Three yearlings as shedding season is starting.
Although you can’t tell by the temperatures shedding season is here. That time in horse owners’ lives when we come in with hair all over us. Spring should not be too far off. The temperatures here have been bouncing around like a child with a bouncy ball. The week before last it was extremely cold. Last week I was comfortable outside in short sleeves. This week it’s cold again with snow.
I’ve always felt that when the weather is like this it’s hard on everyone, especially the animals who are outside. My mares always live outside and have a shelter that they can get into. They would be offended if I tried to put blankets on them. I’m not sure if Ace was in a barn however he did not have a heavy winter coat when he arrived in December. He is now in a run with a shelter but when it gets cold, I feel like I need to blanket him when the temperature drops.
I used to go to some horse shows in January so I would trick my horses into shedding early. One year they had started shedding and we went to Scottsdale, AZ for a week of shows. I ended up leaving one of my horses with my friend who lives in Colorado on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains. She didn’t have a barn and he decided that it wasn’t time to shed and held on to his winter coat. When we went to a show in March it didn’t look like he was going to shed his winter coat so we clipped him so he wouldn’t get too hot.
Rather than temperatures the horse’s shedding or growing hair is based on the length of daylight in a day. As the daylight hours get shorter, they grow their winter coat and as the daylight hours get longer, they shed their winter coat.
When I showed horses through the winter not only would I blanket them so they wouldn’t get cold, I would also turn lights on in the barn in the evenings to trick them into thinking it was still daylight outside. So, when I left my horse in Colorado where he wasn’t in a barn under lights in January the “daylight” hours got shorter, and he held onto his winter coat, so we had to clip it off later in the spring.
Are you tricking yourself? Do you have something you need to shed? Now’s the time – shedding season is here. Connect with me here to see how the horses and I can help.
Shedding your baggage can be Dirty Work.
Make a Connection in the comments below.
Onward!
