Much to my surprise, I got in six rides with my horse, Shiloh, during November. The weather is so variable in my area during late Autumn. It is hard to find opportunities to ride in between the cold snaps, sudden snow events and stiff winds. But fortunately, there were a handful of 40 to 50-degree days with dry ground, full sun and little wind last month. Yay!
While I mainly rode Shiloh by himself without Piper, I did get in one last ponying ride before Winter. I hadn’t done any ponying yet without my husband’s help from the ground. This was the first time I mounted, dismounted and did the entire ride without another human present. I am pleased to report I stayed on for the entire twenty-two-minute experience. Neither horse lost their minds.
I made sure to get a shadow shot from the saddle so I would have something to remember the occasion by. 🙂
So what does all that have to do with this post’s “textures” title? During these last few rides of the Fall season, I was thinking about how different it is to groom Shiloh as compared to earlier in the year. Both cleaning his coat and tack fitting become more challenging as Winter approaches.
Shiloh’s slick Summer coat is long gone, replaced by his Winter coat. He’s got such thick hair this time of year. It is wonderfully soft, fluffy and protective. Good thing, too. As I type this, it is 24 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, I’ve always admired Shiloh’s flashy pinto coat pattern. I think his bi-colored mane and mixed tail are eye-catching too. But the way he grows his Winter hair coat creates even more depth and texture to all those splashes of color. I do appreciate a slick, shiny horse, but a wooly horse is also marvelous.
When I read a fellow horse blogger’s post with the title “Textures”, I thought it would be fun to play along by posting close-up photos of Shiloh’s Winter coat. I find it especially interesting how his white hairs fluff out more than his chestnut hairs.
If you would like to see more examples of horse-related textures, check out the Horse Addict blog post that served as my inspiration. Her post was part of a Lens Artists Challenge. If you’ve never read a blog post written by a horse, you will want to check out this version from the dressage horse, Biasini!
https://horseaddict.net/2022/11/23/biasini-speaks-heres-my-textures/.
How about you? What textures do you notice most around the barn?
The Backyard Horse Blog 
I’ve always thought winter coat textures on paints was so interesting with that difference between the white and other colors. Amber is plain sorrel so she doesn’t quite get that haha. She does get different textures on her body though, which Whisper doesn’t get. She’s usually very soft and fluffy around her middle, with coarse hairs over her rump. She has very soft long hairs underneath her belly, and her shoulders are in between her belly and rump lol. Her neck is pretty soft, with the least amount of hair oddly enough. Then her face has all her super coarse guard hairs to keep her warm. Super interesting! Whisper has baby-fine hair, and is just baby-fine all over lol. She does puff out tho to keep herself warm and it’s hilarious because with her miniscule forelock she looks like a wooly mammoth LOLOL
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Ha, ha! I think the wooly mammoth look is pretty cute myself. It IS interesting how different a horse can look from Summer to Winter. And you are right, sometimes the texture changes within the same hair coat depending upon the part of the body. Wild!
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There is a paint pony at the barn I ride at . She is ridden by the barn managers kids. She lives out with another horse and her coat is absolutely woolly mammoth. Now that the weather is below freezing at night she and the other horse come in to the barn overnight. That is when I saw her today . Woolly! Fluffy! and like your horse the white stands up more than the brown hair.
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Aww! She sounds awfully cute. Ponies grow the best Winter coats of all.
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I love the long hairs along their jaws and on their legs. One of our large ponies ends up looking like a mini draft with his extra hair. This is the time of year, too, I make sure I have natural fiber brushes because the horses get so jumpy from the static electricity produced by plastic bristles.
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Hi, Barbara! Yes definitely, I like those jaw line “goat hairs” too! Good point about watching for static during Winter. Where I now live in the Midwest, the humidity eliminates it. But when I lived in Western Colorado in a high desert area, Winter time static was a big issue. No fun getting zapped for me or the horses. 😦
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