Shedding Patrol

This spring I have been making a weekly shedding patrol thanks to a question from a new Fell Pony owner. They contacted me because they felt I had a lot of experience with Fell Ponies and maybe could answer their question. I was pleased and surprised that it was a question I had never thought about in my twenty-plus years with Fell Ponies: how long do these ponies shed out their coats?

I realized I have paid a lot of attention to when shedding starts - February in spring and August in fall – but not when it ends. Shedding in February always alarms me because I know how much cold and then wet weather is still in front of us. The same in the fall: I know we still have really warm weather ahead of us when they start sloughing their summer coats and growing their heavier winter garb. So while I have noticed the start of shedding for these reasons, I guess I’ve never had a weather event to help me make an observation about the end of shedding. Since shedding was going on when I got the question, I made a note on my calendar to check the state of shedding of all the ponies each week.

My conclusion was that spring shedding generally takes about three months in this climate. There are definitely variations amongst individuals and variations in the volume of loose hair over time. It seems that the ponies with the most access to green grass were done shedding earlier than the ponies that spend more time in corrals. I shared these observations with my inquirer, who was appreciative. Now that I have this baseline data, I will start paying more attention to the variations! Life with these ponies is a never-ending education. I love it!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2024