June 4, 2012 - Planning ahead for winter already

Rory scared me this morning.  He refused to eat his grain despite repeatedly sticking his nose in the bucket while I waited for Totyo to finish eating.  He had his abdomen tucked up, and when I got him inside and took his temperature it was about half a degree lower than what I've seen as his normal.  I thought it might be colic because his gut sounds seemed too quiet.  His heart rate and capillary refill time were in the normal range, and he wasn't breathing heavily or sweating or showing any of the other common colic signs.  I put him in a stall while I put the other horses out, and then tossed him a flake of hay which he tore into right away.  When I offered his grain again a bit later he happily scarfed it down.  I'd have called the vet if he'd refused the hay I was that worried.

He stayed in for a couple of hours and his temperature went up a full degree, and heart rate down 20%, he relaxed his abdominal muscles, and his gut was noisier.  I'm thinking he just got a bit of a chill.  It's been raining off and on (mostly on) since Friday afternoon, and got down to 11 or so last night.  His new paddock doesn't have a manmade shelter (lots of trees for wind break and some to stand under - not that standing under a dripping wet tree keeps one dry :P ) and he wasn't wearing a blanket.  I haven't been out since Friday because I've been sick, otherwise I might have put a blanket on him last night.  There have been times that I've looked at him and thought he looked a little chilly, though he never seemed unhappy or cold (using the ear temperature as my check) when I went to see him.  I did put a rainsheet on him before putting him back out for the day because the forecast was for more rain and a high of 15 (though it's trying to be sunny right now :rolleyes: ).

I bought him blankets two years ago, and I'm planning to buy new ones for him this fall (I want to wait as long as possible to make sure he doesn't outgrow them before he wears them - turning 4 this summer).  I buy the high neck (Wug style) of blanket by preference but I'm considering buying Rory a regular blanket and neck rug (probably Amigo) instead for a couple of reasons.  First I don't want to just use a heavier blanket because the winters here have been getting warmer and even way back when I first started blanketing I found the heavy weight (340gm) blankets often made my QH sweat during the day.  Second horses lose a lot of heat through their necks so it seems a bit silly to pile on more insulation on the lower heat exchange areas and leave the high heat exchange naked.  Third I might have to do a modified trace clip on him if he's working hard enough - which means a partial clip of his neck.