We are blessed to be able to spend our lives with Sugar and Morgunn, our horses. We love every part of our relationship with them.
I love getting up to feed them when the sun's coming up over the mountains. We love feeding them and listening to their contented munching. We love grooming them. We love riding and working with them to create a better, softer connection. And, on and on.
There's only one thing we're not too crazy about when it comes to our horses.
SHEDDING SEASON...
From late February until about the first of June they shed their winter coats and they are really thick -- especially Morgunn. Being an Icelandic Horse Morgunn's genes create a winter coat that's worthy of cold Iceland winters. Sugar does pretty well with the thickness of her coat as well.
The hair above is from just one swipe of my brush on Sugar's side.
We learned something interesting from our farrier. During the winter a lot of their energy and nutrients go to growing the hair they need to weather the winter cold. This is the same energy and nutrients that they use to grow their hooves -- the material of which is the same as our fingernails.
As a result their hooves grow much more slowly during the winter. In the summer when growing hair is not as important to their well-being their hooves grow much quicker. The farrier has to trim a lot more during the summer than the winter.
In any case, we hate shedding season. The loose hair gets into our eyes, our mouths, and all over our clothes. We figure it makes good nest materials for our birds -- at least we hope so to make it worthwhile ;)
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