Shetland Ponies - should they still have most of their winter coats?

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summerlulu

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Hi there,
I am in the process of trying to find a suitable shetland pony for my daughter and didn't realise what a minefield it was!! I went to look at one yesterday and it had most of its winter coat still, it was coming out but it wasn't coming out by the handful which I thought it probably should.....could this be cushings??
I've already been fleeced by a seller trying to tell me her pony was 10 then once I'd shelled out £170 for a vetting found out it was closer to 30....just wondering if I'm right to have doubts about this one??

Thanks for any advice
 
My teeny wee shetland still has a good bit of his winter coat but it is coming out in bucket loads and at this rate I would say it'll be out fully shortly - not sure if the lack of the coat coming out is cushings - maybe others will know more.

Hope this helps.
 
My shetland still has plenty of coat to come out, he only really has a summer coat for about a month in july before he decides it's time to grow a new winter one. We've had him 8 years and he's always been like this, and he doesn't have cushings. No one has told him about global warming you see, he thinks it's going to snow for 5 months of the year!!
 
I had a tiny shetland x (probably) a few years ago, he was born here. He used to have a lovely summer coat - in August!!! - that was it, by September he'd be well on the way to woolliness again, nothing 'wrong' with him at all (his mum was much the same) just liked hanging on to his coat.
 
My shetland also hangs on to his winter coat. He is rugged up in the winter and stabled at night, always in the hope that he won't grow such a big thick coat but it never seems to work! Mid january i begin grooming him to within an inch of his life daily and this time every year he always has a half winter half summer coat! I'm going to have to start working him harder so that i can justify clipping him this winter!
 
Custer gets his in august and loses it in July...
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I fully clip my mini shettie every May as he still has a full winter coat and swealters and itches... I also have a standard shettie who just has a small amount left on her belly..
Mini is 10 and standard is only 6..
 
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I fully clip my mini shettie every May as he still has a full winter coat and swealters and itches...

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That's what i have to do with my mini, he grows such i thick coat in the winter that if i left him he would still have a thick coat come July and then he gets too hot. I must confess i also get feed up coming in looking like my Shetland because i have more of his hair on me, is another reason why i clip him.
 
Maybe mine is the one with the problem!!he lost all of his about a month ago and he is 19,id love to put some pics on,but dont know where to start
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We breed & show shetlands, and their coats really vary. Those not rugged or stabled often do retain their winter coats well into the summer - as others have said, just in time to grow the next one! A thick woolly coat now isn't something to worry about, as long as it is coming out, and pony seems fine otherwise.

It can be a real nuisance now - I'm trying to sell a couple, and am having to use their winter coat photos, as they haven't finished getting into their summer coats yet. Plus we're due in the show ring shortly, and still brushing them like mad to get it all out!!!

And don't even start me on yearling shetland coats - they are just the worst - thick, woolly, and matted. No matter how long you spend on them, the following day they look just as bad again!
 
i usually clip mine in may but have not done so yet cos it`s not been warm consistantly.(left to it, he would lose his in july ready to grow again in august.)
i have been using the tail rake thingy on him with good results.
 
My Shettie had to be clipped out in Feb ready for spring as he gets sweet itch and thethick coat doesn't help. The two other mini's still look like they are just coming into winter not summer!
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