Although I feel slightly guilty sat here writing this now as I see the sun breaking through outside knowing that my mare has a cosy middle weight turnout with neck, I can not believe the shivers and freezing cold horse that I bought in from the field the other day.
To be fair the rain had fell heavily overnight and there was a nasty cool wind blowing across the field but poor Teqi came in shivering and freezing cold. I nearly turned her back out the night of the storms without a rug as it was sunny and relatively warm, how glad I am that I at least put in her lightweight turnout! Living out all year round 24/7 she is more than use to the elements and the occassional mini storm but this September weather took me by surprise.
If I remember correctly, last september was pretty warm, dry and sunny; how much can in a year! To bring in my pretty hardy welsh X mare in a shivering wreck was a shock. At first there was a minor panick as all we could see to start with was her hind legs shaking and as she is currently lame I thought 'oh god what has she done now'. But on pulling off the rug she was shivering all over and her body was freezing cold. In a motherly way I felt awful but relieved that I had gone up this early in the morning instead of leaving her out in this weather for longer. So off whipped the lightweight - the fantastic amigo lightweight which i swear by as it does not leak but on this occasion as it was windy the lightness of the rug had caused it to blow up and therefore the rain was getting to her body; and on went the snuggly fleece, in she went into a spare stable and in came a big fluffy haynet to help her feel better - as I was feeling guilty!!
It took her about an hour to warm up properly. The shivering stopped pretty quickly but she was still freezing cold on the skin for a while, she has no weight on her so there was no fat to keep her warm! Although my vet did point out that the shivering would help stimulate her hind leg muscles where she was lame, you still have to feel sorry for her! After an hour or so she felt lovely and toasty warm and now the second guilt trip starts. She has to go back in the field.
So the medium weight with neck came out of the closet at the beginning of September. With the ever changing weather and temperatures it is difficult to have the right rug on at the right time. Chopping and changing rug weights is not ideal for a horse that lives out so for now she can stay toasty in her bigger rug and if she gets a little warm then at least she will stay warm over night!
The next question is when will I have to bring out the heavy weight turnout with neck and with the snuggly hood underneath? October?!?!
No comments:
Post a Comment