My vet recently posted this in regards to rugging your horse.

We’re seeing a lot more rugs appearing in fields over the last week or so. If you’re tempted to rug your horse consider the following and be honest with yourself.

– if my horse/pony is obese, unclipped and lives out he/she does not require a rug (use winter to your advantage to allow your horse to safely gradually lose some weight and dramatically reduce his/her laminitis risk for the spring time – laminitis kills)
– horses have a much lower thermoneutral zone (the temperature range where they do not have to expend energy to keep warm) than humans. Horses 5-25 degrees. Humans 20-35 degrees. This means that if you’re cold your horse may not be cold.
– horses have a caecum which acts as a giant internal combustion engine producing heat – the human equivalent is the appendix…