# Putting a cover on a wet horse?



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

If you had a wool or polar fleece cooler, you could put that on underneath the waterproof out blanket, even if the horse is still damp. I would towel her down vigorously first, tho.
In the old days, people used to put straw under the blanket if the horse was still wet, but in those days, I think the blankets were all breathable, not like nylon which doesn't breathe.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I've put a blanket on Lacey when she's wet many times and she's never had anything bad happen because of it. I don't LIKE doing that, but like you said, sometimes weird weather happens.
When that happens, I take it off the next day and switch blankets so the one that got kinda wet on the inside can air out and I like to thoroughly groom her before putting a fresh blanket on, just in case. But other than that, it's been fine in my experience.

If she's shivering and very wet, I'd say to heck with all the "maybe"s and just blanket her. And especially since it's summer, it's not like you're going to leave the blanket on for the next three months without removing it (or, at least, I hope you don't! Haha).


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

tinyliny: thankyou I will go out there now and put her polar fleece on underneath her synthetic rug, hopefully that will help.

Wallaby: Heck no, no way I would be leaving my horses covers on for 3 months straight in any weather!! I have enough blankets I can swap and change them and I swap and change with the materials too, so they don't get itchy or annoyed. -Even in winter I try to take the rugs off as much as I can, If I can't though I groom thoroughly and then put on a clean rug... Especially in maulting season haha.


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## Scoope (Oct 19, 2010)

HollyBubbles - similar situation here! , the weather in Aucks is INSANE! had hail and all, it has been raining sideways all day and the wind is blowing a gail - so much for the 25 degrees plus weve been having. We blanketed wet and will change tomorrow - unfortunately it is supposed to be hanging around for a few days so that will hamper drying out but it is better than the alternative.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

HollyBubbles said:


> Wallaby: Heck no, no way I would be leaving my horses covers on for 3 months straight in any weather!! I have enough blankets I can swap and change them and I swap and change with the materials too, so they don't get itchy or annoyed. -Even in winter I try to take the rugs off as much as I can, If I can't though I groom thoroughly and then put on a clean rug... Especially in maulting season haha.


Oh good! :lol: lol!
At the place I used to keep Lacey, that's what they'd do, blanket their horses in the fall and not take the blankets off until the spring. I was SO shocked when I found that out, I mean, who would do that? It just seems like an all around bad idea. Then they'd wonder why their horses seemed to be prone to skin issues. Geez, I wonder why! 
I do the same thing with Lacey's blankets! I'm basically OCD with them. Haha!


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

> HollyBubbles - similar situation here! , the weather in Aucks is INSANE! had hail and all, it has been raining sideways all day and the wind is blowing a gail - so much for the 25 degrees plus weve been having. We blanketed wet and will change tomorrow - unfortunately it is supposed to be hanging around for a few days so that will hamper drying out but it is better than the alternative.


*Do my eye's deceive me or have I finally managed to come across another kiwi?*
Bubbles has a polarfleece and a synthetic on, Mitchell has a wool/blanket lined canvas on... They are slightly happier now, although it has only been around 15minutes so they are still drying off


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## Scoope (Oct 19, 2010)

lol, yup - guilty as charged, we are an elusive breed it would appear ;P 

120kmph winds apparantly and set to continue - weve had two rather large trees come down. which has brought down part of our fence line so watching the others like a hawk - we are surrounded by the bush and the creeking is rather ominous - last big storm we got , we lost our power and electricity due to trees in the bush that our cables run down through.

I'm watching it carefully as the humidity will spike undoubtedly


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## Beau Baby (Oct 28, 2008)

If I were you I'd put a cooler on under the waterproof blanket and then in an hour or so go and take the cooler off. If you leave the wet cooler on under the blanket there is a chance rain rot can begin to grow. Granted its gonna take more than a day for rain rot to begin growing and from what you said you check on your horses so it shouldn't be a problem. I had a similar incident this summer. 17 year old gelding who's never been cold in rain before, brought him in for a lesson and he could barely stand was shivering so bad. Ended up putting 2 thick coolers on him. We had a barn to tack up in though, you said you don't


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

> lol, yup - guilty as charged, we are an elusive breed it would appear ;P
> 
> 120kmph winds apparantly and set to continue - weve had two rather large trees come down. which has brought down part of our fence line so watching the others like a hawk - we are surrounded by the bush and the creeking is rather ominous - last big storm we got , we lost our power and electricity due to trees in the bush that our cables run down through.
> 
> I'm watching it carefully as the humidity will spike undoubtedly


Yaay, there's not many of us is there haha, I'm even in the same island, but about 6-8 hours away I think haha. I've only been up there once and that was for my 5th birthday, so nearly 11 years ago. (we went to the zoo and I wandered off and got lost by the meercat enclosure, oops)

Oh dear :S
My miniature was standing underneath a tree on my lawn last time we had strong winds, and all hell broke loose when the powerline above the tree came down only meters infront of her. Needless to say both her and I were freaking out, thankfully nothing bad became of it.
I have a river 20m below my house which will undoubtedly rise quickly. We have had nearly 75mL of rain today, (feel free to stop raining mother nature we have enough for right now!!)


