I have a 6 year old gelding that is not shedding this year.
He was on stall rest, then half day turnout from September 2022 until February 2023 then chucked out 24/7. He grew a coat when he was out. Now it’s +30C all week and he is expiring in the heat. I see no movement on the coat dropping. Should I be pulling blood? His coat is shiny and dark compared to any other year. He looks fantastic but hairy!
I’d body clip, pull blood and test for cushings, even though he’s a bit young.
IMG_7257
Video is post lesson and cool out with the hair brushed forward
I agree. A horse at my farm was diagnosed with Cushings at a young age. The vet said he was too young to have Cushings but my farrier insisted that we do it because she knew a horse diagnosed with Cushings at age 4.
I can’t tell much from the video 
A friend’s older gelding still had most of his Winter coat last month.
It would shed if you curried vigorously, but uber-long guardhairs remained.
Even my mini - notorious for shedding slowly - was a lot less hairy.
Grain of salt:
Friend is one who doesn’t ask vet for details.
Supposedly Cushing’s did not show in bloodwork, horse was prescribed “pills” - when I asked, he didn’t know if they were pergolide/Prascend.
But he claimed horse began shedding & had more energy “in a couple days”.
Which made me doubt the above med was prescribed (and his observations).
Now vet has switched from “pills” to levothyroxine/Thyro-L & friend says thyroid tested low.
He expects the same miraculous recovery on this med.
Even though I advised him there’s a loading dose & period before effects can be noticed.
So maybe ask your vet about thyroid levels.
You say “he grew a coat when he was out.” Does that insinuate that from September to February he DIDN’T grow a coat? Even if in a barn part of the day, he still should have grown a normal coat UNLESS he was under lights while in the barn? Because if lighting kept him from growing his winter coat normally (and he should have started that in September), then it’s likely his timing is out of whack. I had a horse kept under lights one year because I was showing at AQHA Congress and needed to keep him slick. I took him out from under lights in when we returned and he had a horrible coat in the spring that wouldn’t shed. I finally body clipped him, he never went under lights again, and he shed normally for the rest of his long life.
If he didn’t truly grow his coat until February, that’s why he’s not shedding. Clip him and carry on. He’ll be back on track next year.
If he did have a winter coat and this has nothing to do with the lighting in the barn while he was not turned out, still clip, but get a vet out and some blood pulled to see what might be going on.
That is correct. He was on stall rest in a heated barn and the barn lights were on from 6am to 9:30pm
Aha! Well, that was the trouble then. Glad you got him clipped. He’ll be fine now. He’s a cutie pie!
Nice catch on the lights!
Glad it was something that simple. Mind you the paranoid horse person in me would be keeping a close eye next spring. 
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