11/08/2025
I’m starting off by saying I am not a veterinarian!!!
Might be a long one!!
Might be educational for some !!
Might be common knowledge for others !!!
But over the last week and a half I have had multiple people reach out to me worried and concerned that their horses might have Cushings because they are growing out winter coats !!!
I remind everyone that horses grow their coat or shed their coat along with the light of the day or length of the day !!
Meaning right now it is August. We are still at the hottest part of our summer, but we have already lost I believe one hour of the day so we are already getting darker earlier which that tells horses to start growing their winter coats. 
Because in the same breath, most of them are also saying their horses are shedding very bad !! Which that right there tells me their horses just growing their coat due to our day getting shorter, but if you are still working your horse or you have an older horse, it’s very hard on them with this heat. That is why I body clip horses throughout the entire year. I stay very consistently busy throughout the entire year, body clipping horses, just last week alone, my body clipped, 25 horses here in Arizona.
People also ask, don’t we mess up their coat growth when we body clipped them throughout the year and the answer is yes we do but what else are you supposed to do? If you have a horse that is growing out a full coat and you’re working them or they’re just older and having a hard time with this heat the best and healthiest thing for them to do is to body clip them horses have to burn so much more Calories and everything and work so much harder to cool themselves down when they have a full coat on!
If you ever have any concerns or questions, please check with your veterinarian or feel free to give me a call once again. I am not a vet, but I can definitely give you my opinion. I’ve been in this industry for over 35 years !
