Minimising coat growth -how??

Marnie

Marnie

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I am probably not going to be able to clip my hairy cob mare this year. She has always had to be sedated to be clipped, but after a lot of work by the 2 girls who run our yard, they were able to clip her twice last year without sedation - she had a few hairy bits where she is ticklish, but they did a wonderful job. The last time she was clipped, the vet sedated her so we could do her legs as she was really suffering from feather mites, while the yard owner was doing one of her hind legs, she kicked out catching the owner on her temple resulting in two weeks in hospital, several titanium plates to rebuild her eyesocket and a number of months convalesence.

I can't risk anyone being injured again, so won't get her clipped. She gets incredibly hairy, how can I minimise this - is there any way? Will rugging help? I was always under the impression that this just flattened the coat and didn't stop it growing, is that true? She sweats up under very little exertion and her coat is so thick that it takes ages to dry her.

Any help gratefully received!
 
Rugging will help, but you need to start now. It deffo minimises growth to some degree, but it will not be the saviour of all your probs. Invest in a very good cooler (Mark Todd Coolex are great) and learn the old art of thatching to help your horse dry off after exercise.
 
Well I would think ruggin will help, because you are replacing the hair they would normally grow to keep warm, with the rug.

There's a hairy horse on our yard and the owner has it's turnout rug on now. I'm not sure what weight it is but it's been wearing it all summer!

Could you take her feathers off with scissors or maybe hand-clippers (manual)?
 
could you just clip her neck to keep her cooler thats what we did with one of the ponies at the yard last year. i'm not sure about rugs helping, maybe a wee bit as it keeps them warmer so they don't need to grow as thick a coat?? that could all be a load of c*** tho lol. will be interesting to see what everyone else has to say
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good luck
 
Think I am going to have to dig her rug out. Unfortunately things are further complicated by the fact that she gets so hot in rugs - the first year I had her, she looked like she was colicing when I put her rug on, she was throwing herself on the ground and rolling and rolling. She kept repeating the behaviour everytime we put the rug on until it was really cold.

Grrr - who told me cobs were easy!!!
 
If you want to control coat growth you have to control both temperature and light. In colder climates this is usually done by atarting with thin blankets as soon as the nights get cool and having horses under lights for part of the evening/morning. That said, with the type of horse you have your options are probably a bit limited. As suggested, would it be possible to just "strip clip" her? I've done that to horses without rugs and/or living out in much colder climates than this and it's usually enough to keep them comfortable working without upping their rug needs too much.
 
I was always told that coat growth had more to do with light than it did the temperature, although I have to say, im convinced the temperature plays a part.

I also have a horse that I wont clip. He HATES it. He's genuinely terrified and I dont like the trauma of sedating to clip him. All this being said, mine grows very very little winter coat if correctly managed so it's never been any kind of issue.

Anyway, I rug early. My horse is currently in his "second" weight of rug already. He started in a summer sheet around the middle of August (although it wasnt consistently on because i hate hot horses). He's now in a quite thick fleece pile rug with a thin cordura outer - im guessing around the 150 - 200g mark. In the next couple of weeks, he'll be in his first stable rug.

The stable lights are on from about 6pm at night and they arent turned off til the yard is locked at midnight. They're then back on at about 4:30 - 5am until its properly light.

Hes out in a lightweight rug also.

He also has roughly an hour a day under the solarium (apparently this helps immensely but its the first year im trying this)

We have a couple of people on the yard with competition horses and they will do anything to avoid clipping their horses also. But again, they're breeds that dont tend to grow heavy coats

But as i said.. not clipping doesnt actually effect my boy one way or another. Given yours appears to get a very heavy coat and sweats easily, id be concerned about the horse and want it clipping some way or another, even if thats just the absolute minimum off to try and allow him to cool a little while being worked.
 
I've got a sec D X thoro and I never clip him as I'm not convinced it's a good thing to do....!

In the winter (that'll be August then this year!), if we come back from a ride all sweaty, I wipe him down with warm water and put a cooler or a fleece on him until he dries off and I towel dry his neck or use a full neck covering fleece. Once dry, I put a suitable rug on him and out he goes for the rest of the day.

Clipping imo is a v traditional thing to do and makes horses look smart, but is so unnatural. Surely it's better for the humans to do a bit more work rather than shave the fur off an animal that feels he needs it?!

I'm open to persuasion on this one, but so far no-one I've spoken to can come up with really good reasons to clip.

Furthermore I keep my horse quite fit all year round and he doesn't seem to sweat excessively because he's used to doing a steady amount of exercise.

I welcome your comments....!
 
As a couple of others have said its due to light that your horse is growing a coat!

Horses depend upon light to let them know the seasons not as some people think the weather and temperature - with the summer we have just had we should have hairier than normal neds but we dont!

Just as you would for mares to bring them into season early you start with lights! You need to simulate summer for your horse so light at 4am and dark at 9pm will be good! Get some energy saving bulbs so you don't rack up an expensive electric bill.

Good luck
 
Thanks Tierra, At least there's ONE person who thinks the same. I now feel I have 'back-up' this winter!

I do think with today's modern fabrics such as fleeces and waffles, clipping is not necessary.

My friend clips hers and spends the whole winter moaning that the unclipped parts such as under the saddle are still really sweaty. Poor horse spends all winter with a cold tummy and legs and a wet back!
 
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