Keeping your hot horse cool

Recently, I've been prompted to do some research on heat stress because my EPM horse, Jazz, becomes noticeably symptomatic during the heat. Unlike most healthy horses, Jazz is very sensitive to heat stress. However, during my research, I've found that the extreme heat and humidity is potentially dangerous for all horses.



YOU MUST COOL DOWN YOUR HORSE PROPERLY...
Three-day eventers know that the most efficient way to cool off your horse is sponging (or hosing) with cold water, scraping the water off, and then repeating until your horse is cool.  This has made a big difference in Jazz's life.  For horses like mine with crappy hooves (technical term!), simply oil the hooves before hosing.

...AND QUICKLY
During extreme heat, walk out your horse, but then cool him or her down right away. Your horse's body will divert blood from the internal organs to the larger surface arteries and veins in order to try to dissipate heat and bring down the body's core temperature. Endurance riders and eventers know that in extreme cases, this can cause shock or contribute to organ failure.

YOU CAN PRE-COOL YOUR HORSE
Folks down South will also hose their horses' legs, chests and necks, and between the hind legs, taking care to scrape off the excess, before tacking and riding. It's a pain, but it can significantly decrease fluid loss.

IMMUNE SYSTEM
Just yesterday, visiting-clinician Britta Johnston made the point that even if a horse makes it through a heat wave, the stress depresses the immune system and makes him or her susceptible to illness. So dealing with the heat isn't just a performance-related issue – it can affect your horse's health after the heat breaks.

THIRST TRIGGER ALERT
Because horses sweat out more electrolytes than humans, extreme sweating will negatively affect the "thirst trigger" mechanism. Horses, like humans, will feel thirsty when the electrolytes in their blood become more concentrated during fluid loss. However, if they lose too many electrolytes, the concentration doesn't reach adequate levels to trigger the thirst mechanism and they may naturally not want to drink after a workout, causing them to become dehydrated. Top dressing feed or giving electrolyte paste will activate your horse's thirst trigger.

OLD WIVES TALE
Some old-timers might tell you not to cold hose your horse's large muscles (i.e. hind end muscles) or the underside of the belly and to put a sheet on him or her to make sure the water doesn't evaporate too rapidly because both may cause tying up (cramping). Studies show neither to be the case. You want to cool your horse down as rapidly as possible.

Tying up can be caused by many things, one of which are mineral (electrolyte) imbalance/depletion in the muscles, underscoring the importance of electrolyte replacement for the equine athlete.

HEAT STRESS INDEX
We all know it's not the heat, it's the humidity. 100-degree heat with very low humidity will not cause as much fluid loss as 85-degree weather with humidity in the 70%-range. HorseChannel.com published a useful measure, called the Heat Stress Index (HSI). Add the percentage humidity to the air temperature to get the HSI. [Ex: 91 degrees, with 50% humidity = HSI 141.] If the HSI is below 120, you have the green light to work your horse normally. Above 150, "particularly if humidity contributes to more than half of this number, your horse’s natural cooling mechanisms will be compromised," so modify your workout: lower the intensity or shorten the workout, or wait to ride after the temperature drops. Above 180, your horse is unable to adequately manage his or her body temperature.

I don't know how accurate this index is, but it is a useful guide. Naturally, horse owners with sensitive or older horses might want to consider lower HSI thresholds.

ANHYDROSIS & DEHYDRATION
If everyone's horse is sweating and yours isn't, take note — your horse may be prone to anhidrosis, which is a very serious, potentially life-threatening condition that inhibits his or her body's natural cooling mechanism. If you suspect this may be the case, consult with your vet.

Even if your horse doesn't have anhidrosis, you must keep an eye on your horse's sweating. During a heat spell, your horse may already be mildly dehydrated and will not sweat as liberally as it would otherwise, causing your horse to overheat.

CAUTION
In an article published by University of Guelph, Dr. Lindinger, DVM, makes the point that you need to acclimate your horse to working in the heat, especially if you plan on showing over the summer, but understand that this can be stressful for your horse and requires that owners adapt their horse-management practices to take rehydration and electrolyte mineral replacement into account.

