Characterization of the hair coat of the Polish Konik and Hucul pony focusing on the physical features and histological structure of different hair types

Abstract

The aim of the study was a comparative analysis of the hair coat of the Polish Konik and Hucul pony, focusing on the histological structure and physical parameters of the hair. Hair samples were obtained from 20 mares—10 of each breed. They were collected in winter, from the side of barrel, the mane, the tail, and front and rear fetlock. The hairs from the barrel were divided into overhair and underhair fractions. A higher percentage of underhair (about 70%) as compared to overhair (30%) was noted in both breeds. The overhair of the Polish Konik was about 50% longer than that of the Hucul pony, while the length of underhair did not differ between breeds. Both the overhair and the underhair of the Polish Konik were about 25% thicker than that of the Hucul pony. Elongation of particular types of hair did not differ significantly between the breeds. It was lowest for fetlock hair (about 45%) and highest for mane hair (about 55%). The histological structure of the cuticle layer of the hair did not differ between breeds.

Dermoscopic analysis of the skin of healthy warmblood horses: a descriptive study of 34 cases in Italy

“…Hair from the mane was significantly thicker than several other body regions, at a median diameter of 110 μm. Although the prior study reported a percentage of outer hairs between 28% and 31% and of underhairs between 72% and 69% in the two breeds, respectively, our study showed the median percentage of outer hairs to be between 60% and 65% and underhairs between 40% and 35%, respectively.…”

“…Moreover, the differences of thin primary hair diameter and the reverse ratio of large and thin primary hair percentage reported here could be explained by the different seasons in which the two studies were performed (summer versus winter). Indeed, summer coat has been reported to be characterized by a lack of underhairs, supporting the lower percentage found in our study …”

“…Regarding hair features of particular body regions, both the head and the mane were characterized by a lower density of large and thin primary hairs compared to the other four body regions. Furthermore, the same areas were found to have thicker hairs than the rest of the body, as reported previously . No differences were found between sexes but hairs of the croup region were found to be thicker in Dutch warmblood compared to Sella Italiano and Belgian warmblood horses.…”

“…A study of the winter coat characteristics of two primitive horse breeds, performed with light microscopic examination of plucked hairs, reported an average thickness of outer hairs on the body between 64 and 80 μm, and an average thickness of underhairs between 55 and 68 μm; mane hair diameter was reported at 112–122 μm . Likewise, in our study, large primary hairs were found to a have a median diameter between 60 and 85 μm, whereas thin primary hair diameter was around 20 μm.…”

“…Studies on primitive horse breeds – that is old, established, and sometimes endangered and genetically isolated horse breeds – have shown differences between the ‘winter’ coat and the ‘summer’ coat . The winter coat is characterized by longer and thicker guard hairs and a fine undercoat.…”