THE HORSE’S COAT IN SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN AND WINTER
The state of a horse’s coat indicates, in a considerable measure, the general condition of the individual. If the coat gets into bad condition in a horse that is worked, it will soon injuriously affect his general health, which will show itself by loss of flesh, life and vigor. The care of the coat then, outside of the question of appearance, has an important influence in contributing to a horse’s well-being.
If we had summer-like weather all the year round, with its genial warmth to encourage the activity of the skin, we should have very little trouble with the coat, as it would then remain short and sleek, with very little care. With the changes of season, however, and great variations of temperature, we find marked alterations in it. The horse’s skin, and its appendage, the coat, are very sensitive to climatic conditions, and nature makes an effort to change the coat to suit altered states. Nature is very successful in this while a horse is roaming about under natural conditions, and a horse so circumstanced can stand great extremes of temperature without suffering; but as soon as he is put to work and exerted to a sufficient extent to heat him up, he then requires artificial care, in order to maintain good condition.
As has been already stated, the coat is more easily kept in a satisfactory state during the summer than at any other season of the year. The heat of summer encourages sweating, and this is beneficial rather than injurious, within certain limits, so long as the horse “cools out” and dries up in a normal manner. This is more readily accomplished in the summer than at any other time, owing to the shortness of the coat, and the little danger from drafts at this season of the year. Nothing is more injurious to a horse in this connection than allowing his coat to remain wet. At certain times of the year, when it is long, some horses will remain wet for hours after having been exerted, unless they receive great attention. The frequent occurrence of this will soon cause unthriftiness. Standing with a wet coat in this way frequently has a most relaxing effect upon the system, and must be guarded against. In summer time there is very little difficulty about this, but there is one form of treatment very much neglected in hot weather, which is of great benefit if properly applied. The coats of horses that are frequently warmed up in hot weather get sticky, greasy and stained, and it is almost impossible to get them perfectly clean and glossy without giving them a good washing at intervals. Some horsemen are afraid to adopt this treatment, but it is not at all dangerous, and most beneficial if properly carried out. As a rule it is only necessary on very hot days, and if it is done on cool ones, care must be taken to “dry out” carefully to avoid chills. When a horse comes in on a hot day, having sweated more or less profusely, water that has been warmed in the sun should be freely sponged over him. This should then be thoroughly scraped off, and a woolen cooler put over him; then he should be walked for a while, if possible, until he cools out. As soon as the coat is dry, grooming will make him look and feel fresh and well. It is not always necessary to use a cooler in “cooling out” when it is very warm.
The autumn is the most trying time of the year to keep the coat in a satisfactory state, for several reasons. A partial moult takes place at this time, rendering the skin irritable to some extent. Besides, there are the extremes of cool nights and warm days. The cool nights cause the coat to grow and increase the tendency to sweating when the animal is exerted during the heat of the day. From the increased length of coat it becomes much more difficult to dry a horse after work, and he is apt to suffer unless great care is taken to protect him from the ill-consequences of standing with a wet coat. This difficulty becomes so marked in some horses at the end of September and throughout October that those in charge of them begin to discuss the advisability of clipping.
As a general rule, clipping should be deferred as late into the autumn as possible, or until the temperature of the day and night are not so much at variance; then the growth of the coat lessens considerably. A horse clipped on the 10th of November may not require clipping again for two months or more, while one clipped on the 10th of October may need it again in two or three weeks. Horses clipped early in the autumn usually have very dry-looking coats, and it seldom improves their appearance, though it does in a measure relieve them from the ill-results of standing with wet coats, especially if it is repeated several times during that season.
Every reasonable effort should be made to put off clipping until November, and the necessity for it may be avoided in nearly all cases until then. This can be accomplished in most instances by care in proper blanketing. A light sheet may be all that the horse can stand in the day time without sweating, but at night he should be kept fairly warmly blanketed to check the growth of the coat. It is usually necessary to begin this the end of August. Discretion, of course, must be used, so that the covering is not heavy enough to cause sweating. Some horses have naturally fine short coats, and with ordinary care will not need clipping, even in winter, which is so much the better; but the majority of them need it, and are much benefited by it.
Under certain circumstances, as in the case of horses having been turned out and brought up for work, say in April, it will be beneficial to clip them, for otherwise they look badly and will not thrive well on account of sweating too freely when worked.
Clipping at this season of the year retards the shedding of the roots of the coat, and it is better to let it shed naturally in case the conditions are such as will admit of it, without injury to the horse’s condition and working ability.
In a horse that is not too ambitious and has not to be exerted violently, it is better to wait for him to shed naturally, which he will do rapidly at this season of the year if he gets regular work, good grooming and is well fed. Horses that are fed warmed boiled feed for the evening meal will shed much earlier in the season than those kept on dry feed. Some horses, however, will not stand this without becoming too relaxed in the bowels, especially if worked hard more than once or twice a week; others will not stand it at all without scouring. Care in all instances must be exercised not to feed an excessive quantity. In clipping saddle horses the mistake is usually made of including the part covered by the saddle, and a great deal of trouble frequently results in consequence. Newly clipped horses, particularly if they are not thoroughly used to the pressure and friction of the saddle, are very apt to develop an eczematous eruption under it, and even horses regularly used for saddle work are not immune to such injury after clipping.
The layman is apt to assume that an attack of eczema coming on under the conditions described is due to derangement of the blood or the digestive organs. While derangement of the blood or the digestive organs may predispose to an attack of this nature, some local irritation is usually needed to determine its development. It is obvious that a considerable amount of local irritation must result when the skin, divested of its coat, is, for an hour or two daily, subjected to the pressure and rubbing of the saddle. The rubbing action is further intensified by the sweating that almost always takes place under the saddle. Another contributing cause is the rapid drying and cooling of the skin when the saddle is removed from a clipped horse’s back. The rapid drying and cooling is apt to have a deranging effect upon the circulation of the skin at this part, and consequently conduces to inflammation of that covering.
Eczema under the saddle is more apt to occur in cold than in warm weather. More than fifteen per cent. of the saddle horses clipped in midwinter develop this affection under the saddle, while not more than one per cent. with backs unclipped show it.
When harness horses develop it, it is on the parts subjected to most pressure that it first shows itself, as under the collar and back pad. The eruption has a great tendency to spread, and beginning on the skin covered by the saddle, often extends over the whole of the back and side.
Occurring, as it frequently does, with a number of clipped horses in a large stable, it is thought by stablemen and owners to be contagious, but it is not so. It is apparent, then, that clipping the coat under the saddle is a bad practice. Even in cases in which an eruption does not take place, the rubbing is apt to cause temporary baldness and troublesome abrasions, particularly if the skin has not been toughened by long and continual pressure and rubbing of the saddle, the result of steady saddlework.