Although Legacy has many rugs there are also a few I'd like to add into her summer wardrobe. So here's my summer rug wishlist.

First up is the Shires Performance Maxi Flow Waterproof Fly Rug

This rug has: 

- A 600D Shiretex waterproof top section

- A breathable top section

- Tough top section to help against any nicks which fly rugs are prone to.

- Lower section made from maxi-flow mesh

- A Neck cover which has the velcro closure

- & an adjustable belly flap for maximum coverage.

• Now Legacy isn't one to majorly summer with the general horse flys but the bot flys just love to chase her around the field. I feel I spend most of my time trying to skill them when I'm with her. I feel this rug would be great as it would help her with the summer sun against her skin, as she goes very dark in the summer she can struggle with the heat throughout the summer. This is great as the British summer weather is so unpredictable you wouldn't know if your going to need a fly rug one day and a light weight from the rain the next, so this doubles up as both and you won't spend most or your time wondering if you need to change the rug or not.  

Next on my list is the Weatherbeeta Kool Coat Combo

This rug has:

- A durable 230 Poly-cotton outer which allows the air to circulate around and keep the horse cool

- It's ideal to keep the sun from bleaching the coat of dark horses

- It keeps the horse clean and cool on the hot and sunny days, it's ideal for horses which absorb the heat

This one rug I know I won't get much use out of but it's also one I think would be vital to have in Legacy's summer wardrobe due to her coat getting darker in the summer. At times she even looks black. Although she does live by the sea and she is lucky to have a breeze to cool her down sometimes from the sea, she does get quite hot throughout the summer when the sun's out. I've chosen the combo neck over the standard with this as I feel she'd need her neck covered as she gets very hot there throughout the summer. I bet this rug wouldn't stay as white as it arrives long though as Legacy would typically go for a roll soon as she's let loose back in the field.

Finally on my list I would be happy with any of these 2, first up is the Shires Tempest 100g standard neck rug. 

 This rug has: 
- 100G quilted filling
-  600D ripstop

- Breathable ShireTex Outer

- Tapered Seams

- Blanket Set Breast Fastenings

- Adjustable Cross Surcingles & Fillet String

& A Tail Flap.

Now Legacy already has a 100g standard neck rug but I would like to have a new one and add it onto my wishlist as the one she already has doesn't fit her as well as this cut of rug does. 
This rug is ideal for the chiller spring/summer/autumn night's where a no fill offers no warmth and doesn't do the job. It has just enough fill to keep Legacy warm throughout those nights. 

The other rug which I would also be happy having under this category would be the Weatherbeeta Comfitec Plus Dynamic Standard Neck 

This rug has:

- 1200D ripstop Outer
- 100g Polyfill
- A Memory foam wither pad to fit to the horses shape and lift the rug off the withers to prevent rubbing.
- 2 Eazi-clips for fast and easy closing
- Large tail flap
- Reflective strips on tail flap and front flaps
- Leg straps
- Side gusset for easy movement. 

There isn't much difference between the 2 of these rugs in terms of what they are used for, okay they have different features and there is one more tougher than the other but I'm very lucky with Legacy and she does look after her rugs and I've never had to throw away a rug due to her wrecking it in the field. She's only had a few nicks here and there. The 2 horses have the medium detach a neck version of this same rug as a spare between the 2 of them, and it's a great fit for them both, lovely high neck for those who struggle to get that in rugs. It leaves them with plenty of room and freedom to run around and the memory foam wither pad is great on Cloudy who is always loosing a bit of this mane to rugs.

Find this rug on EquineSuperstore and get a free miracle brush, currently £66.99 reduced from £79.99, you also get free delivery on orders over £45.

  

Shires Tempest 300g Combo Review

I know it's a bit late on in the year but I just had to write my review on this rug now, it couldn't wait until next winter. Although I bet there are some clipped or even unclipped horses out there now still in medium-heavy or heavy weight rugs the weather has been so awful in this country recently. And with another set of bad weather supposed to be on it's way soon before we get the nice weather I thought I'd throw this in there now. This is a great rug to have if a heavyweight is too warm and a medium weight is too cold. 

This is the Shires Tempest Original 300g Combo Rug. 

Some of the key features for this rug are:

- 600D ripstop

- Breathable ShireTex Outer

- 300G Quilted Polyfill

- Tapered Seams

- Blanket Set Breast Fastenings

- Velcro Closure on Neck

- Adjustable Cross Surcingles & Fillet String

& A Tail Flap.

To the left is a picture of Legacy when she first got the rug, before she went out and rolled in it to cover it in mud. 
The rug fits her body shape really well, she's had no rubs on her shoulders, withers or her mane. I know that some people really struggle to find combo rugs that don't rub away any part of the mane. 
I've always been really lucky with Legacy and all of her combo rugs have fit really well and I've been able to avoid this. 
This rug has a nice sized neck that doesn't leave too much behind the ears exposed, another great part about this neck is that it stays in place and doesn't slip down towards the body. There is a velcro neck closure on the neck where it folds back on itself through rings for security. 
The tail flap on this rug may only be small in comparison to others but it's attached in a way it gives great protection from the weather elements. It always stays down and never flaps back up onto the body of the horse.




Although this rug is only 600D, it's managed to survive 2 winters without any rips or leaks. Legacy is good when it comes to not making holes in rugs and looks after them but there is bit's of barbed wire around the field because of the sheep so there is always that possibility when the horses are playing or trying to get to grass. 
Legacy has worn this rug in some bad weather this winter including some of the recent storms and it has held up really well. Not once has the rain been too much and the rug has started to leak or get damp. 

Overall I would really recommend this rug and I would definitely consider buying a Shires rug when I'm in need of one next. 

