September 15, 2012

Shedding Feathers

Have you ever heard of shedding feathers?  I hadn't, but then, I've never before owned a feathered breed.  I came to the barn on Thursday to find that his left fore looked like this:


See that one wimpy wisp of feather sticking out off the very back of the fetlock?  That's it!  For comparison, the other feet look like this one:


He's been turned out with other horses on grass for the first time since April recently, so I thought maybe the missing feathers were linked to the random grass stains on his coronet band, shoulder, and points of his hocks (it appears he slid down a hill on his hocks.  Or something.)  

When I ran my fingers through what remained and a few strands of feather came with them, I started to get an inkling of what was going on, but it wasn't until I talked to his breeder that I learned that they shed their feathers like the rest of their body (seems so obvious now) and that he's gearing up for winter.  Blegh, winter.  Thanks for the reminder, Connor!

3 comments:

  1. No! Yay winter! So tired of the heat. Love the feathers - they add so much personality.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep all of mine have done the summer shed and are starting the winter coat. I see trace clips coming soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Weird. I've never seen drafts shed their feathers. Maybe it's just for "lighter" feathered horses.

    ReplyDelete