[gallop3337]

I wasn't sure where to post this so I figured general chat would be my best bet.

I was wondering if anyone else has lighter colored horses with long coats and darker colored horses with shorter winter coats? I have a few spot (almost all white) filly who has the thickest coat and then a chestnut mare who hardly gets a winter coat. Both horses were born and live in Wisconsin.

I was wondering if since white horses would have a higher albedo that they would need longer/thicker coats to stay warm? Where as a darker horse absorbs the sunlight easier and doesn't need such a think coat...

Just thought I'd see what other people's thoughts were on the subject and if they've seen a relationship similar to this or if it just all depends on the horse and has nothing to do with coat color...

[BAKER65]

My buckskin has a thick short coat and the chestnut has a real short coat(she never has got a winter coat and she is 21)

[1rish]

My black horse had the longest and thickest coat of any horse I have ever seen. I could put rubber bands in his bodyhair.

[haunani]

This is my first winter having 2 horses I can compare with each other. As of now, my grey (white) arab is getting a nice, long, THICK coat, and has been for a few weeks now. The pinto draftX, on the other hand, is JUST starting to grow one, with his white areas growing longer/faster than his black areas.

[Blistering Winds]

Sage goes Dark gray in the winter...she is all long and woolie

Blister has never grown long. he's red

The black gelding is short hair

The palomino mare is a flippin Mammouth in hair!!!

She beats them all!!

[Top Dun]

Hobo my bay dun gelding was a wooly momoth.
Topper my red dun filly short but thick hair (born in Iowa)
Ladybug my bay dun leopard filly has a combined coat part long part short. The dun colored hairs are longer then the white hairs ( born in Minnesota)
Super the bay Varnish ( mostly white) barely grows a coat at all ( born in michigan) and I have to blanket her frequently
Stormy the fewspot ( born in Wa state) medium lenght all over.

[Kicks]

Every horse is different!

Doe - few spot - has almost no hair during the summer and only short - medium during winter.

Rague - chestnut near leopard - her white gets med. - long, her colored spots are shorter. Her spots look like they are sunk in.

Kicks - black near leopard - his black gets longer than his white. His spots 'jump' out of his white.

Jelly Bean - leopard - we just got him in May so not sure yet what he'll do this winter.

Sandy - varnish roan mare I had years ago, always got a longer/thicker coat in SW FL than she did in NW WA after we move there.

According to a report I saw last winter, animals (horses included) that are predominately white are warmer that darker color (I always thought it was the other way around as dark absorbs heat). Something about white hair having air space in it that makes it insulate the animal better (like a polar bear). .

[Tatooed Lady]

The coats I've seen around the stable are pretty random looking.
Gray draft - getting thick and fuzzy, not really long yet (I figure from the stray hairs I found when I bought her in July, she'll have about 2" long coat)

Red roan QH - coat's not really coming in heavy or thick yet, owner is afraid that she'll get cold so has started to blanket her

Bay QH - at least 1" long, thick

Leopard Appaloosa - long, thick coat started

Black QH - thick long coat started

Dark brown QH - thick long coat started

I have to wonder if it's related to color/breed, or if it's more what the horse's body gets of nutrients. The bay and appaloosa with thick, heavy coats are fed Buckeye Feeds Gro n Win every day(recommended amounts). They're boarded at a friend's house, not with the rest of the group mentioned.
The gray gets the same stuff (Gro n Win) 2-3 times per week (maybe a pound each time she gets it). The rest of the horses mentioned don't get any supplements, but the black and the dark brown QH are both "easy keepers" and are heavy just from pasture and hay.
So, maybe the horses that are getting all their required nutrients and have more "to spare" are the ones getting the thickest, warmest coats? This might be really simple stuff to some people, but I'm trying to work my way through a lot of it. *lol* I've been feeding Queen to help her coat stay really healthy to protect her for whatever Mother Nature slings.

[Anti-Silence]

Parker counts as light and dark... but his red roan grows longer and fluffier that his white markings, which seem thicker but not so fluffy.

Smores is a bay and his nickname is Fuzz for a reason... he looks like the fur on a pair of moccasins in the winter, all fluffy and soft...

Smudge the grey gets long thick hair.

Bogey the sorrel, not so thick, not so long... But he does fine as is.

[bay_blnd jmpr07]

Legz is mostly white...and she is just a BALL of FUZZ!! She's so cute! haha She's a little wooly mammoth.