| Author |
Message |
    
Fred H. Moyer
Yearling
Username: Fmoyer
Post Number: 53
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 01:16 am: | 
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My little molly mule is having some patchy air loss. She has about 7 or 8 nickel sized spots on her face and has lost most of the hair on her inner thighs and a half dollar sized patch on her lower rump. Doesn't seem to be scratching, is eating fine and running and jumping just fine. It has been wicked hot for a week or so. Any thoughts? Thanks for any advice. |
Susan Lea
Nursing Foal
Username: Brandysgrandma
Post Number: 14
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 12:56 pm: |
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Is she losing her hair down to bare skin? Does anything look red or irritated? If not, perhaps she is shedding out her foal coat already. This is my first filly so I'm certainly not an expert, but she started shedding her foal coat at 2 months. First her muzzle and lower face along with inner thighs and inside her forelegs. It started as small patches, sometimes quarter- or dime-sized where the fuzzy hair disappeared, and you can defintely see a very short, sleek coat underneath. She's over 2 and a half months old now, and you would definitely call her appearance "moth eaten"! Strangely enough, as hot as it's been she's not losing much on her body, and my friend I board with (who's raised horses for years) says hers usually don't finish shedding out till 5 months or so. We live in southeastern Tennessee, so I don't know how much geography would affect your foal and make it shed sooner; also, perhaps being a mule it's a bit different. |
Fred H. Moyer
Yearling
Username: Fmoyer
Post Number: 54
Registered: 02-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - 02:19 pm: |
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Thanks, that is what I'm thinking. The skin looks fine in the bald spots. Thanks a bunch for the thoughts. |
Kathee McGuire
Breeding Stock
Username: Katheekj
Post Number: 530
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 - 10:57 am: |
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Fred - if she is showing bare skin, I don't that is shedding. There is usually a very sleek short hair under all that fuzz.
Susan - my husband is from Cleveland, TN. We just returned from a visit to his Dad's. The smokies are so beautiful! Are you in the mountains? Everytime we drive through the Telico Plains area I wish I had my horses! Maybe someday... |
Susan Lea
Nursing Foal
Username: Brandysgrandma
Post Number: 16
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 04:28 pm: |
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Kathee,
We live on Lookout Mountain, which your husband probably knows about if he's from Cleveland. It's near Chattanooga. We can see the mountains from here, which is nice! My horses are a couple miles from Hamilton Place mall which is about as far north as you can go in Chattanooga before you're heading for Cleveland! We sometimes go to shows at the Tri-State arena in Cleveland. You didn't say where you live, but we trailered our horses from here out to far West Texas a couple years ago. Notice I said a couple years ago! It was an adventure that lasts for awhile!  Not one you repeat too soon! But it was wonderful having our own horses to ride in the mountains out there. Maybe someday again . . . |
Kathee McGuire
Breeding Stock
Username: Katheekj
Post Number: 538
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 04:51 pm: |
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We know Lookout Mountain! I may have to look into bringing them one day. I am a little concerned about the altitude change for the horses. I know I can feel the difference when I am hiking through the mountains! We live on the Alabama Gulf Coast, almost in Mississippi. How long do you trailer them before stopping for breaks? |
Susan Lea
Nursing Foal
Username: Brandysgrandma
Post Number: 19
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 07:10 pm: |
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Kathee, I don't think the altitude affected them either from here down to Mississippi or up into the mountains in Texas. The real problem was the heat. My daughter's QH won't drink when trailering, tho my TWH mare drinks fine. We stopped every 2 or 3 hours to offer them water. We only got them out maximum once each day when we stopped for lunch; once we ate fast food next to an empty field. Some people say you should never get them out! It was scary, but they did fine and got to eat and stretch a bit. We drove to Meridian, MS first day, about 6 hours, spent the night at a horse farm. Drove to Dallas the next day, about 7 hours. Our poor QH scared us to death, he was drenched completely wet and trembling by the time we got there. We stayed there 2 days with a sheep farmer who keeps horses and helped us get electrolytes in Romeo. After that we drove at night! My husband was great--I could hardly stay awake to drive so he did almost all of it. Third day all the way to West Texas, 8 hours, they did fine doing it at night. We drove at night on the way home all the way, also put a small fan running on a car battery in front of their faces. They did fine. If you come this way I know several places you could board at for a couple days or overnight when passing through Chattanooga. |
Kathee McGuire
Breeding Stock
Username: Katheekj
Post Number: 539
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, July 07, 2006 - 07:44 pm: |
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Great! Will you e-mail me at kmcguire@bgcmississippi.org so I can keep your e-mail on hand? I am buying a new three horse trailer next month and we may take it up that way in the early fall. |
