a nice dark barn and lots of fans.
Thank you for sharing!
Scraping is officially no longer the way. Leaving the water on - per science does a much better job at cooling. Stop scraping, youâre making your horses hotter.
Even the FEI is pushing to stop this old school incorrect way of doing things;
Here is the science; https://drdavidmarlin.com/cooling-and-scraping-and-its-effect-on-a-horses-surface-temperature/
ETA I just saw the other comments about scraping, but links are still good. The FEI one is about how to deal with extreme heat with your horse.
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Interesting! Iâll look into that.
Thank you.
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Sweat scraping might not be the way, but it keeps me alive from my horse that hates the feel of water dripping on his legs or belly. Heck even his neck.
So I will continue to sweat scrape. My horse hasnât heard the new study yet.
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@luvmyhackney
Oh my god, so true!! I have one gelding who loathes anything on his legs-- stomp, kick, stomp! and my mare, bless her sweet temperament about everything but water drips. I am happy to cold hose/sponge for however many minutes it takes to cool them off, but that water will get scraped away to save everyoneâs lives from an irritated horse! (I had one bolt out of the wash rack, spinning and kicking at his belly when the drips didnât stop quickly enough for him after a bath. It was not fun for either of us!)
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Just as an aside, in speaking with my previously mentioned friend, she said that her quick personal âgo-no goâ for exercise for herself or her animals is if the heat index exceeds normal body temperature, itâs a âno goâ because dissipation of body heat becomes so much more difficult. I like that sort of yardstick. It makes it easy for me to decide.
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Thanks for the great advice, everyone! We experienced our hottest day ever in my area yesterday (111F), with a forecast of 109 today. Thankfully, itâs supposed to start âcoolingâ off to the high 90s, starting tomorrow. My horses have done surprisingly well. The younger gelding doesnât seem to be affected at all, though my elderly gelding has been a bit lethargic. Cold hosing seems to bring him back to life.
i had to hose my horses after trailering them to lesson today. Was an hour-and-a-half drive. One came out of the box cool as a cucumber, the other, a sweaty poopy mess. I concentrate on the chest and sides and belly. My horses are all ok with being hosed and not scraped. In fact, about the only time the horseflies arenât getting them is when they are being hosedâŠso that in itself is a good incentive for them. Never had one not like dripping from the belly. But then, mine live in a pasture and get rained on soâŠ
I added on another thread in addition to the great posts here because I have an idiot who can overheat himself.
When I hose after some workout or when the horse overheats due to anxiety or spooking, I concentrate on where the veins are - the groin, inside hind legs, the belly and even the eyes and face. Even up the sheath, into the vagina and the anus. Cold hosing those large veins can cool the blood returning to the heart and going out to the body again and can be vital to cooling organ and deep tissues.
I donât use cold water on an overheated horse because their muscles negatively react. I use cool water and progressively colder water (if you have hot and cold water in your washrack). I apply constantly to the face, the belly, the groin and inside hind legs, the anus and the genitals rotating frequently for overheated horses. An alcohol water mix can help evaporate water off the coat and can also provide cooling.
Oh, west coasters - hang in there!!!
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@J-Lu I was taught to cool off the same way.
We also used to keep a bucket of cool water w/liniment & a big sponge near the arena. Stop heated horse, sponge off areas you mentioned & continue. Rider got sponged too 
ETA:
If you wring out the sponge really well, dripping is not a problem.
Adding liniment - even just isopropyl alcohol (I like the mint one) - makes the sponged-on water evaporate quicker & aids the cooling effect.
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