My 4yo WB gelding shed out normally this spring. But then grew back some thicker coat. Now he looks like he’s got a thicker coat all through his barrel. It almost looks like he’s dappled with winter coat.
Nutrition is good. Triple crown balancer with flax and simplifly. Orchard alfalfa hay and grass turnout.
Basic bloodwork didn’t show anything significant other than maybe mild anemia? We added B complex on advice of vet. He’s healthy with good feet and normal appetite.
When was your horse last wormed? Worms can cause a scruffy uneven coat. Did you ask your vet about this?
Interesting, I hadn’t thought about that. He was done with the barn in the spring, but I didn’t do fecals. That’s a good next step. Thanks!
Oddly, a few horses at the barn seemed to shed normal but grow in thicker summer coats this year. Our summer has been very hot and humid. So a few of us have had to clip our horses this summer.
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My 2 year old had a rough long-ish dry-grass-like coat early this summer. He was also slightly off in his hind end so we tested for EPM and the titers were extremely high. After treatment his coat condition improved. Might be something to investigate if deworming doesn’t help.
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It’s unlikely parasites would cause this kind of coat. But - what dewormer was used?
A FEC isn’t a bad idea, especially since it’s been plenty long enough since the Spring deworming even if done in May. If you didn’t target tapeworms (Equimax, Quest Plus) then I’d at least cover that with a double dose of pyrantel pamoate (Strongid, generics)
When did this coat start being noticeable? 4 would be awfully early, but not unheard of, for PPID.
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This pic doesn’t really read as longer or thicker to me–just a kind of burnt summer coat and the newer coat coming in behind it.
Mine look about like this too right now. It’s been such a tough summer, so hot and humid, that they’ve been sweaty, so the coats have taken salt and sun damage (even with hosing daily bringing them in!) And they started shedding right on schedule in June, so there’s new, better looking coat coming in, making some dapples.
I wouldn’t worry and just see what happens with the next coat.
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This crossed my mind, as well. I also wondered if he’d been clipped and it’s a poor (I apologize-I don’t mean to be insulting) clip job growing back. The one I clipped without bathing looked a little like this in places.
I am in Alabama and despite the heat, mine start to grow part of their winter coat in August. I guess they haven’t heard about global warming??? We won’t get cold until December. But then they start shedding in February. Probably light periods have a lot to do with coat growth, and I don’t think what you are seeing is unusual. Probably new coat that is darker up against bleached out summer coat.
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They’re doing their summer shed now in preparation for the new winter coat. Mine has that dappled look over his barrel as his darker fall color is starting to creep in. I wouldn’t say he’s got longer hair yet, but he’s definitely shedding out the summer (he’s bald in places, which makes sense, he started out the spring going bald in places due to an unseasonably hot few days, then evened out to normal spring shedding, had the prettiest coat he’s had in years, then stopped sweating, lost all the hair on his face, some on his butt and midline and chest, went crispy from the anhidrosis, then rebounded a little with daytime stabling under a fan, started his late summer shed, and is now trying to get a pretty coat again.
2025 has been a hot mess, literally. I’m not surprised the horses’ coats are confused.
daylight hours is 99% of coat growth and shedding. New coats start forming a couple of weeks after the Summer and Winter Solstices, the longest and shortest days of the year, respectively. So yes, in August, Summer coats are old and tired, and Winter coat new growth, not really visible, still start making an impact.
But this sounds like it started a while ago
Here in NC, I don’t see the Winter coat for about another month. It takes longer the farther South, and less time the farther North
Temperature plays a very small role in coat growth
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Yeah, I know it’s daylight hours that dictate shedding and growth. I don’t know why I said that. Lame attempt at humor, I guess.
@ElementFarm how long have you had this horse? I’ve known horses (actually, I owned one too come to think of it) that got messed up with their shedding/growing cycle if they’ve either been kept under lights or clipped at a time of year that kind of interrupted mother nature.
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Thank you to all who responded.
I actually bred this horse and his coat has always been on the thicker/coarse side. But this year it just seemed worse than before. He’s never been clipped.
It’s interesting to hear that some others out there have experienced the same thing. And it’s not bad. But my other horses are all sleek and shiny, with the exception of the EMS mare, so I wondered if something was wrong. I know it’s daylight-related, but NC has hot, humid summers, and he’s just not dressed appropriately, lol. I’ll continue to monitor to see what happens through his next few sheds.
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