ridecamp@endurance.net: Winter Coats

Winter Coats

Katja Halfmeyer (Halfmeyer@cc.ucsf.edu)
Wed, 01 Oct 1997 10:29:29 -0700

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Hi Lauren and ridecamper,

concerning winter coats I felt like giving my 0.02......

German winters can be unpredictable and since my guy grows the thickest fur
ever seen, I had to make a decision last winter that worked fine for us.

First of all you have to make the decision of whether you want to do full
training during the winter-time and have the opportunity to do so, means do
you have enough ridable trails or a covered arena?
Next thought should be whether your horse lives indoor or outdoor?!
If you really want to do full training and it is possible for your horse to
wear a blanket all day without having buddies around tearing it off and no
one seeing it, than you should go ahead and clip your horse ASAP in those
regions, where he/she sweats mostly.
You should do it as soon as possible, because this way you can get rid of
the worst winter-hair, but still some hair will grow and your horse will
not be completely naked for the rest of the winter.
The style of cliping is more or less up to you. I just did the neck and
from the loin down last winter, which looked really funny, but it worked
well. The idea is to leave as much winter-hair on your horse as possible to
reduce the risk of a flue or cough etc.
For training you need something like a polar fleece blanket. On really cold
days I walk my horse with the blanket on to warm up, before I take it down
and start trotting <in an arena that is>. The polar fleece is the best
choice for letting the horse cool down and dry underneath the blanket. As
you might have seen already, the blanket will get wet with sweat on the
outside and a dry horse under it, really neat!!
You should make sure that the horse is completely dry before you put the
heavy duty all-day-and -night blanket on. Someone on ridecamp suggested a
special company, unfortunately I forgot what it was...
On last thing at the end <this is getting too long>, the first couple of
days after the cliping you should be a little careful exposing the horse to
cold wind and rain, he/she might get a sore throat <happened to my guy>.

Hope this helps,

Katja
with Nanak <Jahan>, who has never seen a clip-machine in his life......

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