It's my understanding that it's the shorter hours
of daylight that trigger the growth of the winter coat. It was still very warm
here as my horses got their winter coats....all but one Arab mare. She's lived
her entire life in this area and she just doesn't grow a long winter coat. It's
thicker than it was, but if you saw her you would not think she had a winter
coat. Having seen what she looks like in the summer (incredibly slick), I know
that it is much thicker than before, however, it isn't warm enough
for her to handle very cold, wet, windy weather without either a blanket or
stall. She sometimes needs both, or she'll shiver all night long. I've
heard of some TB's like this also.
