Anhidrosis... here we go again :(

That’s encouraging!

Is she on plain salt already? I thought you said that. Maybe just accept the BO’s elytes on hot/humid days instead of turning them down? Better than nothing and won’t cause the BO to feed extra supplements that she wouldn’t already be giving everyone else. :woman_shrugging:

Hi – no plain salt right now, but I have a 4 pound box of it coming. I plan to introduce it slowly; she’s normally pretty good about new things in her meals, but salt has such a strong flavor.

She often sweats under the fly sheet, and sometimes a bit around her ears where the fly mask is. The fly mask is on 24/7 except when I groom her. She’s in the fly sheet overnight until after she goes out for her early morning grazing time.

The horses are pretty much staying in their sheds during the day, because of the heat and the bugs.

I had to make a run to Tractor Suppy and they had Apple a Day, so I picked some up. My gelding is Not. Sweating. At. All. Not. Even. A. Drop.

4 days in and the Equiwinner patches are not helping.

I live in the same area as @quietann and the weather has been unseasonably hot and humid. We usually get a few days of high heat and humidity in summer, but I feel like we don’t usually get this sustained period of high temps/humidity.

Other areas of the country would probably laugh at what we consider hot and humid, but when you have a horse that stops sweating completely, it’s no joke.

@Texarkana, with horse #2, did you ever find anything to help manage him, other than hose him often and wait for the weather to change?

No. But to be fair, I didn’t throw the book at him, either. One AC, electrolytes, fans, hosing, alcohol baths, keep his water cool. On electrolytes he would basically drink every few minutes in the hottest part of the day.

It was a tricky situation. We were renting a farm and he came with the farm. He was a mid-30s TB with no teeth. Our third(?) summer there he stopped sweating. His owner had inherited the horse and it was one of those, “he’s my horse so you can’t put him down but I don’t want to take care of him or pay for anything” situations. So it all came out of my pocket and he was not a cheap fellow.

We have since moved and the horse just passed over the winter at 37. I don’t know how he made it through last summer. Maybe his owner actually did what I said, but I’m very doubtful.

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Sorry to hear of your non-sweating gelding! It sounds like you’re trying everything.

Along with the humidity and the heat, well, this is New England, the place that’s been in the news for its rainfall recently. I’m nowhere near Vermont or the parts of New Hampshire that flooded, but yes this is a very very damp summer. E.g. yesterday was 2 inches of rain with an inch of that arriving in an hour. I was sad I had to retire my mare last year, because we were in an extreme drought, which would have made trail riding including fording the Ipswich River near the old barn very easy. This year, no regrets as there’s no way anyone sane is taking a horse into the river!

Knocking wood, my horse is still sweating this year. OP, if you havent tried it, I recommend buying a 12 pack of Guiness. I give it to my guy with some grain to make a mash. It really works for him. Which is good, considering I can hide some Sweatwerks in it. He wouldnt eat Apple a Day either.

I tried that last year without success. He got 2 Guinness per day. Which he greatly enjoyed and drank with relish. It was very entertaining for the barn staff, but sadly didn’t help his non-sweating condition in the slightest.

I’ve never been able to get any of my horses to drink beer, anhidrosis or not!

How do people offer it? In a pan or bucket? In with feed or mash? I’ve tried all of the above and everyone turns up their nose! That’s ok, more for me. :woman_shrugging:

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I tried Guinness last year and it was not a hit with Holly either. She eats One AC and Apple a Day on the really hot days but I may switch from salt to apple a day for all for awhile.

It’s miserably hot and humid here.

How frustrating. I’d be tempted to try a B12 paste supp. Lots of the anhidrosis supps include B vitamin complexes. I only call out the B12 paste bc that’s what I see available on store shelves near me. If you see a general B vitamin for horses that might help.

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One of mine will take beer in a big mash. He doesn’t need a big mash since his waistline is also big.

Highly recommend drinking a beer while cold hosing your horse under a big shade tree. Selfies optional.

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Crazy how different things work for different horses with apparently the same problem. I make a beer mash with a bit of his pelleted feed. He loves it! Apple a Day and anhidrosis supplements? No and no!

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I’d call the vet you used for acupuncture or any other vet with that service and see what their current prices are. You may have paid more for the initial appointment + call fee and if you have a second visit and can split the call fee, it would be reasonably priced.

I’ve seen acupuncture fix several anhidrosis horses such that they do two appointments within a month mid-spring and kick start the sweating and not have to worry about anhidrosis for the rest of the summer.

Also, clipping will help keep him cooler.

Adding up what you spend on all the supplements, topicals, patches, etc. and just doing 2 acupuncture treatments per year might be cheaper…

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I’m happy to send you a couple days’ worth of Refresh if you want to try it.

I grant you that my horse steals bacon cheeseburgers from children, so “picky” isn’t really in his vocabulary, but he eats it right up.

One AC worked fine for him for a few years but he developed tolerance very quickly. When 4x the dose worked just OK, I switched to Refresh and it has worked well for him.

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I had a tiny amount of sweat under my girth this morning. The barest amount, but I’ll take anything at this point.

I broke down and scheduled an acupuncture appointment for tomorrow. It is with a new practitioner and much more affordable than the vet we used last year (that I don’t believe services the barn we are at now). I’ll report back if we have any success. Either way, my horse loooooooves acupuncture, so worst case scenario, it doesn’t fix his non-sweating condition, but he has a nice bodywork session.

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Had another thought for those horses that object to electrolyte supps. The Triple Crown Gold line has added electrolytes in the feed. Maybe an option for some.

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What a kind offer. I think we may even be local-ish to each other?

Isn’t it crazy how excited we get over any sweat? It was humid as all get out this morning; the horses were all sweating at 7am. My mare had the tiniest bit of dampness on her chest and stifle area and I was overjoyed. :rofl:

You will have to report back if the acupuncture works! I haven’t had luck finding someone at a price I’m willing to pay, especially when I have heard it can take multiple sessions.

Yeah, I’m on the other side of the bay from you. Another local COTHer sent me something to try for my horse a few years ago so paying it forward. :slightly_smiling_face: Shoot me a PM if you decide you want to give it a try!

I get so excited when my horse has a little sweat mark.

HorseTech is sending me peppermint flavoring and mixing directions to try to get my horse to eat his SweatWerks. (I still have half a bag. I called to do a custom order with flavoring and they offered to send the flavoring for free!) Love their customer service. And the stuff seems to work when he eats it!

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