I have a friend whose horse seems to be an accurate weather forecaster. Last year, towards the end of October, her horse had already grown a thick coat. I laughed at her when she told me this as October of last year was unseasonably warm here. I wasn't laughing a couple of months later as we were going through our coldest winter in decades.
I know some of you likely think any winter in the middle of Saskatchewan is too bone-chillingly cold to contemplate, but trust me when I tell you there's a difference between a normally cold Sask winter and an "omg, when will the -40's ever end?" kind of Sask winter.
The horse has a thick coat already. :(