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

> 17 year old gelding who's never been cold in rain before, brought him in for a lesson and he could barely stand was shivering so bad. Ended up putting 2 thick coolers on him. We had a barn to tack up in though, you said you don't


I don't have any coolers (probably the only type of rug I actually don't have haha) But I'll take the under rugs off before it gets dark tonight.
Poor Mitch was out there shaking so hard Courtney said He nearly fell over, thank god I checked up on him then O.O
They are slowly drying out and warming up. Gemma the miniature is back in her dirt paddock (now more of a lake in some parts) and I walked out there expecting a dripping shaking miniature to be standing in the middle of the paddock, but no she's grown a brain and she was standing in the shed (it's only big enough for a miniature though sadly) so she was dry before I even put the cover on haha.


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## Scoope (Oct 19, 2010)

Gah , that no good about the river - at our old property we were on reclaimed land, it flooded once and we came home from work to find our shire standing on a tiny little island in the middle of the bottom paddock surrounded by about 5cm deep water - he is a big baby and dosent do getting his feet wet by choice. Was looking very sorry for him self!. fortunatly here we are on a hill side for the most part , so it runs off pretty quickly, I've moved them up near the house so we can keep an eye on them, also its pretty chalky soil so drier than the rest.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

Scoope said:


> Gah , that no good about the river - at our old property we were on reclaimed land, it flooded once and we came home from work to find our shire standing on a tiny little island in the middle of the bottom paddock surrounded by about 5cm deep water - he is a big baby and dosent do getting his feet wet by choice. Was looking very sorry for him self!. fortunatly here we are on a hill side for the most part , so it runs off pretty quickly, I've moved them up near the house so we can keep an eye on them, also its pretty chalky soil so drier than the rest.


 Nah but atleast it's down a bit of a hill, so I'll only start getting worried when I can see it out the bathroom window :lol:
Awww seeing a shire like that's gotta make a good laugh though, and it's kinda cute in a way.
My Mini seems to like rolling in the river, I can't say I'm fond of that idea though.
We live on a dairy farm and We have a lot of hills now so atleast all the cows and the horses have somewhere to go if it keeps going like this.

Someone in the valley seems to think our river will peak at 2am and burst... But I doubt that to be honest, so long as the train bridge doesn't get blocked up with debri it will be fine; the 04 floods only got our end because of all the debri which made the river back up, they're just trying to get everyone worried again.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

those horses must not be used to cold. Our horses are rained on all the time , in about 5 degree celcius weather and the just sit there or go under the trees. I have NEVER seen them shiver. But your horse is older and not used to the cold, so that's different.


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## Scoope (Oct 19, 2010)

nope - it never gets this wet usually in the summer months - not where I am , nor further south where OP is (is allright in winter as they're all furry bears) but ours have a full clip otherwise he gets skin issues and so not only is it cold and wet - but he is bald. The screaming freezing winds do nothing to help with the cold rain either.


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

Wet and windy is somehting I know well after living on the side of a wet windy welsh hill for the last 13 years!

Get her in, dry off what you can with towels. Put her fleece on but pack it out with straw. Then once she is dryer (doesnt have to be completly dry) swap it for the thickest rug you have!

Oh and get some nice warm mash into her! (I use hot speedibeet!)


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

So glad you asked this question HB. I was just wondering about blanketing a wet horse the other day, though none of mine were wet or shivering, just a random thought on my part.

Here in Maine, actually right now, it is very cold. There is also a snow falling and the backs of the horses are crusted in snow. While neither is shivering, it is good to know that if this should happen, I'll know what to do now. 

The only thing I can contribute, since I do have limited knowledge about blanketing, and don't have to very often, is that I offer extra hay to them when the temps and wind is brutal. 

If your older horse is on pasture, well then it can graze for the extra it would need to stay warmer. If not, then toss it a few extra flakes in addition to the covers.

Sounds like things are under control, and you're a caring horse owner. Hope that crazy weather there starts to subside.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

> Get her in, dry off what you can with towels. Put her fleece on but pack it out with straw. Then once she is dryer (doesnt have to be completly dry) swap it for the thickest rug you have!
> 
> Oh and get some nice warm mash into her! (I use hot speedibeet!)


Thankyou Faye  That's exactly what I ended up doing, I used chaff, gumnuts and a bit of garlic for the warm mash, I'm lucky to have the chaff, dad used it to feed calves and had lots of bags left over so I get to have them 


It stopped raining for a while but now at 7:05am it is pouring down again and has been doing so for a few hours, civil defense turned up and warned that the river upstream is rising fast, uh-oh.
I get quite paranoid about the river and everything so I dragged my boyfriend out with me at 10:30pm to check on horses and to check the river level, got back at 11:10pm (drenched for a 4th time)
-of course even though I dragged him out he stayed in my car while I fought the winds to get to the horses.
I also found out Mitchell is scared gutless of flashlight beams haha!


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