summer coats?

When do horses start shedding their winter coats? Average temp here would be 7-10 degrees celsius in March/April. Will it shed then? And when can I take off her outdoor rug?


Temperature can vary a lot so it could be way hotter than that.

Here in central Europe horses change their coats approximately in April, but in April it's already 20°C if not more. The first photo of my horse in my profile is taken in April this year and you can see he still has his fuzzy winter fur on while I was sweating my bum off in my t-shirt.

The length of light influences the growing and shedding of a horses coat.

The longer the days get the more hair your horse will shed. It has nothing to do with the tempeture.

Never heard about this before, good to know. Does that mean some horses lose the winter coat when it's 10°C and some when it's 30°C? Poor horses... lol

Yep. Daylight hours are responsible for winter hair growth. Here's a couple articles on it.

http://animalscience.tamu.edu/images...air-length.pdf

Blanketing Your Horse - Does Blanketing Prevent Horse's Winter Coat Growth?

They're right, it is when the days start getting longer again. Like where I live the 22 of december is the longest night of the year, after that my mare will start shedding lightly in a week or two. I blanket her because she'll lose her winter coat before feburary and march which tends to be really cold here.

She has a rug on now and a cooler rug because it is so cold. So if I leave the rug on longer she will shed quicker?

No, she'll shed the same. It has nothing to do with how warm she is. It's the hours of daylight.

I am not totally sure about that, but I think so. My own horse doesn't get a winter coat just another short coat that stands on ends. By the end of April my mare's coat is pretty much ready for summer. Someone elsee probably can give a better answer.

So they do not shed if they are too warm but they grow hair when they are too cold ?! My mare was clipped a few weeks ago. It has been extremely cold this past month and nearly all of her hair grew back in two weeks. Why would they do that in the cold then not shed it if they are too hot?