Summer coats.

When horses shed do they shed all of their hair off? Or do they have some hair in summer? Or is it just skin? Stupid I know. And I should know this but I don't XD

Lola has been shedding for two months. She finally has very little hair left on her neck and shoulder. But everywhere else there is still alot..

Here is a picture taken yesterday. She looks like she is fully shedded around the shoulder/neck area in the picture but there is still hair.

Oh and also will that line where she was clipped go away so she does not look clipped anymore?

Yes she will have a small coat during the summer and yes her hair will eventually grow back where it has been clipped.

Erm, you really should have known that.

Interesting question from a horse owner????
Yes horse's have hair all year round.... just like any other mammal that grows a winter coat and sheds for summer. The coat just because shorter and finer through the summer months, and longer and thicker in the winter months.

When was she clipped? It is inadvisable to clip when the coat has started to change, as you will damage the summer coat coming through and the clip lines will take longer to fade. I usually clip in May (I'm in Australia though, so this is the first month of winter here) and then keep my horses rugged and stabled at night, under lights if I am really wanting their coat to stay super short. By the time the coat starts to change for summer in around August, the coat has become thicker than a normal summer coat, but not yet a full winter, and will shed nicely into a fine summer coat. Clip during this time and you risk damaging the summer coat as I said above, and your lines will last a lot longer as the coat does not shed much at all once the summer coat has come through.

She is my first horse to have during the summer so I didn't know. How silly of me.

Anyways she was clipped last November. So once the hair does not fall out anymore that means the winter coat is gone?

oh dw about it! The forum is here to ask questions!

This maybe a bit confusing, but horses actually are double coated meaning they have a very dense thick undercoat with the upper outer coat. I found this out quite by chance. I had given a horse a complete full-blown bath with shampoo and conditioner. I then was using a water/sweat scraper to remove all the excess water from his coat that I could. Then when he was fully dry with no time to roll or get turn-out I started brushing him, guess what his under coat revealed, yup it was still dusty and quite untouched by the bath I had given him. I had used a rubber nubbed bathing mitt all along while giving him the bath.

That I reasoned is why they fair far better in most climates given a chance for them to get acclaimated to different altitudes or seasonal weather changes. For a very good example, I have a friend who is Swede by birth, but married an American and became a naturialized USA citizen. Her American husband was killed in an auto accident so she sold off all her assets here and shipped herself and her horse to Sweden.

Your horse will not be naked when she sheds her winter coat...and yes her clip line will also disappear as her winter coat (mostly undercoat where she's clipped) is replaced by her shorter summer coat.