This blog post is to show you all Legacy's autumn/winter rug collection, and explaining what type of weather she wears what it.

I'm currently undecided on to sell these from 100g upwards and just get her one 100g detach a neck rug which allows liners. Has anyone done this before? Let me know.

Lightweights (No Fills)

For her lightweight with no neck she has the Shires Tempest Limited Edition Sheep Print Rug Standard Neck. This is a great rug for when the weathers starting to turn and the rain starts coming in. As Legacy's right across from the sea and has no shelter it's great to keep the wind off of her.

Her Lightweight Combo is the Weatherbeeta Classic Combo. This is great for when the weather gets really wet and windy but it's still too warm for a 100g rug.

Lightweights (100g Fill)

I'm not entirely sure which rug Legacy's 100g std neck is but I know It's an Amigo one, I bought this second hand for Cloudy but it fit Legacy much better. The closest to it I could find is the Amigo Hero 6 100g or the Amigo Bravo 12 100g. Whichever one it is, it's a great rug and there are also loops on the inner neck which I'm assuming is for rug liners.

Her combo lightweight that she has, is a Dr Green Lightweight turnout with a fleece lining. This rug isn't available online so I've found the closest available to it which is the Horze Avalanche Turnout sheet. These are great rugs because the fleece creates warmth for the horse but it's not too much.

Medium Weight (200-220g)

The standard neck Medium Weight Legacy has is the Derby House Pro turnout. I find this weight of rug a good next step from the 100g with a neck, as it's not a 'full' medium weight and it has no neck. This keeps her warm but also makes the next step of a 220g combo a good enough step to last her most of winter.

She doesn't have a 220g combo at the moment as I sold it due to it not being 100% waterproof anymore, but the one she did have was the Weatherbeeta Genero. Due to selling this one, this is why I'm either looking for a new medium weight which is last or a multi use rug with liners.

Heavyweight (300-360g)

Her first heavyweight rug is the Shires Tempest 300g Combo, by the time of year that she needs this the weather is cold enough to need a neck on her rug all the time. I really like this rug and I've written a review on it here. 

The heaviest rug she has is the Weatherbeeta Genero 360g Combo. The winters here have been quite mild and she hasn't needed this the past 2 years, so it's been away in storage. 

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. 

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. 

Horseware Ireland Turnout Guide App

It's now got to that time of year where the horses that are kept in for the winter have been turned out, and the worrying that your horse has the right rug on or if you should take the rug off has started, well it definitely has for me.
Last month I found the Horseware Ireland Turnout Guide App it's available for Android and Apple products.

This app is great because you can add in a picture of your horse, then add in their name, choose your location on the map, say the age of your horse, the breed of your horse, say how good they are with condition out of 3 options, if they are clipped or not and if it's a pony. 

After entering all of this your horse will be added, you can add more than one in. 

You then click on you horse and it tells you the weather for your area for the next 5 days and nights. The weather for it isn't 100% correct as its currently about 13C outside and full of sunshine but Legacy still has a lightweight on as there is a chilly wind where she is and she now has her full summer coat and after checking her over she wasn't warm enough for my liking without a coat. As I said this app might not be 100% correct but it gives you a good idea for what to put on your horse when you have no clue what the weather is going to do.

Some more great things about this app is that after you've uploaded a picture of your horse you can try different Rhino, Amigo & Rambo rugs on the picture to see how they fit. You can also tap on the rugs and see the different weights available in certain styles and the app will show you where you can buy them from.

Do you use this app? What do you think about it?

I thought this app was great and it needed to be shared.

 iTunes Link - Android Link - App Website

How To Save Money Washing Rugs!

Legacy is a very wet mare in her stable, actually she loves to poo everywhere too. It's a regular occurrence where she has to have all of her bed out and she's only left with banks, thankfully she has rubber matting so I don't have to give her thick beds. Although I would love to, I have learnt my lesson when it comes to buying all the bedding. Due to her being very wet, and her loving to have a lay down her stable rugs don't last long before they're needing a wash. I could leave her in the same rugs but the smell just gets too bad, and then she has poo patches all over.

If I sent her rugs off to the cleaners every time they needed to go, which is about every 2 weeks I be spending about the same in rug washing as I am in bedding.
So last winter me & my mum came up with an idea and wash the rugs our self's in the garden with a hosepipe. This idea has saved us loads of money, and it gives us a quick turnaround in the rugs.