LINKS
I found the following links to be informative and useful:
Equi-Therapy.net: Electrolyte Supplements for Horses - prevent dehydration
Horsechannel.com: Too Hot to Trot?
Kentucky Equine Research: Challenges of Endurance Exercise: Water and Electrolyte Depletion
CompleteRider.com: Water and Electrolyte Balance in the Exercising Horse
FreeConsumerIndex.com: Using Electrolytes to Avoid Equine Dehydration
ProbioticSmart.com: Dangers of Equine Dehydration
Equisearch.com: Does Your Horse Need Electrolytes?
Equisearch.com: Heat Stress Prevention Strategy
University of Guelph: When the Rider is Hot, the Horse is Hotter
BBC Sport: Video - How to cool down a hot horse

Please add other links or offer your tips for keeping your horse cool in the comments section.

"Overhoid"

Last Friday was my last day working part time in the barn as the "tack-up girl." [Yes, I was really once introduced to a prospective border as the "tack-up girl."]

Today, I overheard a fellow boarder compliment my replacement for being so neat, after which she added, "It will be nice having things neat around here for a change."

Cringe!

For the record, it's not technically eavesdropping, when you're standing in your own horse's stall.

That frame...

"If you got it..."

Michele and Grayson had a flatwork breakthrough yesterday. Grayson has all the best Thoroughbred qualities in that he's very intelligent and will try his heart out, but historically he finds it easier to go faster than work from behind. This week something seemed to click, when "Gray" started to get the hang of moving over his topline and even showed some schwung (swing).

Michele is preparing Gray for the Intro Level tests at the May 16 Stanhope Stables dressage show. At this rate, I think that the pair could land a respectable score if she decides to get their feet wet at Training 1 (no pressure though!).



Though the elegantly built Michele began riding later in life, the rest of us are a little envious, since her body clearly was made for this sport. LIke most of us, I suspect that Michele would have liked to have gotten started a little earlier, but as her trainer Terri Stryker says in the video, "If you got it, flaunt it!"

Ask the rider to walk...

From the just-released "New Annex XIII" to the FEI "Dressage Stewards Manual":

"The steward may also ask the rider to walk for a certain period in situations where the rider’s stress may cause undesired riding."

I assume that means asking the rider to walk the horse under saddle, but it would be better if the steward made the rider dismount and go for a walk to clear his or her head and think about how much they'd enjoy being chased around with their nose pinned to their chest.

Seriously, though guidelines in response to the use of rollkur/hyperflexion are welcome, it's hard to believe that these are anything more than CYA measures. The FEI may just as well remind the riders that they should assume that they are being videotaped at all times.

New Framework

If you can overlook my extreme fashion faux pas -- navy breeches, red non-collared shirt, dark green polo wraps, and black saddle pad, embellished by rainbow reins -- you may notice that my ten-year-old off-the-track thoroughbred, Jazz (registered name "Son of a Fish"), is beginning to get the hang of elongating his neck to reach for the bit, rather than just curling over and hanging in the contact. One of the benefits has been that he appears almost sound behind. It's taken a while to convince him and get him strong enough to work in this frame. Not bad for a tense, spastic, balled-up EPMer.

The movement of Jazz's forelimbs has improved since last week when his farrier, Dean Guzzi, set him up with lighter shoes in front, in response to my trainer's hope that he could do something to help Jazz not "wing in" with the tighter right foreleg.

The next step will be to incorporate the custom saddle that I ordered from County Saddlery. Jazz has outgrown his current saddle, which is now pretty tight behind the shoulders. If we can free up the shoulders, I'm thinking that all of our troubles will be over! Ok seriously, maybe, just maybe the worst will be behind us.

Impressionism

This is the latest image from my series of impressionistic stills taken from lesson videos.



Taken on March 16, 2010, I'm riding my ten-year-old off-the-track thoroughbred, Jazz (registered, "Son of a Fish"), in a lesson with Britta Johnston at Stanhope Stables in Huntington, NY.