So often I see and hear the statement “for the comfort of my horse” in one variation or another, yet I find myself asking all too often in reply, “really?”. Is what many owners do to with and for their horses really for the comfort of the horse, or are there other more genuine reasons that actually have less to do with the horses comfort and well being and much more to do with what is best for the owner?
One of the things that is often first into my head when I ponder this question, is horse covers. Now I know that that they have their place in the lives of domestic horses, and I know that there are some very genuine reasons for using covers on some horses at some points in the year, and whether I like it or not, there are few situations that horses can and do live as close to natural as a horse in the wild might, hence the need in some parts for non natural intervention. Where I find myself asking the question though, is on days when the sun is shining, the horses are out in pasture, the ambient temp of the day is in the high 20’s yet every paddock I pass (that is not my own) there are horses donning covers. Now I know that at this point, if you are an owner that while reading this your horse is out in the pasture wearing it’s lovely new pretty cover, you will be rattling off in your head all the reasons that you have it that way, so I ask you now to think over each of you reasons and answer me one thing to every thought, is it for you or the horse? Now be honest here, because I am about to list many of the thoughts you might be having and I am going to tell you who they are for, and you likely are not going to like what I put, but if you want the best for your horse, you might just have a rethink.
So getting back to my point, as I mentioned earlier, yes I do believe that covers have their place, and yes I do own covers and have at times covered my horses, do I normally cover on a regular basis at any part of the year? No, I don’t, and if you continue to read, when you are done, you may not either.
I will start with covering in spring/summer, you know that time in the year when the sun is shining more often than not, and even when it is not the temp doesn’t dip any lower than the mid teens (degrees C that is). The rain sheets and summer covers are being advertised and you are ready to swap out the heavy padded winter, wet weather gear for something more seasonally appropriate. But are they really? The important thing to note here when posing this question, is the way horses internal temp regulation works within their bodies. The most important part of this functioning system is their coat, the hair that they have all over their beautiful bodies. They raise and lower their hairs to use to cool themselves, and they sweat when it is hot allowing the breeze to cool them, they roll to lift the hairs, and they are able to pull the hairs back down if it is a little cool. In the case of a little rain, their coats have a natural lay which channels the water off them and they will often move to areas where they are not as effected by the weather. When they have a cover on though, they are no longer able to use what they naturally have, instead relying on the hope that the cover is not too hot, or that they do not get hot and sweaty at one point of the day and due to the cover later on in the evening when the day cools off, remain damp and get chills.
Now for the “reasons” people cover, “well we are going to a show and I don’t want their coat to get dirty or fade in the sun” this one is pretty clearly not for the horses benefit is it? “I use the appropriate cover for the season and I only use synthetic/canvas covers so that my horse is in the best”. This one for some might be a hard one to pin point, but if you were paying attention you will have picked up the fact that even those designed for say summer, they still stop the hairs from doing what they are designed to do, and here is another point, synthetic covers do not breathe and nearly always result in sweating, and canvas covers are heavy even the lightest ones and they press down hard on the coat, and any of the other covers like the cotton sheets, are really just annoying to the horse doing little of anything that is of benefit. “My horse doesn’t like getting wet”. This one always makes me laugh, much like when people tell me that their horse loves them, or likes his job and loves to jump! Horses do not have the same thought process as people, they do not have emotions like we do, they do not “like” or “dislike” the way we do. They do however submit to what we ask of them, but this is not to be mistaken for liking something. So then comes the other one, “my horse loves his cover”, and again we have already gone over the fact that they don’t think that way so it is really just YOU that doesn’t like your horse getting wet, or that “loves” his cover.
Now we come to winter. There are times as I have mentioned already, when covers do have a place with horses. If you have a thin horse that can not keep it’s temp up without a cover in winter without burning all of it’s energy from it’s feed and then some, yes it would be better to cover than to not. It is one of those situations where it is the best of a bad set of options and the down side is out weighted by the positive of keeping the horse warm and not using reserves that it doesn’t have. Again if you have a horse recovering from illness or injury, you may need to cover so that they are not wasting energy to stay warm while they recover. Then you have the places in the world that have extremely variant temps where you have extreme weather on occasions that the horse has not grown a coat to protect themselves, and in that case, you’d cover for the weather event, and uncover once it is over, that way you are simply picking up the slight slack in the horses natural weather defences when it is needed and then letting them use them when it is adequate to for the rest of the time.
One of the things that people do not realise is, that they often create situations where you then need to use intervention like covers, and often it is actually because you used covers through the period of the season change where the horse will naturally adapt by growing the appropriate coat, but due to the covering they have not done so thus leading them into the new season unprepared. Or where in the cold seasons where they have grown a good winter coat, owners go and clip it off, again to make life easier for themselves (yet again they will say it is for the horse, but by now I am hoping that you are able to look at said reasons and tell if they are really for the horse or the owner).
So when you hear of someone doing something to or for their horse, think about whether it is for the comfort of the horse, or is it for the owner? There are so many things in the horse world that we could for the most part do away with, have happy horses, still have great experiences with our horses, and actually save a tonne of money not having to buy all this gear that the horse doesn’t need!