Winter Woolies - should they grow back THAT fast?

[Sandee]

Two different directions here. My minis are clipped for Sept Nationals and sometimes I've seen them have the "ugly" stage coat come in before Nationals are over!

The light is supposed to be the answer however, my QH mare was brought to Wisconsin from Kansas. You'd think brrrr! Well, she had never wintered in a "real" barn before and I, of course, blanketed her thinking our winters are so much colder. For 3 winters that mare NEVER grew so much hair that she looked fuzzy. I had people ask me if we body clipped. Then we moved a bit further north and put her in our own barn and I could take the blanket on and off according to the temperatures (before it was a boarding barn and the blankets left on). She grew a longer and thicker coat the first winter we were here.

 

[kay56649]

I don't know if I agree with the daylight theory, we can leave our out and put blankets on them everyday, and when we want the hair to grow, we take the blankets off. We just did that with one of ours for our last show.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

Thank you all!

My big mare is 20 yrs old, and has lived in CNY for all of her life - and she literally has NO coat. Just her face gets woolies, the rest of her is sleek, shiny, and the classic "TB coat" all 12 mos a year. **sigh.** I guess Mr Cloudy will be in his sheepdog costume again this year....

 

[Riverdance]

It takes a couple of years for a horse to acclimate to a new climate. If you look up and read about coat growth, you will find that the change in the amount of light a day is what triggers winter coat growth. There is also some thought that a horse born and raised in Florida never really acclimates to a colder climate, and vise versa. This is going to be my second winter here in Florida, from Minnesota. They are growing thicker coats then I would like already. Except for the mare I bought from Florida a few years ago. She never really grew a heavy winter coat. Last year we ended up clipping head, neck chest and bellies of the horses so that would not over heat.

 

[madmax]

I am in Florida with many horses in their twenties lived here all their life....they begin shedding their summer coat each year in August and growing their winter coat while it is still super hot here in the 90's. They grow very heavy thick double coats every year and look like yaks, I think it is just genetic, nothing to do with environment, they are minis and that is what they do. Warmer temps here does not stop the thick coats, but we have many below freezing days and are glad for them then, but the very warm days that can come can make them sweaty. If you clip too quickly in early spring, you can bet your boots that you will have a late freeze!

 

[mdegner]

We have been able to judge the severity of our upcoming winter by how early our minis (and other animals) get their heavy coats. We live in MN and never blanket horses unless they were shaved for a show and have not grown out yet. Last year--which was a fairly mild winter for us--it took awhile for them to get the heavy coats. This year, everyone is well on their way to heavy coat, so I shudder to think what is coming. I don't know if there is any science behind this but, for what it's worth this has been our experience.

We also have a few white tail deer and they are getting very roly poly. In the past, when we start joking about our "Sharpei" deer, it means a tough winter....sigh

 

[Riverdance]

MadMax. you do not have any idea what a wooly coat is until you have had a mini in MN. LOL Down here they get winter coats, but OMG in MN you can not tell what they are For years I used to say you could not tell conformation under all that hair. Many people argued with me until I posted a before and after picture. The things I posted on this post were articles I have read in the past regarding timing the growth of winter coats or shedding out of winter coats, that it is the amount of or lack of light that trigers shedding or coat growth. I also read about horses being born in certain climates and moving to different ones and how they adjust. I am not saying they do not get fuzzy coats down here. i bought one down here when I still lived in MN, and she came out with her winter coat, which was nothing compared to the ones in MN. I kept her in the barn for most of the winter.

 

[Barnmother]

I too believe that light plays a big part in the winter fuzzies. Seems like once we hit the summer solstice the dog, cats and horses all quit shedding and start adding hair. By the same token they actually start to drop a hair or two beginning at the Winter Solsitice when the days start getting longer. With the minis (plushies in my neck of the woods) they seem to have so much hair, yes just like yaks, that they have no sooner lost the last hair that they are growing more. Even when we get 100 degree days they don't seem to suffer for the excess hair, they have plenty of shade they can utilize. By the same token I have never had to blanket them because they are warm enough in the winter.

I was told that once you start blanketing any horse in the winter to kill the "loft" in their coat laying it all down and have to continue blanketing. Therefore I stay away from blankets until we have clipped in the spring for training purposes, then we will blanket according to the weather to replace the hair we removed.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

I clipped my 2YO on Weds for showing at Worlds. I reclipped him TODAY because he was so fuzzy!! I told him he CANNOT grow more hair before Friday, his last class is Thursday!! I hate clipping!

My gelding I bought up in Canada has super woolies right now. I told him, he lives in Texas and doesn't NEED to grow that but he doesn't listen! And he's been here eight years!!!