Equine (or any mammal) body temperature doesn't work like that...

[FineAlready]

This is something I’ve noticed for a while now, but since my horse recently had a fever I thought I would post about it.

I can’t believe how many people don’t understand how fever works in horses. For example, over the years, I have heard a LOT of people suggesting that a horse has a fever because: (1) the horse was just ridden, or (2) it is hot outside.

Okay, people, a horse’s body temperature might go up a LITTLE after work or when it is really hot outside, but it won’t go up into true fever category unless there is something else going on (illness, dehydration…something). Do YOU get a raging fever after going for a jog? When it is hot outside, do you get a fever? No…you don’t. If you do, you should see a doctor.

It’s just really surprising to me how many people think this. I once took the temperature on a horse in the middle of winter and it was 106.00. 106! That’s a darn high fever. A trainer (!) came by as I was telling the horse’s owner that the horse had a high fever and needed to see a vet and said that the horse probably had a fever because it was just ridden. Uh, WHAT?! No…pretty sure not. She had a harder time explaining the frothy blood that started pouring out of the horse’s nose about a half hour later…hard to attribute that to just having worked. (Yes, this horse did survive…even though its owners put it back outside in negative winter temperatures overnight like that).

My horse recently had a low grade fever and just wasn’t right at all (seems to be better now, even though we never really figured out what was wrong…hopefully that continues). It has been hot here, but he has been staying hydrated. I could not believe how many people suggested that he had a fever, inappetence, a depressed attitude, and body stiffness because it was hot outside. Guys! He’s not a foal. He’s 10 years old and has lived in this part of the country his entire life. It’s not his first summer. The fever was because he was sick!

Anyway, it’s just something that perpetually shocks me. If your horse has a fever, please call a vet. They don’t just get fevers for no reason. Sometimes you might not find out the reason, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.

[merrygoround]

And please, please know your horse’s normal range. the average horse can range between 99-101. 101.2 wouldn’t worry me, but I might recheck it later. 103 up makes me go to really worrying, and calling the vet.

[FineAlready]

[QUOTE=merrygoround;8256040]
And please, please know your horse’s normal range. the average horse can range between 99-101. 101.2 wouldn’t worry me, but I might recheck it later. 103 up makes me go to really worrying, and calling the vet.[/QUOTE]

A very good point! And most horses’ body temperature fluctuates between a.m. and p.m. My horse is normally somewhere just below 100.0 in the a.m. and at 100.3 on the dot in the evening. Knowing this allowed me to realize he was sick this past week, even before his temperature went up into “actual fever” range (which it did eventually).

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=merrygoround;8256040]
And please, please know your horse’s normal range.[/QUOTE]
To add to this, know what your horse’s normal is at different times of the day.

My pony, for example is typically a little lower when I take it in the morning than she is when I take it later in the afternoon.

ETA - I was too slow. Repeat of what was already posted.

[Highflyer]

That’s not strictly true. On a hot day it’s not uncommon to see temps of 102-103 in horses in very hard work (upper level xc, polo, racing).

When we went to pony club championships for polocrosse (August in KY) most of the horses were around 103 after playing for eight minutes.

You should not see these temps after a normal ride or in 60 degree weather, and even in very hot weather it should go down significantly in ten minutes with the application of ice water-- but it does happen.

[arapaloosa_lady]

Of course a horse’s body temperature can be elevated after hard exercise.

It shouldn’t go up to 106, but plenty of horses who truly have fevers don’t get elevations that high.

[tabula_rashah]

Um, yeah, exercise can definitely elevate a horse’s temp, especially intense exercise. This past winter I attended an awesome endurance clinic/lecture with Dr, Susan Garlinghouse. One the things she said that really stuck with me was that in a 50 mile endurance race a horse’s body produces enough heat to melt 150 lbs of ice and bring it to a boil.

[FineAlready]

As I said, it may go up a LITTLE. It may even briefly go up more than a little if it is really hard work on a really hot day (as Highflyer notes). But a horse is not going to have a sustained fever because it was ridden on a hot day unless something is wrong with it.

Also, very few people work their horses hard enough on hot enough days to cause the temperature spikes Highflyer is talking about. Racing, polo, high level xc…I agree, those can cause a TEMPORARY spike. Not a sustained fever.

My point is just that it is incredibly ignorant to write off a fever as being because of a hot day or having been ridden. Especially if a horse is also dull and acting sick, which was the case in both stories I referenced above. It just never fails to amaze me how many people use “it’s hot out” or “the horse was ridden today” to explain away a fever.

[FineAlready]

The horse with the 106 fever was ridden by a child doing low level flatwork for less than 10 minutes that day and it was the middle of winter. She could tell something was wrong and got off, only to have her “trainer” tell her that the horse was fine and only had an elevated temperature from working. As I mentioned, the horse was frothy BLEEDING from the nose shortly after that…

[Duramax]

An elevated temperature due to exercise is not the same thing as a “fever.”

My 1600 lb draft cross usually finishes preliminary level cross country courses with a 103 temp. I like to see it back to 100’ish within 20 minutes.

[Jim_R]

Sure their temp can go up with hard work. I had a horse that came into a vet check at 105.5
When they check you at a vet check (at marathon etc.) they are not looking to see if your horse is sick, it is to see if it is over heated.
Should come down pretty quick.
I just found a hose and started hosing his brain, scared the bejesus out of me.

[FineAlready]

[QUOTE=Duramax;8256160]
An elevated temperature due to exercise is not the same thing as a “fever.”

My 1600 lb draft cross usually finishes preliminary level cross country courses with a 103 temp. I like to see it back to 100’ish within 20 minutes.[/QUOTE]

I agree. You get that I agree with this, right? I feel like people are not understanding my post.

My point is that a horse does not get a FEVER from it being hot out or having worked. It might have an excursion into higher body temperature from those things, but not a FEVER.

As I said, the horse with a 106 FEVER was very sick. My horse with the low grade FEVER was sick…and had a fever for more than a day, despite NO work during that time.

[merrygoround]

[QUOTE=Jim R;8256167]
Sure their temp can go up with hard work. I had a horse that came into a vet check at 105.5
When they check you at a vet check (at marathon etc.) they are not looking to see if your horse is sick, it is to see if it is over heated.
Should come down pretty quick.
I just found a hose and started hosing his brain, scared the bejesus out of me.[/QUOTE]

Go for the neck , it’s a large flattish area, and the blood goes through there on the way to the brain. The head isn’t a great target and moves too fast too much. Cold hosing the whole horse works as well. Eventing grooms are always pretty soggy sad sights in the vet box. If it has four legs and a tail they all happily descend on it with sponges and rags and ice water.