Stunted yearling still has a foal coat?! Will it fall out?

Kallibear

Kallibear

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 July 2008
Messages
4,618
Location
Edinburgh
Visit site
Fergus (yearling highland pony) had Sniffles over the winter and it really stunted his growth. He came out the winter really skinny and rather small for his age. Had vet out and they said he was fine, just stunted and should catch up eventually. He's now lean but acceptable.

However it's his coat that's very odd. He was very late in growing a winter coat then grew the most incredible 4" long (yes,literally) fluffball coat. Masses of long guard hair with a super thick undercoat. He lost so little heat through it he had 3" of snow sitting on him as standard.

Now, that was fine at the time but he now hasn't lost it?! He started moulting the guard last month and has now finished but he's still left with a dense thick 2" undercoat that feels like fur, and showing not even the slightest inclination of loosing it. There's no shorter coat underneath.

Will it fall out? Or will he be stuck with it this year? (bloody hope not as he's meant to be a show pony!) Is it common in stunted youngsters? It looks and feels like a foal coat!
 
This is totally normal in native yearlings. Native yearlings always seem to hang onto their coats. It usually seems to take them until about June or July to clear all of it, unless you're religiously brushing them for hours each day. Then in August, they start growing their winter coat!!!

The yearling coat is always a nightmare, I dread them! It should all come out eventually.
 
Thanks. I hadn't heard that about oil. Wonder if it really works?

Def no unwanted guests, thank god, but he does has that kind of coat.

Whilst it's only May, everyone else has just about finished moulting, plus he's lost the long hairs and seems to have stopped doing anything else, now he's got a nice even but inch long fur coat?

We've not had a native yearling before (unless my traditional cob counts) so it might just be the breed he is. Annoying since he's been booked into the Royal Highland Show for ages and currently looks like a motheaten carpet:o
 
For some reason alot of horses are holding onto their winter woolies this year, so don't worry too much, my cob cross 2 year old still has a fair coat on him, although he is moulting it's very slow, compared to my wb crosses that are almost through to their summer coats, but there's a tb on our yard that still has his blanket clip clear as day. As others have said, lots of oil, veg or soya or an oil based supplement such as saracen equijewel (which will also help with weight) or outshine will help.
 
My TB X Trak (so probably about 85% TB) was clipped once last year, mid Oct. You can still just about see her clip lines. We are down south so although we had a bad winter it wasn't half as bad as the scottish one. I find feeding ground linseed helps with coat quality, they certainly have a mirror shine.
 
I bought a welsh cob in Jan, he was 1 end of April. When I had him gelded in Jan the vet said he was very immature for his age. He still has quite abit of coat to come out but so do the rest of my natives! I wouldn't worry. He's picking up already, he's on lots of lovely grass and he has shot up quite a bit! x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top