So I went to the barn last night (like I do almost every night) and aside from the fact that he was bored all seemed normal. That is until I went to groom Genny. HE WAS SHEDDING! I don’t recall him ever loosing hair in January before. Now it was not a lot of hair, but it was enough that I had a nice sheet of white hair to pull off the curry glove. Should I be worried? It is not like I live in Florida or something where it might get warmer soon. I am well above the Mason Dixon line and it is still winter and still going to be winter for several more months. Should I be worried? What does it mean? I groom him every day and this has not happened before.
In other news of things I am going to see today if I have enough time to ride after work before it gets dark. The barn that Texas is at does not have lights so I am going to rush to the barn after work and see if I have time. I don’t think it will be a deal breaker if I can’t…I mean it is going to be COLD for the next few months and it is staying later every day so it is a temporary problem. It would just be nice to be able to ride 3 days a week. Texas has a lot of learning left to do. I would really like to have him be able to do a 20 meter cirlce by next month. I might be reaching a little high with that one. Right now he is just a baby horse and even getting him to stay in the ring takes riding. I am looking forward to riding so I hope it happens! Any tips for riding at night?
I don’t recall any of mine shedding in January, but it might mean we will have an early spring. Fingers crossed.
Hope you get to ride tonight. If it’s dark you could wear a miner’s helmet with a light or put a flashlight in your mouth. Just kidding, a lame attempt at humor.
Shedding in January. Yes, possible, even probable and desirable. I have noticed that Janow has begun losing his winter coat around New Year’s every year for 15 years.
Genny is in a new barn, right? Do they turn lights on in the evening?
The TIMING for shedding and coat growth is determined by the photoperiod, not the temperature or the Farmer’s Almanac.. Photoperiod is the cycle of light and dark. The pineal gland is in charge of that. It’s small, near the brain, and looks like a pine cone. As soon as the length of daylight vs dark starts to increase, shedidng should begin. It is barely noticable at first.
The winter solstice was sometime around Christmas, I think a little bit before.
They normally have SO MUCH winter hair that they need to get started shedding it out a bit ahead of time. They can lose some without losing warmth.
The tips of the new summer hair should start to grow, but you cant see it in the mass of winter hair still intact. After summer solstice when the days start to get shorter, you will notice that the summer hair begins to shed. You still have to look closely.
This is why some show barns have installed lights in the stalls to inhibit winter coats rather than heaters. Also the reason why some people say “Never clip after Thanksgiving(end of November for Canuuks).” You will clip the tips off the summer hair and lose some shine.
Don’t worry. NOT shedding on time is a symptom of health problems.
Cara beat me to my response, but she included nice scientific words like photoperiod.
Our stallion is starting to shed already, but I haven’t noticed any of the others doing it. Then again, he’s the only one stabled in the main barn at night (where the lights may stay on till 7 or 8) that hasn’t been body clipped.
We do however clip after Thanksgiving — with most horses if you don’t, they end up being hairy again before winter is over! The adage I’ve heard is never before Halloween (Oct 31) and never after Valentine’s (Feb 14). M just re-clipped her Advanced horse yesterday. actually, and I have to re-clip my guy sometime soon so I don’t have to deal with the avalanche of hair when he finally starts shedding in earnest. With a good feeding and grooming program they still get plenty of shine on their coats.
Oops, forgot about the smiley faces… that should have read “stay on till 7 or 8 “
GHM – haha…not only did I get the joke but I had to laugh out loud because I do have a head lamp from when I used to work at the barn and feed time was 5:30, before the sun came out!
Cara – Now that you mentioned they do leave the lights on until they finish night check at night (about 9pm). In past years he did not stay in a lighted stall so when it got dark it was dark…that is so cool! I learned something new today! And now I don’t have to worry about him being sick or something.
NTAT – I will give you an A for effort even though your answer was late
And I am glad the stallion is shedding too so my horse is not alone. As for clipping I don’t think I will ever have to worry about that because there is no need to clip a retired horse and I am never going to own another one again. My half-lease horses are done by their owners.
Thanks guys! It all makes sense now and I learned something new! I love it!
I’ve seen horses shed a little off and on in the mid-winter months. They’d do it for a few days and then stop, despite the weather being cold. Does Genny stand under bright lights at all? Tracie did a lot of research last year and part of what triggers the winter hair to shed out is the longer daylight. Last year, Classic started shedding out her winter coat around February. The best guess they had was that the lights were on for hours early in the morning while the horses ate and again in the evening past normal winter daylight hours and it triggered the process. Not sure how much validity there is to that, but it’s at least worth thinking about.
My mare has begin to shed already, but Cara already gave a great response, so I won’t be redundant. My gelding doesn’t have as thick a coat, so he hasn’t started yet.
Funny you should mention shedding…I noticed a stray hair or two slipping off from Sandy while I was riding him the other day, but thought it must be some random oddity. After all, we’ve been buried beneath snow for 3 weeks now and winter has just begun! But looking back, he was growing his winter coat in back in July…so maybe spring will come sooner than later??? One can only pray it’s so!