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Westwood Farms

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So, I have this yearling filly that has been body clipped for shows. She had a normal coat as a youngster, but now is curly. Can someone tell me why? I have several yearlings, various colors, and none are curly like her. Also, she is dry in the pic.
 
I have a white (grayed out) yearling that looks like that on her back. She is getting a thicker coat and it is coming in curly. Can't answer why though.
 
She might be a curly. As in, a REAL curly. I have one - she is curlier every year, so I think I will have her registered as a curly.

I have a friend who adopted a mustang, and it turns out the mustang had curly blood. Well, when I looked at that horse, I said to myself, "My Chica is more curly than that!" and I asked on this forum if anyone had heard of curly minis. Turns out there is such a thing. I got this link: Curly Horses from asking my question. After doing the research, I realized my girl is a curly!!!! She is a total sweetie pie, and that seems to be the way curlies are. Anyway, it is pretty cool as she is curly nearly all year long. I think it will be cool to have a double-registered horse that is a curly!

I would check into it if I were you. Maybe yours is a curly too. I have even heard of people raising curly minis! Why not? There are minis of every color, why not every coat type??
 
Jacquee said:
She might be a curly. As in, a REAL curly. I have one - she is curlier every year, so I think I will have her registered as a curly.
I have a friend who adopted a mustang, and it turns out the mustang had curly blood. Well, when I looked at that horse, I said to myself, "My Chica is more curly than that!" and I asked on this forum if anyone had heard of curly minis. Turns out there is such a thing. I got this link: Curly Horses from asking my question. After doing the research, I realized my girl is a curly!!!! She is a total sweetie pie, and that seems to be the way curlies are. Anyway, it is pretty cool as she is curly nearly all year long. I think it will be cool to have a double-registered horse that is a curly!

I would check into it if I were you. Maybe yours is a curly too. I have even heard of people raising curly minis! Why not? There are minis of every color, why not every coat type??

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What exactly is the criteria for a horse to be considered (or registered) as a

"Curly"?? Will they register any horse who has hair that tends to curl? I would think a horse would have to meet other criteria besides that to be registered....but then I don't know much about the Curly horses.

I've seen many minis who (in winter coat) have curly hair, and I've had quite a few whose manes & tails hung in ringlets! I think this is a fairly common thing with longer coated ponies....but I wouldn't necessarily call them "Curlies" just because of that. Many other breeds, including Miniatures, also have "sweetie pie" dispositions...so that's not just a "Curly" trait.
 
From what I've read, many Bashkir Curlies are only curly in winter, with a fairly smooth summer coat. When they shed, they also shed their curly winter tail hair, leaving a rather blah "Appaloosa-like" summer tail (don't kill me, Appy lovers!)
 
I know she is very young, but that coat reminds me alot of what my cousins gelding had, he had cushings.
 
Have you tested for Cushings or checked her Thyroid levels? We had a Saddlebred with Cushings and his coat looked kind of like that. Most always think that Cushings is an "old horse disease", but it can affect horses of all ages.

Jen
 
They have a pretty Tobiano mini on their for sale. Thanks for sharing the site.

Fran
 
Curly coated horses in the USA have nothing to do with Bashkir Curlies. The curly gene is linked to coat texture and is common to horses of Spanish descent. As almost all American breeds are of Spanish descent curly coats are often seen. It's very common in South American Criollos and in their closest genetic relatives the American Sulphur horses. I had 2 Sulphurs both with curly coats.

You can have recessive curly coated where only the mane and tail is curly (sometimes the winter coat has waves) or dominant where the horses entire coat is tight curls.

One trait that comes along with this gene in the dominant horses is that during the first shed the mane and tail (which may have been very full) fall almost completely out and never grow back as full.
 
I too would test for Cushings as well. If she has it, it can be managed but with Cushings comes a long list of medical issues that you don't want to just ignore. You need to be aware of those issues and how to manage them to have a happy, useful animal. If she isn't Cushings, well, then you may just have a little horse that has a snappy doo
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Thanks for all your replys. She should not have cushings, she has no symptoms except the curlies. She is a very healthy filly. Her curls feel so neat, so soft and plush, you just want to lay your head in her hair.

I will have her tested, but, since I have worked for vets for 17 years now, I would have thought of that, I think anyway. The vet says she does not look like a cushings horse. We will check it out.

Thanks again!!!
 
My cousins horse did not look like cushings horse either until about 6-8 months after he had it. He had the curly hair for awhile, but his body looked fine and it wasnt until later in the year when he kept foundering for no reason that set the alarm off.

Unfortnatly we had to put him down this past spring. A year and a half after he was diagnosed, he was only 13 years old.
 

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