Do Horses Shed Their Hair? Your Questions Answered

Source: Leszek Glasner/Shutterstock.com

When we think about animals that shed their hair, we often think of our pets, like dogs and cats. While you should definitely groom your furry, four-legged friends with the Uproot Cleaner Pro™ tool, did you know that you can use it on bigger animals like a horse, too?  In this blog, we’ll look at the reasons behind why horses shed their hair and useful tips for grooming them.

1. Why Do Horses Shed Their Hair? — Horses’ hair changes with the seasons. As the weather changes from a cold winter to a brisk spring, your horse will shed their winter hair. The number of daylight hours can also affect their hair growth. From summer to fall, as both the daylight hours and the temperature begin to dwindle, you may notice your horse’s coat changing from a short summer coat to a longer, fuzzier coat for autumn. According to Michigan State University, a horse will begin to shed their coat as both the daylight hours and temperatures begin to rise in the spring.

Get a Large Pet Hair Remover

2. Grooming and Deshedding Tips for Horses — To aid the deshedding process, expose your horse to light and consistent grooming. The light can be artificial light or even just letting them soak in some vitamin D from the sun. Use a horse deshedding tool to help speed up your horse’s shedding process. The feeling and sound of grooming your horse is oh-so-satisfying. Just look at this horse grooming TikTok video that is sure to give you all the tingles. Your horse will love being groomed, and you’ll love grooming them, too!

3. How to Help Your Horse Shed Their Hair — We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to consistently groom your horse. In addition to helping make their coat look sleek and shiny, you’ll also be helping out their overall health since they’ll be shedding their old hair and making way for new, healthy hair. Get a horse shedding brush to help with your horse’s grooming routine.

4. ‘Normal’ Horse Shedding — Generally speaking, a horse’s shedding season is during the springtime, but they actually shed all year long. It’s just much more obvious in the springtime with the change of weather and daylight hours. When in doubt, seek advice from a veterinarian if you feel like your horse is shedding too much or not enough. Horse grooming tools should be used in conjunction with plenty of exercise, bathing and a healthy diet.

Buy the Uproot Cleaner Pro™

5. How Much Shedding Is Too Much Shedding? — If you live in a warmer climate or are seeing sudden changes in the weather, you might notice your horse shedding. A lot. You may see that they’re shedding down to their skin in big patches. It may appear like your horse is going bald. When you go to touch your horse’s hair, you can feel patches of skin where there used to be hair and fur with no hair whatsoever. Speak with your veterinarian to double-check, but it’s quite common for horses to shed quite a lot, especially in hotter areas or if your recent forecast has seen abrupt changes in the weather. Check out this TikTok video for inspiration on how to groom your horse.

6. What Happens If Your Horse Isn’t Shedding Enough? — While shedding is associated with an increase in temperature, it’s not actually triggered by the rise in temperature. According to PLOS, a horse’s shedding is actually linked to the hours of daylight increase or photoperiods. Each horse has a unique shedding schedule that stays relatively consistent year after year. However, if your horse isn’t shedding as they normally would, especially if they’re an older horse, it may be a sign of illness such as Cushing’s disease. Other signs of Cushing’s disease include long “cat hairs” under their stomach and chin. Speak with your vet right away if you notice any signs of your horse not shedding normally.

With a combination of consistent grooming and a healthy diet, your horse’s coat should be as good as new. From your small domestic pets like cats and dogs to larger animal friends like horses, Uproot Clean offers large pet hair remover tools to help brush and clean up after your pet’s hair. These reusable brushes are so simple to use. They act like deshedding tools and hair brushes for your pet’s hair and fur, but they can also be used on clothing, furniture, carpets and more to remove any excess pet hair.