Horse Rugs- Are You Ready For Winter?

Although it doesn't seem like we have had a summer this year, I have to admit that winter is nearly here! I thought it would be a good time to write a post on horse rugs as this is the time of year when people will start buying them. I am mainly going to focus on heavy weight rugs as this is what we use the most, Trooper is not rugged until he is clipped and then has a heavy weight on most of the time until his fur has grown back enough to have a slightly thinner rug on.

First I am going to talk about heavy weight stable rugs. There is one brand of stable rug that has always been a favourite of ours and it is Mark Todd. Trooper has had two of these in the time we have owned him and they are very good quality and survive well through him itching himself along walls etc. They have a removable neck which is also good. They bring out a different colour design every year and they all seem to be tartan or plaid. Ours is quite a few years old now, it can be seen on the photos below. It fastens with two surcingles under his belly and has two clips at the front which are adjustable for length. There is also a fillet string under his tail. The neck cover fastens with buckles.The rug doesn't seem to slip at all during the night.

 There are two types of Mark Todd heavy weight stable rug on the Equestrian Clearance website and they can be seen in the images below. It has a 400 g filling and also has features such as anti-rub patches on the shoulders and a fleece patch on the withers.The Mark Todd heavy weight stable rug is for sale for the discounted price of £73.99 (reduced from £91.99), the neck covers are around £40 reduced from £48-£50. There are also other horse rugs by Mark Todd on the website which I imagine are also of a similar high quality.

Trooper's heavy weight turn out rug is by Rambo Horseware of Ireland. It is an all in one so does not have an option to take the neck off. I think this is OK for a field rug as it helps to keep them clean but sometimes it would be nice to have the option to take the neck off while he is in the transition period from a heavy weight to a medium weight. He has also managed to get out of the rug twice in the field and it was left fully fastened on the floor, I'm really not sure how he did this but it must have come over his head! This might have been because we forgot to pull his tail through the fillet string though as it doesn't have back leg surcingles. The actual rug itself is good quality and durable and does it's job.

If I was to buy a heavy weight rug this year I think I would go for the Weatherbetta New Orican Detach-A-Neck Heavy Turnout Rug. This comes in two colours, "Blackwatch Plaid" and "Black/Gold", these can be seen on the images below. It has a 360 g filling, adjustable straps and gussets for better fit. The rug costs £109.99 reduced from £129.99 and comes with the detachable neck cover.

And finally here is a medium weight turn out rug by Joules that I loved the look of so though I would add, don't think Trooper would thank me for making him wear that though!

All the rugs and images featured in today's post are on the Equestrian Clearance website, as well as having all the rugs in this post at discounted prices they have much more equestrian goodies so go and have a look!

Love Laura
xxxx