Flicky wearing her Unlined Ripstop Combi She is pictured wearing her Shadecloth Combi on our Summer Rugs page

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What Rugs Do We Use at Home?

Introducing: AHW Evening Star: Evening Star, aka 'Flicky', is a 6yo stock horse/quarterhorse cross palomino mare. She features in most of our photos on this web site as our rug model.  She is used for HRCAV dressage, combined training, showing, and horse trials. She goes to stud next week, to a chestnut warmblood stallion, which will be her first foal. Flicky's wardrobe: Flicky is currently wearing a Shadecloth combi which is now 2 years old. It is battered (she is a rug killer!), but still surviving! During winter she was unclipped and wore a Ripstop Nylon Stable rug, with an Unlined Ripstop Canvas Combi over the top until October, when I changed her to just the unlined combi. Greenhill Matari: Aka 'Banner', is my very well campaigned and extremely well performed part-arab palomino gelding, he is 19 years old. I have owned him since he was a weanling, and he is just coming back into work after an 18 month layoff. He is used mainly for HRCAV dressage and occassionally showing and the odd combined training and horse trials event.  He is fully paddocked. Banner's wardrobe: Banner is currently paddock trialling a new Shadecloth combi, made from an improved shadecloth fabric with a UV protection factor of 98%. So far results have been excellent, with no sweating at all on 4 succcessive days of 40-42 degree heat. We are quite excited about this new fabric, which will  be available in a great range of new colours, once paddock testing is complete. During winter Banner wears an AHW Super Paddock, with a polarfeece hood and no under rugs. When he is clipped, mid July, he has a Super Fleece Stable rug added to his paddock attire. The night before a competition, I use a Breeze Hood Combi overnight under an unlined canvas in summer, or his winter rugs in the colder months. Eddy Eddy is a 22yo, retired part-arab gelding. He is a treasured family member (as are all of our horses), and a wonderful paddock companion. He is a very woolly boy, and possibly due to his age, develops rain scald very easily so he must be fully rugged as soon as the weather gets wet. Eddy's wardrobe: Last winter Eddy received his very first rug made just for him, not a hand-me-down! It is a Terminator Standard Combi, and he did not need any other under rugs throughout the worst of the winter, due to his woolly coat. I anticipate that this rug will last him for about 5 or 6 winters as he is very easy on rugs. The combi is necessary for him because he gets bad rain scald on his neck. He wore this rug from May through to September and seemed quite comfortable in it until his coat started to drop, when he starts to scratch on everything in sight! Eddy does not wear any summer rugs, although he sometimes wears a shadecloth face mask if the flies bother his eyes during the hotter weather. Palace Charm 'Paris', as we call her, is a stunning  5yo TB broodmare. We are planning to use her as our foundation broodmare for our planned palomino warmblood breeding program. She will be going in foal sometime in January. Paris' wardrobe: Paris is currently wearing a Shadecloth combi, made specially for her as she is very deep in the body for 15.3, but is quite compact (she takes a 6'3" in length, but the neckline is cut to a 6'6" sizing). Paris has the most beautiful glossy coat, due to the polishing effect of the shadecloth. She did have some sweating initially in the rug with our first bout of hot weather with high 30's, however now that she has been wearing the rug for about 8 weeks, she has aclimatised and came through the recent 40 degree days with only minimal sweating under the shoulder lining. Paris had been rugged when I bought her in June, and during winter she wore a Winter Warrior Deluxe combi, changing over to a 'spring' rug in September as she is a hot horse and sweats under her rugs easily, this rug is a ripstop canvas with a lining of heavy weight cotton drill. The rug was virtually the same as the Winter Warrior Deluxe, except with cotton drill instead of blanket lining.

This page was last updated on: January 23, 2003

Flicky wearing her Unlined Ripstop Combi She is pictured wearing her Shadecloth Combi on our Summer Rugs page

Banner in his Super Paddock with Polar Fleece Hood

Eddy wearing his Terminator Combi - note the different coloured neck cover!

Paris in her Shadecloth combi - Banner is lurking in the background, wearing Flicky's 2yo Shadecloth combi

We currently have seven horses on our property, three of them wearing summer rugs at present, although all are rugged in the cold weather. We have my current riding horse, Greenhill Matari, three broodies, our aged gelding, Eddy, a lovely 2yo warmblood/TB filly who will be my next riding proposition and later used in our breeding program, and my daughter's delighful stud saddle pony who is currently only a yearling.

The New Shadecloth currently being tested