>>> I have a theory as to why horses in warmer regions have longer hair than >>> horses in colder, more snow areas. I found that Gloi's coat is shorter but >>> denser than Falki's when he got here. Falki's seems to have gotten denser >>> in the past 2 months that he's been here.
I don't really think that horses here have longer hair as a rule. We have some range in the coat lengths. Saga has a short-ish coat too, at least as Icelandic's go - and she's Gloi's full sister. Flekka, Isak's mom, has a long coat, much like Isak's. Trausti is a cousin of Flekka's and his coat is much like theirs. Loftur is really wooly too - but as far as I know, he has no close relatives here. Ima, Angie and Bjola have shorter coats than Isak's family - and they are closely related. I think the biggest difference is genetic, and varies from family to family. Sina was my first Icelandic, and I thought she was really hairy that first winter - but now I see she's nowhere nearly has hairy as the Flekka/Trausti/Isak family. BTW, all of my horses are woollier - longer and denser - than they were when you took Falki home too. You can barely see the clip marks on their coats and I'd just clipped them before the clinic. The coats seem to keep growing until into December. I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but horses always look fluffier when it's really cold. I've never known if it's static from the cold that makes the coats fluff up, or if they fluff them up to add insulating value. That's true with non-Icelandic's as much as with Icelandic's. Karen Thomas, NC No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.11/1201 - Release Date: 12/28/2007 11:51 AM
