FEATURE
Hone your winter horse skills with our rug refresher course Rugging in winter is always (pardon the pun) a hot topic, writes DANNII CUNNANE, with owners either for or against on this constantly debated subject.
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he decision to rug may suit one owner, but not another, so it’s important to remember that this is not ‘one size fits all’ and circumstances and factors will dictate what is best for your horse.
The longer coat was designed to keep the horse warm in extreme weather, and in some parts of Australia (as well as the world) this includes ice and snow. On a chilly winter day, it’s natural for your horse’s coat to seem a bit ‘puffier’ than normal – that’s the coat doing its job.
With this in mind, we hope that we can shed some light on rugging pros and cons and help those struggling with the decision to make the choice that’s right for their horse.
When the horse gets a chill, the hypothalamus, the primary control centre for thermoregulation located deep within the brain, triggers the contraction of the smooth muscle that attaches to the lowest point of each hair follicle. As a result, each hair straightens up and stands on end. This extra fluffy coat creates a large insulating pocket of air right next to the skin. The same reaction, called piloerection, is what causes goose bumps in humans.
The natural coat – an overview of how their winter woollies work As we all know, horses have a natural coat that protects them from the elements. As the daylight hours shorten, the horse begins to grow a longer coat. This coat change is triggered by the light that entering the horse’s endocrine systems, thereby governing hair growth. The short hairs of the summer coat fall out and longer hair grows in its place to help the horse stay warm throughout the colder weather.
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So why rug? While it’s true that wild and free-living horses survive without rugs, they move a great deal more than their domestic counterparts and are able to find their own shelter from bad weather. Moving keeps a horse warm - standing does not produce energy and can therefore make
HORSEVIBES MAGAZINE - JUNE 2019
a horse cold. One of the main responses to the question of why rug is that horse owners want their horses to stay warm during the cooler months and a fast way of doing this is to use a rug. The horse uses fuel (fat stores and feed) to keep itself warm. That warmth becomes trapped within the coat in a little air pocket between the skin and the tip of the hair. If the horse is not rugged and does not have enough food to supply its heat energy, it may lose condition – also known as ‘dropping off’ as it has
