Horse and Man

I was petting my mare today and noticed the tell-tale, fuzzy fur flying signs that summer is almost over.

Well, I guess they weren’t “tell-tale” since it was very obvious by the proliferation of dander and short hairs e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e…, but she is a harbinger because no one else is shedding just yet.

And, judging by her 1000lb lean into me as I was scratching her, I’m guessing this coat phoenix process is rather itchy for her.  Itchy and Sudden.  I swear I was just petting her yesterday and she didn’t do this.  But today, heck, she almost squashed me between her flank and the stall wall — it felt soooooo good.  That was actually the first hint.  Her “ooooooh” face.  I was absent mindedly scritching her rump when I noticed her neck arch and rise about 40 feet.  Hmmmmmmm.   I looked to her head as I was scritchy scratching and by the time I had looked back to my hand, I had a pile of dander and hair about an inch high.  Wow!  Too bad there isn’t a market for horse hair attire…  Too bad we cannot manufacture horse hair shirts and sweaters.

Actually, that’s not true.  I make horse hair sweaters, inadvertently, every Spring and Fall.  All I have to do is wear a shirt out to the barn and groom someone.  By the time I get back to the house, I have a horse hair shirt!  It’s easy.  You could do it at home, too!

Anyway, back to my mare, the harbinger of Winter…

So, watching her summer coat jump from its follicles onto the barn floor, I started to wonder why she decided to shed her lighter frock when it was over 100F this week?  How come none of the other horses are following suit – literally.

But first, I went around to all the horses and started pulling on their coats to test the shed factor.  Most of them just gave me a dirty look but I did notice that my Harbinger mare’s young son, Wrigley, was also starting to shed.  Hmmmmm.  So, I went to Harbinger’s first, much older daughter, Gwen, to see if she was shedding.  Nope.  Double Hmmmmmm.  So much for it being genetic…

MY ONLINE QUEST

Interestingly, there wasn’t a whole lot of information on equine coats or the shedding process other than what tools to use to expedite the process and the basics of a healthy coat.  In fact, most articles that related to equine dermis or hair all pointed back to one specific book (Equine dermatology – Danny W. Scott, William Howard Miller – 2003).  And even that book, which seems to be the medical reference book for most articles, states, “Obviously, the details of the regulation of hair follicle cycling and growth are extraordinarily complex and poorly understood.”  Great.

There’s a thesis topic for all you vet grad students…  Someone, please study the equine hair coats!

Actually, someone did do a study related to this…

THE STUDY RELATED TO THIS

I found a paper written about the weight of equine hair in the JOURNAL OF APPLIED ANIMAL WELFARE SCIENCE (copyright 2006).  It was pretty fascinating, for me anyway, about how they measured heat loss in horses through infrared thermography during the winter months.  In that article, they had a table which showed the weight of hairs of Light, Warmblood, Coldblood horses and Ponies.

I think it is interesting that not all horses have the same hair coat.  Of course, this is obvious to the naked eye, but it is also nice to see it in print.  However, they didn’t say that a light horse needs different blanketing than a horse with a more dense coat… in fact, they said most all hair coats are efficient, no matter the different in density.

SHEDDING EXPLAINED

Shedding starts when the light changes.  In other words, when the days become shorter.  However, shedding can also be triggered by a cold snap or a cold night.  Now, there was maybe one cold night last week here.  So, if this is the science, I would say that my mare, who is the lead mare, is in the correct position because it is clear that she is the only one who noticed the colder evening.  And, her baby is just following suit, I think.  (Her eldest, teenage daughter never listens to anyone anyway so it follows that she wouldn’t be shedding.)

HAIR COATS AND WHY THEY WORK

I did find out a bit about the winter coat.  The hair coat regulates body temperature by hair length, thickness, and density.  Now, you’ve all seen how your horse’s coat looks puffier in winter, same as your cat.    Well, there is a muscle associated with every hair follicle that pulls the hair to a standing “puffed-up” position (piloerection). The process of piloerection increases the air content within the hair coat which insulates the skin. It’s like putting on a down vest.

