are your horses getting their winter coats?

[only_me]

people keep asking me if i clip my horse - i dont! he just has a very fine summer coat!!

they always go "really?"

lots of people in the pony club have started to clip their ponies already! have you clipped yours?

have your horses started growing their winter coat?

 

[pootler]

I've noticed that both boys are just starting to change their coats already and they are in the South East which should be milder. I'm a long way off clipping though.

 

[maddielove]

I'm away to order a new set of blades when I get paid - I think I'll be clipping the end of next month!
My mare's been losing her coat for more than a fortnight!

 

[skewbald_one]

Mine has started to change his coat, I've had a light weight rug on him for a few days now, and he is stabled every night.
I don't usually clip before October.

 

[Sprout]

One of mine, a little native, has started to change his coat already, this is very early for him!

 

[My_Eeyore]

Of our 3 just one of them is changing his coat.Strange as they are all kept the same.

The other 2 are probably too busy eating to have time to change theirs

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

Tommy has started , Missys coat is very fine also , must take after her big brother

 

[longtalltilly]

Mine have stated to lose their summer coats! have been for a while now! I wont be clipping yet! probably get that done beginning October!

 

[Faithkat]

Yes, they are getting their winter coats. Depressing, isn't it? Mine had summer coats for exactly two months . . . . . and I don't clip

 

[Joanne101]

yep mine is, he's another native, seems to have only had his lovely summer coat for 3 months

, won't be clipping until october thou x

 

[only_me]

lol colleen!

must be it

merlin looses his winter coat around end of febuary and grows it again around the end of october!

and it is a very fine winter coat

he isnt even rugged up - at night he wears a cooler and if its raining he wears a waterproof rug with no filling in the field!!

it is a VERY depressing thought though...

its going to be a long winter

 

[ladyt25]

I have to clip mine in the summer - think did it the end of July, cos he gets a very thick coarse coat and it starts to look staring and he gets hot and miserable and struggles to compete. Will clip him again for the winter comps etc come end of oct.

 

[buffy2]

The oap has started to get a winter coat,the other pony not yet.

 

[KatB]

Mine gets clipped all year round, but yes, his coat is becoming denser and is well overdue for clipping!!

 

[dwi]

Yes, she's noticeably moulting and the shine has gone where its getting fluffy. I'm itching to get the clippers on her because I reckon she'll get too hot when we start hunting

 

[joshesmum]

Horses are getting their winter coats because the nights are drawing in its nothing to do with the climate.

 

[only_me]

so you are saying that horses get thick winter coats because of the light? nothing to do with the cold etc???

and in the middle of winter they have thick coats because it gets dark at 4pm?

 

[hellybelly6]

My native started getting his winter woollies about 5 weeks ago. Its the decrease in day light which causes it.

 

[liveryblues]

Have to agree, Always been told that coats thicken due to declining daylight. Its mother natures way of telling eveything that winters coming. All animals, plants, wildlife wil start to adjust to the decline in daylight hours. nothing to do with weather. Animals & plants cannot know that the weather is going to get colder nor can we. But less sunlight hours tells their body clocks that it time to grow winter woolies!

 

[liveryblues]

btw mine have always started to shed their summer coats around the begining of august regardless of the weather, its purely down to the nights starting to creep in!

 

[Hollycat]

The lack of/increase in daylight does affect hormone levels but I don't think its the whole story. A horse in the antarctic where it is light 24 hours a day would not shed its winter coat for a summer one. And when I lived in Australia I can't think that the horses grew a winter coat in winter - the daylight decreased but it was still hot. Similarly at the cat rescue centre where I volunteer there are now kittens being born all year round not just in the summer as they would in previous years. This I was told was due to changes in temperature causing the cats to be in heat all year round. Light is a big factor in hormone levels causng cats to come nto heat - but temperature must also have an effect as daylight has not changed recently as far as I know - but temperature has (by recently I mean in the last 20 years)