We lay the rug out on the floor then wet it down with the hose pipe. After that we use Johnson's Baby Shampoo as the soap on the rug. I chose this as it's great for sensitive skin and the horses have never had any reactions with this. Plus it's great as you can always either stock up when it's on a deal at your local supermarket or it's never more than £3 to buy, which is cheaper than any horse shampoo or rug wash shampoo.            
To give the rug a good scrub we use an old kitchen brush, these are soft enough to not damage the rugs but will give them a good clean and lift off any poo and help remove the wee from the rug.
After I've rinsed then brushed the rug until I've felt I've done my best to get all the shampoo out, you can either turn it over and repeat on the inside of the rug (it typically goes through so no need to do the inside) or just rinse the inside to make sure you've got all of the soap out.

After that I've pile the rug up into a ball, and step on it gently to squeeze the water out, kind of like a grape squeezer. 

After you're happy with the amount of water you have managed to squeeze out it's ready to be hung out to dry.

To start off I hand the rug out across 3 plastic summer chairs until it's much lighter and the water has stopped dripping out. Depending on the shape of the rug it might be easier if you pinch areas and keep them together with a few pegs. This helps lift the rug off the floor to drip better if it's a deep rug.

After the water has stopped dripping out and it's about half way dry I pop it up onto the washing line to finish drying.

How do you save money over winter with washing rugs?

Need Some New Rugs?

I couldn't pass up this opportunity to tell you all about the great rug sale Robinsons are having. If only I didn't just buy Legacy a new Weatherbeeta wardrobe, at this point of the sale I'm half tempted to buy her another one. The best deal I've seen on the site so far is a Weatherbeeta Freestyle Heavy Weight Rug Detach-A-Neck, Just look at this Deal! Saving £90!

  

If only I had the spare money I would buy this as a spare heavy like a shot. The Detach-A-Necks are great, She has a medium Detach-A-Neck and it's the best thing ever, 2 rugs in 1... Saving Money!

Here's the link to the rug. Don't forget to check out the site for other great deals.

P.s I am not getting anything out of writing this post apart from sharing a great deal.

Sales Haul

Not long after Christmas I decided that Legacy needed a new Heavyweight rug, So I went off shopping on the internet for her (which is deadly.) Now while I like to get the best for my money I don't like spending loads of money for a rug which is the same as something cheaper but you end up paying for the name. Hence why I hit the sale, Good name + Good money = Happy Me!

So while I was searching for a new rug for her I found a site which had great sales and ended up buying a lot more than I needed to.

The first item I added into my cart was the thing I was actually shopping for, I chose a Weatherbeeta Genero 1200 Combo Heavy this was originally £74.99 or £56.91 on the site and I bought it for £39.84. She's now got this rug on and it's doing a great job.

The next rug I picked up was purely because of how good the deal was, It's a Weatherbeeta Original 1200 Detach-A-Neck, this was originally £94.99 or £72.00 on the site and I bought this for £50.40.

After that I just decided to have a search through the grooming section and found this 5 Piece Braiding Kit From Roma, originally £3.99 or £3.34 on the site and I bought it for £2.60. 

I've always wanted one of these Massage Rubber Mitts by Roma but never thought I'd use it, so when it was discounted I used this to justify buying it for her, these are originally £3.34 and I bought this for 2.84.

I have a constant struggle with finding either long boots or half chaps that are short enough for my legs, so when I seen these Dublin Easy-Care half chaps I thought these would be great to tide me over until I find some that fit me really well, these are originally £21.99 or £18.51 on the site and I bought them for £14.40.

Legacy also needed a new bridle but while I was looking for one which I really liked and could afford I found this Kincade Raised Cavesson to keep her going for now, this was originally £42.99 or £33.43 on the site and I bought this for £24.95/

The next item is a Shires Pole Folding Saddle Rack, this is great for outside her stable as when she get's impatient she can start walking around and will knock things off the door in the process, great way of keeping the saddle intact and in one place. This was originally £7.50 or £6.43 on the site and I bought this for £4.75.

The last item I picked up was something to just have and to add to the first aid box just in case anything ever happened, it's the Roma Bandages they were originally £1.99 or £1.63 on the site and I bought these for £1.27.

The site I was able to buy all of this from Ponykit, I love their tagline 'Not just for Ponies'. I recommend keeping an eye out for any other great sales on their site because I know I will be.