Anybody else's horses shedding?

[Peggy]

My broodmares always are the first to start shedding every year....but I noticed the others also are begining to lose some hair.

[Calens Arabians]

Gosh, sounds kinda early to be shedding in Oregon.

Yes, broodies do tend to shed first- I heard about others with this situation either in a group I am in or on another board- anyway, I have some suspicions as to why this would be.

My first guess, and main reasoning is that pregnant horses are on a hormone roller coaster. Since pregnant humans tend to experience hair-loss from the same issue, why not horses? Winter hair is much heavier and would therefor be even more subject to shedding.

I have also wondered if maybe the added heat of the growing foal (fetus for some of you) doesn't necessitate earlier shedding.

I also noticed when I was prego that as my abdominal skin began to tighten and stretch that peach fuzz and lower hairs went away, dunno if that was due to the clothes getting too small or the stretching of the skin, either way the hairs were coming out.

Back to my first comment though, is Oregon getting more sun that normal for this time of the year? Do you have over-night lighting where the horses sleep? Are they wearing blankets and sweating under them? (If so they could just be too warm. This could also be a combo prob with something else too, IF.)

If these don't explain it, look to your feed. Could be too 'hot' for their needs, or they could be short on a necessary nutrient or combo of nutrients. I would recommend a mineral chew (not a trace mineral block- someone else explained this else where- trace blocks only contain a trace of minerals, not that they necessarily contain the trace minerals need).

If this still doesn't help, I would recommend talking to your vet- of course, you could call him/her and ask some questions anyway. Usually they will have answers for health concerns without having to see the horse(s) in question. Hope that helps...
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[Inyureye]

Not to detract from Calens' reply about checking out their nutritional needs, but I had heard that the main stimulus to hair growth and shedding is the light - the length of days, and not the temperature. As of Dec21, the days are getting longer, and the horses are going to start shedding.
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[CHIRON]

EVERYTHING is starting to shed here. "Sunny" So Cal , when it's not RAINING. We're on the Mojave Desert & have had more rain this season than our usual TWO YEAR total.
First to start losing hair was an 8 month old filly. Very strange for an under yearling. But.....two weeks ago my flowering pear popped buds
Going to blossom any minute. Very, very wet & muddy but unseasonably warm. Going to be an early spring for everybody
P.S pregnant mares & breeding stallions generally hair up less & shed earlier than the rest of the herd

[spursthatjingle]

Yup-noticed my girls are shedding too-and not just the preggos-my yearling is too. Scratching their necks and my gloves have loads of hair. We went through 2 weeks of above normal temps(14C-58F) and rain sunshine days-now we're back to seasonal(-8c/22F). Better to do it slowly over a long period of time then all of a sudden in 2 weeks-heck of a mess lol.

[Calens Arabians]

Sunlight/artificial light tends to be the main culprit, however, it is not the only one... Just thought I would dredge up other ideas. Generally the farther north you go, the lower the light levels and therefor the longer time it takes for shedding to be going strong.

Just something I have observed; horses tend to shed faster when it is warm out immediately after a rain. I found that bathing a horse on the first warm spring (sometimes late winter by the calendar) day and following with a rubber curry got rid of 75+% of the hair in one effort.
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[Inyureye]

Yes, Calens, I noticed that too, but I always thought that was because the hair was "loosened" up, or dead, or whatever, and ready to come out, rain/bath/curry just helped it along.
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[JOHN]

I looked at the mares close enough to notice one starting to bag up but nothing seems to be shedding.
Since it is still getting near zero nightly with a daily high in the 20's, they better keep their hair for a while.

[Lucilla]

Yep, my horses are sarting to shed and so is my dog. First noticed it on my gelding and then my Akita who mults every year. She is starting to mult ever so slightly and yes I think it is starting early this year. I hate all that dead hair, it's a mess and then there is the mud. YUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[Rebecca B]

Peggy, si on the preggers, no (or just barely) on geldings. I think we're south of you, did you say Willamette Valley? But we're at about 2000
feet elevation. I don't think it's temperature mediated, because it started
during the worst snow storm there's been here in years! It is early though, I looked in my garden journal where I write that stuff down, and
it's usually more like the first week or so in Feb. I'll tell you what, the
"lots of acorns mean a tough winter" thing seems to have been true this
year.

[TheOtherLynn]

Mine looks like a cross between a bear and a goat. She's outside and she's keepin' everything she has!

[Peggy]

My prego mare was shedding already last month. But now my 24 yo pensioner is shedding too. My hand comes away from rubbing her forehead full of hair. ICK! It has been cold here. Already more subfreezing nights than we normally have for the whole winter. CA has been getting all our rain. Sorry about that.

Rebecca B I am in the Willamette Valley, North of you. We usually don't get really cold weather....especially at 500 ft elevation. Just OODLES of water. LOL

I have a question for all of you....how many times a year does a horse shed?

[Rebecca B]

Twice! Or is this a trick question? Peggy, geldings are
starting to shed quite a bit in the last couple days. AND
there's a great blue heron by our pond. We could do a
shedding map of the world... with little pins.

[RA]

[Kathy]

I will have to remember that one......wonder if I could find that name in any book? lol
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