There is a primary winter coat known as the outer or “guard” coat which is the longer hairs, and a secondary coat known as the inner coat.  The piloerection happens between these layers.  It has been reported that there are approximately 800-1,200 primary hairs and from 1,200-2,000 secondary hairs per square inch of skin in the horse.  This is why it is so easy to create several hair coat shirts in Fall…

The summer coat is sometimes called fur, which I don’t understand because it sheds… But anyway, the summer coat is always under the winter coats that shed in Spring.  This summer coat is often darker than the winter hairs and is shorter in length.  It is described as fine, soft wool.

THE EVIL SHED

Horses shed their coats every Spring and Fall.  What is odd about this is that ancient and undomesticated (shaggy) breeds only shed once a year between March and May… but, we have messed with Mother Nature a bit and now most horse breeds shed twice a year.

OK, now to the shedding process.  Hair does not grow continuously, but in cycles. There is a growing cycle (called the anagen phase), when the follicle is actively growing a hair, and a resting cycle (called the telogen phase), when the produced hair is retained within the follicle during the cycle, but is actually a dead hair and will subsequently be lost or shed. There is also a transition phase between the growth and resting cycles.

The shed usually starts on the neck, legs and rump.  (I find this tidbit interesting because my donkey’s legs are the last to shed.  Odd.)

The winter coat lasts from September to May.  The Summer coat from June to August.

SHEDDING IS DIFFERENT THAN UNIQUE COATS

Shedding is not to be confused with different coats.  During most horses lives, they will have between 4 and 5 individual and distinct coats.  They will have a birth coat which leaves to become a foal coat which leaves to become a yearling coat which leaves to become an adult summer coat which leaves to become an adult winter coat.  Those are the 4 – 5 coats.  (Some horses do not have a distinct foal and yearling coat however ancient and undomesticated breeds will.)

BLANKETING

Even though horses may look like they have a lighter coat than another horse, most healthy horses do not need to be blanketed unless the temperature reaches 18 F.  However, if your horse is compromised, let your vet help you decide.

It is suggested that you must be very careful if you blanket in the winter.  Blanketing will change the natural hair growth.  So, your horse will not have his natural defenses without his natural coat.  The blanket can also create overheating.  And, we all know that blankets can hide issues such as sores, injuries and loss of weight.  So, if you use winter blankets, be sure to check often and adjust where necessary.  Be very careful if you remove the blanket during the daytime or evening.  Check the outside temperature even if there is sunshine.  Once you blanket a horse during his hair growth cycle, he will not grow a coat if you remove the blanket during that season.  You need to be careful as the blanketing process will disable the horse’s natural ability to grow a winter coat and renders him defenseless against colder temperatures.

RAIN

Rain is trouble for a horse if it is also freezing out.  A blanket, unless it is a rain proof blanket, will not help and it could hurt.  The horse has to be able to keep his belly and underside dry or he will freeze.  This is why a herd of horses will huddle in the rain.

IN CONCLUSION

The equine hair coat and shedding process is not well understood.  But, today, I finally understand why my mare has clumpy, soft downy dander all over her booty.   She realized that is was cold one night last week.  Her body knows that September is right around the corner and she wants to be the first one in the barn with the Fall Fashion Forward coat.  So, she is shedding her shorter, soft Summer coat for the double “downy” coat of winter.  This process is itchy and therefore there will be a lot of rubbing going on which creates hairy remnants on stall walls, fence posts and gates.

And the best part?  Finding that “sweet spot” on your shedding horse so you can force him into the “ooooooohhhhh” face.  Ha!  Blackmail photos for life!

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
The August Bucket Fund will benefit the charity BHFER.  To learn all about the Bucket Fund and to donate $5,  please click on the photo (photo credit, Trish Lowe)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 29th, 2010 at 4:00 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.