Betydelsen av hästens hud och päls för reglering av kroppstemperatur i kyla – vad händer vid klippning och täckning?

Sammanfattning: The horse is a homeothermic animal and to keep a constant body temperature in winter season is important. Acclimatisation is to provide means for a good thermal insulation consisting of skin, hair, and an outer air layer. The skin covers the horses body and it is composed of three main layers where the top layer of the epidermis consists of dead keratinized cells that are constantly being sheed. The dermis is composed of collagen connective tissue that give the skin its strength. The bottom layer with subcutaneous fat provides a thermal insulation and can be used as an energy reserve in cold weather. The growht of hair in horses are cyclic and the hair coat increases during autum and being sheed in the spring. The thermal insulation of coat depends mainly by photoperiod and give varying hair lenght, thickness and density of the hair. In competition horses clipping is common which decreases the thermal insulation and lower the respiration rate after work than in unclipped horses. It was considered that it was an advantage for the horse of being clipped. When providing horses that are clipped and unclipped with a blanket immediately after exercise will trouble the horse getting rid of excess heat.