What to do with a horse with a dull coat?

A beautiful shiny coat with little apples... that's what we all want for our horse! But the reality is sometimes a lot duller. What can you do about it?

In spring, horses shed their old winter coat and a shiny, soft summer coat emerges. At least, in the ideal case. Sometimes horses come out of their coat poorly or the new coat is not as beautiful and shiny as hoped.

Shampoos?

Although it can be handy to wash your horse or use an anti-tangle product in the mane or tail, shampoos and gloss sprays are not the real solution if you want your horse to shine. The proverb says: 'True beauty comes from within.' And that applies to the horse's coat too! Using a gloss spray will not solve the problem of a dull coat. Your horse needs to be healthy on the inside, then that shiny coat will follow naturally.

Poor coat?

A horse that hasn't come out of its winter coat nicely, or has dull hair, shows that it is not completely well. Literally. A dull coat can be the result of a weaker immune system or a mineral deficiency. A decreased immune system can allow fungi, for example, to thrive, making your horse's skin less healthy and the coat less beautiful. And with a mineral deficiency such as silicon, the hair may not grow as strong as you would like. Your horse's digestion also affects its coat. For example, if minerals and vitamins are not absorbed properly or if a disrupted sugar metabolism causes skin irritation.

A strong coat with silicon

Silicon is an important mineral for your horse. It ensures that the body produces the necessary building blocks for hair, hooves, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Easily absorbable hydrolyzed silicon promotes the production of collagen. This is an important building material for your horse's coat. When your horse receives easily absorbable silicon, the coat becomes more beautiful, thicker, and shinier. But... this does require some patience. In humans, the effect has been studied and researchers saw a clear improvement in the quality and growth of nails and hair after 20 weeks. Women with thin hair saw an improvement in the quality and thickness of their hair. Silicon also contributes to a healthier coat in another way. It helps with a copper deficiency. A copper deficiency may be the cause of your horse not shedding well. How does silicon help with this? Minerals often have complex interactions with each other. Silicon is a kind of basic mineral that ensures the absorption of other important minerals goes smoothly. Copper is a good example. Aluminum counteracts copper, so if a horse has too much aluminum in its body, copper is less well absorbed and a deficiency can occur. To eliminate aluminum, give silicon, which restores the copper balance. And when enough copper is available, your horse can shed better! It may sound complicated, but it all starts with enough silicon.

Salmon oil for a shiny coat

If you want your horse to have a glossy coat, omega fatty acids are also important. Salmon oil is rich in omega-3 (EPA and DHA). Salmon oil has the best ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 of all available oil types for horses, namely 6:1. Thanks to these fatty acids from salmon oil, horses get a shiny coat and experience less hair loss. The fatty acids also help with dry or sensitive skin. And strangely enough, horses even like salmon oil!

Metabolism in order

Because many coat problems stem from allergic reactions, such as those to the midges that cause sweet itch, it is generally a good idea to have your horse's metabolism in order as much as possible. This means that the conversion of nutrients is going smoothly, that there is no accumulation of sugars, and no unnecessary waste products are produced. After winter, you can give your horse a week of nettle extract in its feed, so that the body is naturally cleansed. The coat often improves as well, even if there are some fungi or itching. If your horse is quickly affected by sugars, the Indian herbal mixture triphala can be supportive.

More about sweet itch can be found here.

Don't focus solely on a dull/shiny coat!

The coat is an indication of the horse's health, but it doesn't say everything! Yes, there are nutrients that can make your horse's coat shine beautifully. But that is not an indication that your horse is actually healthier than a horse with a dull coat. Want to know more about this? Then read this blog about how a shiny coat doesn't always say something about a horse's health.

Sources

• Barel, A., Calomme, M., Timchenko, A. et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on skin, nails and hair in women with photodamaged skin. Arch Dermatol Res 297, 147–153 (2005). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16205932

• Wickett, R.R., Kossmann, E., Barel, A. et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on hair tensile strength and morphology in women with fine hair. Arch Dermatol Res 299, 499–505 (2007). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17960402

• The copper-iron chronicles: The story of an intimate relationship. Biometals March 2003, Volume 16, Issue 1, pp 9-40.

• Domingo JL, Gómez M, Colomina MT. Oral silicon supplementation: an effective therapy for preventing oral aluminum absorption and retention in mammals. Nutr Rev. 2011 Jan; 69(1):41-51

• Carlisle EM, Curran MJ. Effect of dietary silicon and aluminum on silicon and aluminum levels in rat brain. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 1987, 1:83-89.

• I. O`Connor, L. M. Lawrence, A. C. St. Lawrence, K. M. Janicki, L. K. Warren, S. Hayes, The effect of dietary fish oil supplementation on exercising horses, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 82, Issue 10, October 2004, Pages 2978–2984, https://doi.org/10.2527/2004.82102978x