Moulting - slow summer coat growth

Meowy Catkin

Meowy Catkin

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This does seem to be normal for my gelding, but I've not seen it on another horse. He has huge black patches, which is actually his skin where the winter coat has moulted away, but the summer coat has not grown in yet. His topline has some fluffy winter coat hanging on and his lower legs, head and neck are now in full summer coat. So he is a bit naked in certain areas at the moment. My other two nearly have full summer coats, so the difference is quite noticeable.

Does anyone else have a horse like this?
 
Not the same I'm afraid but the standing joke on our yard is that mine only stops moulting for about two days a year. He's currently got summer coat on his neck and shoulders but the rest is still coming off in sheets and looks like taking several more months, by which time he'll be growing it again...
 
Granny horse had that one year but it wasn't normal for her. It was weird, she went back to a standard coat change the next year and it never happened again. I wonder if it's just one if those things or whether there's a cause... the spring it happened to Granny she hadn't had any grass turnout for 2 months! Thought it might be that she was missing something in her diet or that she hadn't had enough sunlight or something. But I was just theorizing.
 
This has happened to our TB this year...exactly as you describe. He's chestnut, so has really hairy legs, hairy around his rubs, but black bald patches on his neck and withers...which now have his summer coat coming through.
Weirdly my baby cob is holding on to a lot of his winter coat still....maybe he knows something lol.
 
my mare is the same, was desperately looking for some growth yesterday but she is just all patchy and still just has guard hairs. I thought it would grow through quick as she was clipped out in January and has been unrugged since then. Interesting what you say PF as my mare was on restricted turn out through Feb -mid April.
 
My share is in his mid twenties and has moulted weird for the past few years. Last year was particularly bad and he had huge bald patches on his back (very dry skin also) and looked very scruffy for a few weeks before his summer coat finally kick started. This year has been better, still moulting in huge clumps but there is a short summer coat underneath. The only difference is that hes been on linseed and brewers yeast all winter, may be a total coincidence (this winters weather has been opposite of last year here) but hopefully that's helped his coat and skin. Its always the same patches of hair each year that moult strangely.
 
B is shedding like his life depends on it and where he was clipped the summer coat is coming through covered in lovely dapples. DP on the other hand is refusing to hand over any of his winter woolies anywhere but his neck and looks most odd.
 
Mine lives out, but I was having to feed lots of forage at the end of winter as the field was pretty much bare.

He is chestnut like HorseyTee's TB and is fine furred (Arab) even when in full winter coat. Having said that, my chestnut mare is also fine furred (Anglo-arab) and she has a lovely summer coat that is almost through (it's got a nice metallic sheen too - very pretty).

ETA - He was like this even as a yearling.
 
moleskinsmum said:
Not the same I'm afraid but the standing joke on our yard is that mine only stops moulting for about two days a year. He's currently got summer coat on his neck and shoulders but the rest is still coming off in sheets and looks like taking several more months, by which time he'll be growing it again...
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Hairy pony is exactly the same, every year. We always joked that he only takes about a week off moulting in June and then starts again...
 
Very strange....our TB also lives out, and the grazing is actually pretty decent, with all sorts of bushes and plants to nibble on too.
However this was the first winter where he went into it not looking great, and had to be rugged more heavily as he didn't grow the coat he did last year for winter. He is rising 18.
 
PapaverFollis said:
Granny horse had that one year but it wasn't normal for her. It was weird, she went back to a standard coat change the next year and it never happened again. I wonder if it's just one if those things or whether there's a cause... the spring it happened to Granny she hadn't had any grass turnout for 2 months! Thought it might be that she was missing something in her diet or that she hadn't had enough sunlight or something. But I was just theorizing.
Click to expand...
Your theory is right ,omega 3 and 6 are missing from the grass {essential fatty acid } from memory November to about April for these months of the year I feed linseed ,to replace what is missing . we have a cob , a fell ,and a Shetland almost in full summer coats now .
 
I do feed linseed as part of their hard feeds. :) I think he's just how he is, but it would do no harm to give him extra next spring and see if there's any difference.
 
I don't have this but I wouldn't be surprised. The weather has been all over the place this year, snow, sunshine, hot, cold. Maybe his circadian rhythms are off! Some horses copy better with the temperature swings than others, if you haven;t changed anything significantly then I wouldn't worry. Most importantly: is he happy? My boy is very grumpy during coat change!
 
Mine has got a lot of summer coat grown through but hasn't shed much winter coat yet so he currently has double the amount of coat and sweats up as soon as he does any work, The winter coat has started shedding a lot more this week so hopefully he'll soon be okay.
 
One of mine is looking really scruffy at the moment. The unclipped bits are coming out unevenly and he looks like the moths have been at him. The clipped bits look a bit bare in places where summer coat hasn't come through yet so a bit like your bare patches. He's very shiny through. Hasn't happened before but as said weather has been a bit all over the place.

The retired unclipped does a weird colour change where he goes from red bay in winter to sooty in spring which then comes out to reveal a bright bay underneath. The colour looks patchy as he changes but the coat always look OK.

Both have hung onto their coats later than normal.
 
Did someone say the black hair took longer to moult than the white on their coloured horses my black pony is always the last to start. Mind you he may be starting with cushings as he is an occasional laminitic especially if his center neck circumferance reaches 90cm
 
My gelding is very similar to this F, and he is also chestnut. He currently has panda patches round his eyes and some patches on his neck, but is still holding onto a lot of his winter coat (which was yack-like - he is welsh and winters out without a rug). My Arab (grey) isn't moulting quite as smoothly as usually either but her summer coat is coming in quicker. They both did this last year too and did wonder if there is something lacking in their winter field, but I don't know what. Their summer coats did come through beautifully in the end last year though, so am assuming it will be the same this year. All the other horses on the yard are clipped, so it's hard to know if it's just my two.
 
The clipping thing is a good point. I've not needed to clip, but most of the horses that I know who aren't mine are fully clipped. The unclipped Shetlands down the road are still very fluffy and leave hair everywhere they go! ;)
 
My living out unclipped oldies are more or less rid of their winter fluff
my part clipped-part stabled WB is still clinging to her fluffy bits, my fully clipped one is nearly in her full summer coat.

So the WB is the odd one out of mine, she's barely got her summer coat through even on the clipped bits. The woolly stuff is falling out but there's lots left to go. They are all different!
 
My two are both hanging on to their winter coats. One has random missing patches on his back but a full coat and the other has lost on his shoulders and part of his neck but still has full fluff from the withers back 🤣

I got them in from the field today and they were sticky and a bit sweaty just standing in the stables...

They are both unclipped and live out.
 
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