Here in Montana, it happens in late September, a sudden change in the sheen of our horses, a velvety look. It’s the coming of winter hair, nature’s response to chilly nights and the promise of cold days to come.
Unfortunately, too many riders fight nature’s call for better coats by trimming off hair they consider ugly or by blanketing their horses to prevent its growth.
Some with a show background carry over their need for spotless grooming to their trail horses, without thinking that the uses are very different. Show horses must please human judges, and that requires shaved ears and muzzles, clean pasterns, and the thin coats nature deems proper for summer.
However, if you use your trail horse in fall and winter, he needs these natural allies against cold and abrasion.
Don’t blanket your trail horse — nature will provide a far better coat than you can supply. And don’t despise a little fetlock hair, present in some horses of saddle breeding.
Old-timers considered fetlock hair to be evidence of cold blood (draft) lineage, but many considered that a good thing, evidence of a sturdy, sensible, disposition in an animal with ample bone.
Such hair has a practical purpose in winter, to provide warmth to lower limbs where circulation is limited and to protect from abrasions caused by crusted snow and rough trails.
And please, don’t trim those ears, the part of your horse’s anatomy most vulnerable to cold. He’ll need that protection when you meet a blast of winter on the trail.
Yes, keep your trail horse looking nice, but if you live in a northern climate, welcome nature’s natural protection.
(For more on fall trail riding, see “Fall: The Best Trail Season,” Sketches from the Trail, The Trail Rider, September/October ’10)
Dan Aadland raises mountain-bred Tennessee Walking Horses and gaited mules on his ranch in Montana. His most recent books are In Trace of TR; The Best of All Seasons; The CompleteTrail Horse; and 101 Trail Riding Tips. For information on Aadland’s horses, books, and clinics, visit http://my.montana.net/draa.
