# How long for a winter coat?



## BaileyJo (Aug 23, 2011)

If I am moving a horse who lives indoors (about 45 degrees) to living outdoors (about 20s during the day to single digits at night), how long will I have to wait until their own coat is sufficient warmth for them? Someone told me my horse's coat can grow long enough in 24 hours. Is this true?

Thanks.


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## HarleyWood (Oct 14, 2011)

it takes weeks and sometime months for them to grow hair you will need to get a blanket for the rest of the winter.


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## BaileyJo (Aug 23, 2011)

That's what I thought. I'm thinking their horse must be a super horse to grow that much hair over night.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

Is there shelter in the outdoor enclosure you will now be using? If so, what sort? Have the horses been kept blanketed or clipped while being kept indoors or left with a natural coat? What sort of forage will be available to them?


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## goneriding (Jun 6, 2011)

Maybe a lightweight one. Maybe you could see how your horse does without one first. Provide plenty of hay and see how it goes. Maybe blanket at night and take it off during the day. Shelter is a factor as well.


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## BaileyJo (Aug 23, 2011)

There is a three sided shelter. Also it is free choice hay. Not clipped, not blanketed but never outside when colder than freezing during the day. Never lower than 45 inside.

BTW, it's not my horse. She has to rough it outside 24/7 and has lived outside her entire life. It's a friend of mine who is moving her horse outside where it will be in the teens and lower 20s the next two days. Low going down below zero. I was just surprised to hear that a horse could grow that much hair in 24 hours to be warm in those temps.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

It's probably not actually growing hair overnight as much as fluffing up what hair is already there but just lying flat during the warmer parts of the day. My horse has 1" long hairs on his body. They only stand up on the coldest days. The rest of the time he looks "normal".


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## BaileyJo (Aug 23, 2011)

MyBoyPuck said:


> It's probably not actually growing hair overnight as much as fluffing up what hair is already there but just lying flat during the warmer parts of the day. My horse has 1" long hairs on his body. They only stand up on the coldest days. The rest of the time he looks "normal".


Now that you say that, it makes more sense. And in thinking about it, my horse is the same. Explains why some days she is a fur ball and the others she looks pretty normal.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

If she does have a lot of hair, I wouldn't blanket. The weight of the blanket will just keep the hairs from fluffing up and providing natural body heat.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

By cold my first thought was maybe -30. The horse will be fine. Plenty of hay will help keep it warm, the act of digestion. Blanketing will interfere with the horse keeping warm as a horse can raise or slick it's coat as a thermal regulator. It likely has more coat then it seems because the horse has kept it closer to it's body. It may suddenly look like a furball with the cooler temps but being outside with clean air and plenty of movement is much healthier.


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