Horse rugging is widespread but often excessive, potentially impairing thermoregulation. Evidence-based approaches to blanketing prevent welfare harm from inappropriate temperature management.
Over-rugging causes genuine welfare harm that is often unrecognized because the suffering is hidden under the rug itself. A horse rugged in temperatures above its thermal neutral zone sweats, its coat is compressed and loses insulating function, and the animal cannot cool itself through normal mechanisms. Wet rugs provide no insulation and may actually cool the horse below ideal temperature. Ill-fitting rugs cause pressure sores over the shoulders, withers, and spine. The welfare case for evidence-based rugging - providing rugs when genuinely needed (clipped horses, elderly horses, horses in inadequate shelter in severe cold) rather than as a routine practice regardless of temperature - is supported by equine thermoregulation science. Many horses would be better served by access to good shelter and adequate forage than by excessive rugging.