Re: Blanketing

["hn.heather" <hn.heather@wanadoo.fr>]

<I am still concerned over whether or not I should blanket him?  He has
never been blanketed when I have had him but the lack of hair is
a concern.

Hi Denise
You don't say what breed your horse is or what his body condition is.
I would have thought that if he is in good shape, getting fed and his stable
is not too draughty then you could leave off the rug.
Rugging (excuse the "English" terminology) can become a vicious circle, ie
if you rug him in his stable then if the weather's cold during the day
you're going to have rug him in his paddock and so-on.
Arabians sometimes tend to have a fine hair-coat even in winter so here in
France some my working horses have turnout rugs on during the day but I take
the rug off when the horse comes in at night.  We have a lot of wind & rain
here in winter & thats what they hate!
If your horse is body-clipped then sure you need to think about rugging him
in some way.
If you see him with his coat standing on end then this is a normal reaction
& in fact warm air gets trapped in-between the layers of coat & helps keep
him warm.
Make sure he's getting plenty of hay as digesting hay generates more heat
than grain.
Hope this helps
Heather Hamper
Aquitaine Arabians
SW France


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=