I started leasing her a few months back and she is a 22 year old paint mare. Her owner never cared for her to much before me and didnt groom her very much during the winter, also she didnt ride her very much and she is out of shape:/ Well it's now the middle of summer and she has not completely shed out her winter coat! And I don't want to clip her (a little scared). Any good tips, methods, grooming supplies, etc. that will make her fur shed out? Thanks(: Omg whenever I ride she drips with sweat well because her coat, shes bent out of shape, and her age!We give her electrolytes too.
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I can tell you a couple of things that have helped me. Like some people said, giving them a wormer is supposed to help somehow. I have been able to tell a definite difference in my horses when I do certain things however. I've got two colts that I raised from babies. Of course the first winter, they put on their baby coats and I couldn't see my hand when I sank it down into their fur. After that, though, I they got their regular winter and summer coats and I could tell a difference based on what I did.When they were younger, from babies till about 2-3yrs old, I had a lot of free time to spend with them so I was grooming them alot more. I'd bath them pretty regular. I also had them at my uncles and up there I was feeding them maybe a quarter scoop of alfalfa cubes with every meal, which was twice a day in the winter, once in the summer. They were on pasture and the summer meal was just to keep them coming up when called.They are black and white paints. When I would bath them for the first time in summer and while feeding the cubes, they shed out much more fully and quickly than the other horses. They were sleek and shiny and their black parts seemed to stay blacker. This year, they are 3 and 4 respectively and I've got a new job. I haven't had a lot of extra hours to spend brushing them and bathing them. I also haven't been feeding them the alfalfa cubes either. They shed out just fine, but it took them longer, they aren't sleek and shiny but a little dull. They are also a little more faded than they have been in the past.I personally think it's a cobination of things. One, I think you need to feed her so that her body has all the nutrients it needs to produce hair and to shed it. Then you need to spend plenty of time grooming her, which will spread skin oils on to the hair and keep them shiny and healthy. I also use a fly spray called "Horse and Pony" that is really effective and has sun screen in it, though I've heard that the amount of sunscreen in them doesn't amount to much. I still have to put sun screen lotion on pink noses. Something else I recommend you getting is a furminator. We bought two for our animals. They are color coded. We got a yellow for large dogs and a blue for cats and small dogs. They make a green for horses, but it's only an inch bigger than the yellow. I just use the yellow on large dogs and the horses. They are expensive if you look at retail, but we bought ours for $20-$25 on an amazon used/like new. They were still in the plastic and work excellently. We had a lab that had started shedding in the spring when we got them and I literally could have filled a 5gal bucket with what that thing stripped off of her. Watch some of the youtube videos, they aren't exaggerating. I use it on my horses and it quickly strips any loose hair. It's quality made of stainless steel, rubber and molded plastic. It feels sturdy in your hand. The teeth are close together, so it's gentler than a deshedding blade for horses. It only strips out the loose hair and leaves the good hair behind.My cat was looking a little mangy and I just did him last weekend. He looks like he's lost a few pounds and he's shiny. The horses do the same way. Good luck with her. She's probably sweating more from old age and being out of shape than the coat, though it probably isn't helping. I once went to look at a horse being given to a friend. They had it saddled and had ridden it some. It had white foaming sweat all over it's body. I thought they'd been riding it for hours even though they said 15 minutes. The friend took it home and road it later in the week. He rode it a half mile and said it looked the same. It was just an old, out of shape, show paso fino and it wanted to go, go, go, but didn't have the stamina for it.
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- If she's not on wormer meds then that normally helps shed the winter coat. If that doesn't work try using the shedding blade.
- At her age, she may not be getting enough nutrients from her diet. Hanging onto winter hair can be a sign of malnutrition. Have you had her teeth checked ? if the old owner didn't care for her well, she may not be able to chew properly. Teeth grow and get sharp edges, it can really cut up the inside of the mouth. If you feed her grain, do you see whole grains in the manure ? if so, she needs her teeth to be floated. { horse dentistry is called floating}..Short of that, a good shedding blade should pull out any dead hair. Clipping would be a thing to consider but if you have never done it, she is not the horse to learn on. Get someone who knows how to do it, and watch. It is not hard, but it take a bit of technique and the horse has to cooperate.If she has lost a lot of teeth, which happens with age, she may need a pelleted diet, as she may not be able to chew hay and grain well enough to get what she needs from the food. You might try a good vitamin supplement too.Don't push her too hard until she gets some muscle on her. She's old and she'll take time to get fit and you are not going to get her fit if her teeth are really bad.
- if it is not from malnutrition from old age then try a metal curry. Use small circles.
- Supplement wise maybe a coat supplement and some multi vitamins. If that's out of the question then LOTS of brushing and LOTS AND LOST for currying :) Put a little elbow grease into your currying!! :)
- who's the scared one with the clippers, You or the mare? If you're scared you might mess up or hurt her then let someone who has done it before clip her. If she's the one scared of the clippers, just go slow & easy with her. Start with turning on the clippers. Let her get used to the sound don't forget to reward her when she's calm with the sound. Then turn it off for a minute & turn it back on. Repeat this for awhile; once you think she has gotten comfortable with the sound then get her used to it touching her. Place the clippers on her to let her feel the vibrations of the clippers, BUT DON'T start clipping her yet. Repeat just like you would for the sound. This all takes patience & repetition. If you just don't want to clip her at all, then just groom her a lot. Rubber curry combs work great for getting her coat loose. you can also groom her as you're giving her a bath. Water with the stimulation of brushes should get her coat the way you need it. Since her coat is still thick, the important thing is to keep her cool during this summer heat. Hose her down; keep chest, back & under her tail cool.
