Rug on Pregnant pony?

Hello77

Hi everyone, need a bit of advice. Have 2 connemara ponies in a very windy and exposed field. (They may be coming in at night soon but maybe not..._
Have just put a turnout rug on the younger lady and she is much happier already. My 4 yo is pregnant and due end of march. Can I put a rug on her too? How does it work then when she is due? Will the rug have to come off for foaling/when she has the foal with her? I check her twice a day but could easily miss the big event. Would it be dangerous if she foals with the rug on?
If that is the case I'd prob better not rug her at all, cause I don't want her rugged all winter to take off rug and leave her with a thin coat in mid march - could still be very cold... but she looks so miserable at the moment - and I am afraid she'll get rain scald. What do I do?
Thanks for any ideas/opinions.

Wicked

i'd rug her for the winter and then take the rug off by the time of foaling.

i wouldn't have horses rugged in march anyway, but its hard to know with the weather conditions we have.

i had my mare rugged all winter last year and then took the rug off and she foaled in april.

Tanzanite

would definitely rug her up.We have all our in foal mares rugged until they foal.dont worry she will be fine and will appreciate the rug!:)

Hello77

Thats what i thought.
Thanks for the reassurances. Bought her a rug today and popped it on - nice dry day TG! She seems happier already.
Thanks again!:)

ecaf

We had ours rugged up and in foal too. Someone advised to watch out for her waxing up and take the tail strap off close to the time, but then again some wax up and foal quickly after that, others you might not notice waxing, so I would remove the tail strap in time for her due date.

One mare foaled outside with her rug on (no tail strap). We were there when the foal was born and able to take the rug off, because obviously the foal wouldn't be able to drink otherwise. As it turned out that foal needed help standing.
This year both mares had their rugs off prior to foaling. One was nearly 2 weeks over due so we had the rug off in plenty of time, the other foaled a month later so had it removed anyway.

Theponylady

The problem with putting a rug on, then taking it off, is that it takes 10 days to 2 weeks for them to acclimate and get used to the weather. If March happens to be fine, then it would be okay. But if it's like it was this last year, it could be snowing and freezing.

Your best bet would be to find a way to give them a wind break of some sort. Walk around in the field, and find areas that have less wind than others. Put in three heavy posts, and put up two solid marine quality plywood boards between each two posts(so you'd need 4 boards), so there is sort of a corner to it. The ponies can walk around your makeshift wall, and use it to block wind. It won't stop the rain, but if they have good healthy oily coats, the rain won't be such a problem if they can get out of the wind.

XxAshlingxX

ecaf wrote: »

We had ours rugged up and in foal too. Someone advised to watch out for her waxing up and take the tail strap off close to the time, but then again some wax up and foal quickly after that, others you might not notice waxing, so I would remove the tail strap in time for her due date.

One mare foaled outside with her rug on (no tail strap). We were there when the foal was born and able to take the rug off, because obviously the foal wouldn't be able to drink otherwise. As it turned out that foal needed help standing.
This year both mares had their rugs off prior to foaling. One was nearly 2 weeks over due so we had the rug off in plenty of time, the other foaled a month later so had it removed anyway.

i agree my mare foaled wt her rug on we gt a rug dat was a little specish like she usualy wore a 5,9ft so we had her in a 6ft we also removed the tail strap and remored the straps around her legs the day she foaled ...... we also used a rug not sure on the name dat a friend had given us (she was 4m stitserland ) dat is desinged 4 mares feeding a foal it was very handy i will find out the maker of the rug and post back altho think day gt it made !?!!?

Censorsh!t

As long as she has grown her winter coat before you rug her she's ok. Otherwise she will probably use up a lot of energy trying to keep warm. I'd take it off when there is a nice good spell (if that is possible in this country!).
Even a lighter rug than uaual would prob be the best in case the weather is awful in march, wont be so much of a change for her then..