually 600d and come with no filling or up to 100g filling. They are usually lined in cotton or nylon. They are waterproof and breathable and offer adequate protection for horses during the spring and Autumn months, where protection from the rain and wind may be needed, but where temperatures are mild.
They would also be suitable for rugging hardier, hairy types all through the winter.
Middleweight rugs most commonly come in 600d, 800d or 1000d outer with anything from 200g to 280g of filling. Again, modern rugs are all waterproof and breathable and a middleweight would be perfectly adequate for most unclipped horses throughout the winter. Neck covers are either fixed or detachable, the advantage of a detachable neck is that it can be removed during the day if it is milder and reattached at night or when the weather is particularly wet. It is important to remember that your horse will be just as uncomfortable if it is too hot as it will be if it is too cold.
Heavyweight rugs come with anything from 600d right up to 1680d ballistic nylon outers. The filling is from 300g up to 450g. In England we rarely have the type of winters where such a warm rug would be required. Most horses would need no more than 1000d with 350g of filling to keep them toastie warm living out all the time. A neck cover is ideal in the worst of the winter weather, unless your horse is completely roughed off, with a nice long mane, in which case a neck cover would not usually be necessary as the mane is very warm and quite waterproof. A neck cover in these circumstances would probably be too warm and could cause rubbing.
A 450g rug would be perfectly warm enough even for a fully clipped horse.
As a very rough guide I would suggest the following: A lightweight rug for spring, summer and autumn and all year round for hardy types that may just want a little protection from the very wet weather. Temperatures from 11 degrees to 17 degrees. Above 17 degrees most horses do not need rugging.
A middleweight rug for clipped horses or temperatures below 11 degrees to about 3 degrees. A middleweight would usually be suitable for roughed off horses (even TB’s) all winter.
A heavyweight rug for fully clipped horses and temperatures below 3-5 degrees.
OTHER FACTORS
As with all things, horses are very individual in their tolerance for weather conditions and a lot depends on how much time a horse has spent being out. A horse that has lived out all its life is likely to be far more tolerant of even the worst weather than a horse that has spent most of its life in. These factors should be taken into account when choosing which rug to put on your horse.
A horse’s body condition will also have a huge bearing on its tolerance for cold. A thin horse will need a thicker rug, it will be very difficult to add weight to a horse if all its energy is going into keeping warm.
Breed and type, it stands to reason that a hardy cob or pony is not going to feel the cold as much as any of the finer breeds. In fact most cobs and ponies can winter out with no rug. It is often us that wants them dry and clean so that they can live out and be ridden through the winter.
Access to other shelter and feed. If your horse has access to a field shelter or barn, it would unlikely be necessary to have more than a good middleweight rug with no neck cover. A well fed horse with good shelter will maintain its body heat much more effectively than a horse on sparse grazing with inadequate shelter.
If you still feel you need help in choosing a rug for your horse please send me an email, I will be more than happy to try and help.
SOME RUG TERMINOLOGY!!
Waterproof:Most modern turnout rugs have a high degree of waterproofing. Seams used to be a vulnerable area on turnout rugs but these days turnout rugs have no back seam and the other seams are taped or heat sealed. However a thick rug that is very wet is extremely heavy, a soaked rug also begins to lose the ability to breathe as the pores get waterlogged, so it is possible for perspiration to build up under the rug and for the rug to feel damp inside. For these reasons it is always a good idea to have spare rugs, so that they can be changed while one is allowed to dry.
Breathable: It is important for any rug to be breathable in order to keep your horse dry. Both the inner and outer fabric should be breathable. Whatever the weather conditions, the horse will perspire. If a rug is not breathable condensation will build up on the inside of the rug. The filling of the rug will assist in keeping the perspiration of the horse’s body, but these days it is not necessary to buy anything other than a breathable rug.
Ripstop: Ripstop refers to two things. Firstly it is the way the fabric is woven (wrap and weft) this gives the fabric the ability to contain tears. Ripstop does NOT mean that your rug will not rip. All fabrics will rip. It just refers to the fabrics ability to keep the rip contained to a smaller area. Secondly, it refers to the stitching of straps and buckles. The stitching should go right through all the layers of the rug, not just be stitched to the top layer.
Denier: The denier of the rug is represented by the d, for example 600d. It is the measure of the density or weight per unit of yarn. So generally speaking the higher the ‘d’ the stronger the fabric. Anything from 400d is suitable for outdoor use.
Weight or filling: Most rugs come in different weights. This refers to the thickness and amount of the filling in the rug. This is usually measured in grams per square metre and is represented by the ‘g’ or ‘gsm’, for example 300g. The fillings are commonly, high density polyfibre fillings.
RUG SIZE GUIDE
Horse size HH Rug size
12.0hh 4’3”
12.2hh 4’6”
13.0hh 4’9”
13.2hh 5’0”
14.0hh 5’3”
14.2hh 5’6”
15.0hh 5’9”
15.2hh 6’0”
16.0hh 6’3”
16.2hh 6’6
17.0hh 6’9”
17.2hh 7’0”
All rugs are measured from the front of the rug at the chest fittings to the rear of the rug, with the gussets closed.
This means if you are measuring your horse for a rug you need to measure from the centre of its chest to a line level with the top of the tail.
It is important to take into account the amount of filling a rug has as a thick filling will make the rug slightly tighter than a rug with no filling. For example if your horse takes a 6’0” summer sheet or fleece it may well need a 6’3” turnout rug.
www.protuff-horsewear.co.uk
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