All That Hair!

[LittleMiss]

I thought my Newfoundland ponies got fuzzy in the winter! My mare is like a wooly mammoth! This is my first experience with Mini's and I was wondering how you guys deal with the fuzzy coats and the manes.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

well once it is warm enough...clippers

otherwise just grooming to get the loose stuff off

 

[Bess Kelly]

My pastures have areas covered with hair from rolling!

Amounts grown will vary with animals depending on weather needs, lineage and their nutritional status.

Well fed, worm free, they normally grow a thick coat but, of a pretty uniform length--couple inches--which they will shed in Spring. I liken it to looking at a piece of velvet cloth, only longer shafts. Honestly if it isn't pretty uniform in length, excepting the lower legs & fetlocks which can tend to be lenghtened, then you need to be checking the body condition, nutritional condition of the animal and the worm load status.....IMO.

Many on here clip. I prefer to rake their coats to help them shed but, all of mine are beginning to lose their coats. End of this month I will begin a "rake ritual". They gang up and push one another away to get their turn with the shedding blade and I literally have to rake up a huge pile of hair! I try to keep a roll out container by me to pull the hair into from off of the blade.

 

[Joanne]

Now I am curious.

What does a Newfoundland pony look like ????

 

[Taylor Jo]

I just went out in the "wind" and used a furminator on mine. Of course that was AFTER I had to chase them down for 5 min cause the wind made them all skittish. Then every time the wind made a little movement they jumped. I didn't get much hair off my mare but my gelding is REALLY hairy. Of course he didn't want me doing much so about 5 min of that and he got insulted and walked away. I tried to get him back but then the chase was on, so I said forget it, I not doing another 5 min chase and don't feel like going to the barn and getting a bucket of grain. So I just left. Usually..... They just come right to me, gee they can't wait to come and get to me. This wind makes them crazy. TJ

 

[mightymiracles]

This makes me curious, do any you blanket to keep the hair growth down or to speed up shedding? Why clip them? The ones I have seen clipped seem itchy and so uncomfotable but I know its a well known practice to clip.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

This makes me curious, do any you blanket to keep the hair growth down or to speed up shedding? Why clip them? The ones I have seen clipped seem itchy and so uncomfotable but I know its a well known practice to clip.

Blanketing a hairy horse defeats the purpose of leaving them hairy in the first place but I suppose it could help in a way but the hair is supposed to remain poofy to hold the body heat in. And yes clipped horses do get itchy but seeing as you have to clip to show anyways, that is what I do, but as long as you keep brushing them it will knock the dead hair off and is much easier than brushing a hairy horse. After the real cold was over if I wanted to help speed up shedding without clipping I would blanket them but only if I knew it wasnt going to get rediculously cold again since I want them to keep their natural heat. But with big horses people blanket them to get a show coat on them so it should work for minis as well.

 

[~Lisa~]

Everyone here will get the "spring special rough cut" within the next week. I use my large Stewarts and clip with the hair they look really silly for a while but gives them a bit more protection then with a proper clip. The last thing I want is them grooming eachother and getting mouthfuls of hair from one another.

 

[nbark]

This makes me curious, do any you blanket to keep the hair growth down or to speed up shedding? Why clip them? The ones I have seen clipped seem itchy and so uncomfotable but I know its a well known practice to clip.

I clipped mine in November and threw the blankets on and she still looks like she did in November. She is wearing her fleece sweatshirt from Schneiders and two more blankets on top of that, one with a hood. Even her legs have not grown hair. Her mane is always banded to keep it over and flat under that. Her tail is always in a sock and I just had to cut 6" off of it, tails are really long and pretty when they are kept in a sock.

PS: No itching either on the one that is clipped, the other one is driving me nuts and I can't wait to get her clipped. She will also be clipped before winter and blanketed. Rubbing against every stationary item in the barn right now.