My horse lives in a paddock all week round and with the current climate in sydney its hot one day and raining the next. I live in sydney and he lives 2.5 hours away. He is on an agistment property but i only see him on weekends and the people feed him for me. Are there any rugs that you can think of that are breathable but fairly waterproof and would keep him dry in this annoying weather. TThank you so much and also please only answer if you actually have something helpful to contribute.
It's NOT alright to leave a rug on a horse all winter long! the only time you should put any kind of blanket on a horse is if it actually *needs* it AND you can remove it as the weather changes. You can't do that from 2.5 hours away. Mother Nature has designed the horse to manage its own temperature and shed rain just fine, but as soon as you start putting clothes on the horse, you interfere with that wonderful thermoregulation system. If you can't put on and take off the clothes to keep the horse comfortable as the weather changes, you really shouldn't interfere with the horse's ability to keep himself comfortable. Really! Horses live in every climate on Earth, from subzero to burning hot, desert to rainforest and everything in between. It's only silly human arrogance and our concepts of comfort that make us think we can manage our horses' comfort better than they can.
I live in Northern NSW- right now we're getting a fair amount more rain than Sydney. It's HORRIBLE and I totally feel you're pain. My advice is to get a fly-mesh rug. (Horseland has them- the saxon brand is really cheap- weatherbeeta is a better quality). It won't keep him dry, but it will keep the bugs off- and it will keep him cool when its hot. When it starts getting colder you should invest in a light waterproof winter rug (maybe 130g polyfill) which will be fine to leave on him all week in winter- and it will keep him dry. Right now all the horses here are in either flymesh rugs or cotton rugs. They don't stay dry- but it keeps them covered and keeps the bugs off. Lets hope this rain stops soon- I'm so sick of it!