Gardening gloves or Yard Gloves?

Out of all the gloves I've tried for my yard duties, gardening gloves have definitely been the best I've tried so far. Okay so I haven't tried any that are £10+ in the equestrian range but when I found some for £1.25 from Wilko that do the job for me I couldn't justify trying any more out really. The ones I've found are these kids ones. That's another struggle I had when trying to find a great pair of yard gloves was that my fingers are so small I have to wear kids gloves. This includes riding & everyday gloves too and to be honest these gloves are still a little too long in the fingers for me. I find that I get the end stuck in the little clip to keep the hosepipe head turned on when filling up water buckets. These gloves have a tough bottom half of polyester, this means they are waterproof as long as I don't end up fighting with the hosepipe and it gets the orange bit wet, this has actually happened a few times. 

These are great for when you get the off thistle in the haylage, as there's nothing worse than having a thistle thorn spiked into your finger or under the nail when you reach in for haylage. 

These types of gloves are more frequently found as work gloves in adult sized gloves. You can also get some which are hi-viz which would be great for riding out hacking if you were to use them as riding gloves as well. These would also double up as that due to the grip they provide.

I'm Back! Where I've been.. Quick Update.

Hey guys! Long time no write. 

It's been about 7/8 months since I last updated, but to be honest not much has happened in that time. I think that's why I haven't had the urge to get back blogging until now. I haven't been riding much over that time. I was busy with work throughout the summer then I was finding it was too hot for Legacy when I did have the time to ride on my days off. Then on the other scale of the weather when it wasn't too hot we had the horrible winds and rain where I live. I'm a fair weather rider at the best of times too, although I'm working on that after realising how much time out of proper work Legacy has had. 

I haven't had any confidence to ride Legacy out on the road as at the beginning of last summer she took off cantering on the road with me for no seeable reason, I stayed on but it still affected my confidence on the road with her, she was nappy on the road as it was so adding that on didn't help. Where she is kept for livery the roads get quite busy over the summer and the speed limit is 60. The tourists and most of the locals don't seem to care if there is horses on the roads, they'll come past speeding or beeping their horns if they can't get past. So because of this I can't hack out over the summer resulting in me totally losing my confidence on the road with her. 

This is something I'm working on though, I'm back to having lessons every 2 weeks with her. At the moment we're learning for her to respect me and listen to my legs while out on the roads as when she has her napping moments she's either not going anywhere or prancing a little in the middle of the road, the more I try to push her over out of the way of cars the more she plays up. So this is our main goal for now so I can regain my confidence on her out there. 

One of the other main reasons to why I didn't get to ride much throughout the summer was on one of the windy days we were putting a rug on her in the field, we only did this as she's very good standing there to put a rug on no matter what the weather. Unfortunately on this day the wind caught hold of the rug when we'd only managed to get it half on and it flew over her head. Due to this she spooked and took off around the field, falling over the rug as it came around her front legs. She was very lucky to come out of it without any major injuries, just a couple of grazes and burn marks from the velcro on the rug. What happened that night is something I never want to see again, it was horrifying. 

We're very lucky that she's not scared of putting rugs on in a breeze or rugs at all now. Quite the tough one Legacy is. 

The winter weather hasn't been the best on my 2 days off a week so I haven't had much luck riding there either, but as I mentioned I'm working on riding when the weathers not the best to try and combat the lack of riding for next winter.  

That's just a quick update to where I've been and what's been happening and as you can read, there's not much been on going on. I'm back at blogging now and I'm planning to update and post more frequently now.

I have also updated the pages Legacys feed and I have changed the link of my for sale page to my Preloved page now. 

My Rug Buying Obsession.

My name is Pheobe and I have a rug buying obsession. I hate to admit it buy it's something I just can't stop buying and if I manage to not buy I spend a lot of time searching and finding the best deals. Although I love to build Legacy's rug collection, I always make sure I buy them in the sales. Save money where I can ;) 

Her current collection of turnouts include;

Weatherbeeta Genero No Fill Standard Neck.

Gallop 100g Standard Neck.

Derby House 200g Standard Neck.

Weatherbeeta Genero 220g Combo Neck.

Shires Tempest 300g Combo Neck.

360g Genero Combo Neck.

Now that's her main collection with her having a 360g Detachable neck rug as a spare.

When the weights of the rugs get heavier I like to make sure she has a spare or more than one around that weight just in case anything happens. She's very good at keeping her rugs in good condition minus the mud and most of her rugs are 1200D, but I like to be on the safe side to prevent her having to stay in her stable if anything ever happened to her rug. 

She also has many of stable rugs;

2x 100g Standard Neck.

220g Standard Neck.

2x 300g Standard Neck.

360g Standard Neck. 

All her stable rugs are Weatherbeeta apart from her 300g's which are Gallop & Harrison Howard.

After that she also has a standard neck fleece, a scrim cooler, fly rug, ride on fleece exercise rug and a hi-viz net ride on sheet.

At the moment I am searching for a new 100g standard neck for her, eyeing up the new Weatherbeeta Genero 100g rug, A waterproof fly rug, looking at the premier equine one, a waterproof ride on exercise rug to encourage myself to ride in the rain and another medium weight/220g/200g standard neck stable, and I'm possibly looking at a cooler sheet depending on how warm of a spring/summer we get this year.

The searching for these rugs is keeping me satisfied for now, although the 300g combo and 200g standard neck are both brand new within the last 2 weeks. The changing seasons keep making me look. Soon I'll either have to ban myself from the equine sites, unsubscribe myself from the email updates or loose my card before I end up in rug buyers anonymous. 

If anyone wants I'll keep you all updated on my shopping sprees and I can write any reviews on my rugs if people are interested.