horse been shedding coat when other horses are growing winter coat!?

The new mare we purchased in late June of this year has been shedding her coat. She has no signs of growing a winter coat yet and I am getting concerned because the weather is getting cooler. I have heard diet from a few people or allergies to her grain (stategy). She does not have scabs; rainrot or any other signs except shedding. She has been on pasture only with 1 lb of grain a day. I have a feeling the field she has been in might not be good enough quality...not sure. She was out in the richer field with the herd until she got mud fever on her back right which is white. That is cleared up now and she will be ready to go back out very soon with herd and in Nov they will start haying anyways for the winter months.

Any ideas or suggestions? I am thinking to start feeding her extra grain and start feeding her hay now; maybe a mix of grass/alfalfa and maybe a supplement for skin and coat. Can any one recommend a good supplement that would help? I do not want to have to blanket her all winter and her previous owner says she grows a very thick coat. Thank you all!

Hi,

Is she overweight? Got any lumpy fat deposits, like a cresty neck or such? Of course it's only a guess - possibility, based on so little info, but Cushings comes to mind.

As for grass not being good enough, 'improved' pastures can be too rich for horses & they tend to do better on low-grade(compared to cattle fattening & high carb diets) forage. Either way, grass(& Strategy) is not likely to be well balanced nutritionally, and deficiencies will make her more susceptible to infections such as mud fever, so I agree she could do with a good supplement. It depends what she's getting in her diet as to what an appropriate supplement would be, so for best results a pasture & diet analysis would be good. It's just not practical for many though and I personally use a program called FeedXL.com that I find great for working out the details.

If she's overweight or a good weight now, don't feed her more. It is not bad for them to lose a bit over winter, particularly if they're too fat already. If you do need to put some condition on her, I'd go for the alfalfa option over more grain.

Thank you Loosie. She is not overweight at all, no crusty neck or fat deposits. I agree with giving her better quaulity hay vs more grain. Geez I just had one of my dogs diagnosed with cushings..surely hope that is not it. Think I will try the better hay and keep close watch on her. I will check out the Feed xl.com

Horses shed out their summer coats as the winter coats grow in. Usally it is barely noticable but if she came to you in questionable shape, she probably had a coarser coat than your other horses and is just more obvious. She can also be one of those that just doesn't grow a coat. I have 2 that have winter coat that just look like dense summer coats. They never get over 1/2 inch long.

If she seems OK otherwise, there's a pretty fair chance she is fine & it's nothing to worry about. Perhaps she just hadn't been brushed regularly before you got her, so the old hairs are now coming out in abundance, instead of 'little & often'.

Where did she come from? I see you're in Ohio. If she came up from the south, her body might just not know what to do.

Dakota actually came to us in very good condition and perfect coat, she was at a trainers for 6 wks and she came from further north than we are. I think??? That it looks as if the hair on her back is not as thin, still has thin spots on neck and rump but unless it is my imagination she looks as if she is starting to get hair. I could see yesterday that her sides mostly the belly has shorter winter hair maybe coming in. We take very good care of her in brushing and tending to her everyday weather we ride or not. Thank you all...will keep you posted!