One of my favorite horses that I’ve ridden had anhidrosis. He was an eventer (novice), hunter (3’), and show jumper. He was worth his weight in GOLD. Absolutely manageable even in our super hot summers (90-100+ and humid as heck). I think it depends on what you market the horse as, location, and severity of the condition. Super jack of all trades that could place in lower levels of several events and was game to do anything? Didn’t affect his price at all. I didn’t realize anhidrosis was such a turn off to people.
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My hunter developed it shortly after I bought him in 2016. 3 treatments of acupuncture and he sweated like a fiend. Fast forward to yesterday. I saddled up in Florida late. I had to mow. It was like 2 pm and 96 degrees. He schooled lovely but sweated poorly. I ran to Winn Dixie. Picked up a six of Guinness Extra Stout and he dove in. Lesson this morning he sweated like gangbusters. To me. You catch it early and if the horse is nice enough you manage.
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What treatment did they respond to?
I’m on anhidrosis horse #3 right now. And at this point, I wouldn’t take another voluntarily even if someone paid me.
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I believe One AC and steroids of some type.
That’s a bummer because they didn’t help for 2 of my 3 horses. (Probably 3 of 3, but it’s still early)
I fully expected a loud burp.
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Acupuncture worked wonders for mine.
Mine wouldn’t touch Guinness. No thank you, I would like a carrot and perhaps I will have this Gatorade I took from a child.
The punch line is that the horse is Irish.
(I fed the Guinness to my trainer instead. No word on how it helped him sweat.)
With climate change, I would be thinking pretty hard about whether or not this was a problem I wanted to buy. My horse developed it about 15 years ago and we certainly managed, but there are about two weeks every summer where I take off work or pay the barn kids to give him cold showers every two hours because the heat index is in the 110s and I worry that he will realize it is too hot to live.
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I’ve never had any horse like Guinesss, either.
For me, horse #1 was manageable. Horse #3 so far has been manageable. But horse #2 was a nightmare. I suggested we euthanized him, however, he was my landlord’s horse. My landlord did not want to euthanize him because he could not appreciate the severity. The horse would get epistaxis episodes because he would work himself up, then overheat. His anhidrosis was only problem a few weeks of the year but managing him was an around the clock job for those few weeks.
@ThreeWishes I saw an old post from you saying you had luck with acupuncture. It’s definitely something I’m looking into!
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I would rather have a horse with manageable anhidrosis than many other manageable conditions. One AC, electrolytes and daytime stalling are easy and inexpensive when compared to my horse that needs therapeutic shoes, pergolide, daily Bute and frequent lameness exams that has to be either dead lame or sedated to not stall walk / weave like a zombie if he’s locked in a stall.
Full disclosure. I’m not going to ride when it’s hot as hades. Damn sure not going to horse shows in the heat. I’m a bit prone to “heat sickness” myself so my anhidrosis horse and I are a good fit.
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For many boarding barns, this would not be easy. I know you keep yours at home, so it wouldn’t be an issue, but for many horse owners, this might mean the horse gets no turnout.
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Sometimes barns aren’t cool enough, even with fans going. That is my current problem, and was also my problem for horse #2.
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That’s true. Not all barns offer overnight turnout or do turn in early when it’s crazy hot. Not all barns accept cribbers either. Or offer complicated feed routines to deal with complex medications or supplements. Boarding is a hard thing to get right. With any horse.
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Barns built for winter are hot. My anhidrosis horse did fine in traditional center aisle barns that had either Dutch doors or windows on his exterior wall. The barn that had “mesh” on the upper half of the stall dividers was superior. None were as cool as my barn with its mare motel type construction.
But my horse has manageable anhidrosis. He sweats normally w appropriate maintenance. That’s very different than a horse that has uncontrollable anhidrosis.
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I will say we’re in a bank barn with dutch doors on only one side, makes for a darker barn but it’s warm in winter and cool in summer. Add in fans to move the air and it darn near feels air conditioned.
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Somewhat on topic of purchase value…I would now consider what concomitant conditions the horse may have. My horse was a good enough sweater when I tried him (in a different climate although it was pretty hot those days) but our first summer, he would sweat some but not enough per my vet. He also has asthma, and with wildfires plus no known history of it, the asthma was not well managed. I tried OneAC and it did nothing. Acupuncture helped a little. Once we got the asthma thing figured out, he’s been much better. My vet practiced previously at UGA and said breathing issues and sweating issues did not seem to be a cause and effect thing but did seem to show up together in the same horse enough for her to take notice of it.
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I’ve no experience w bank barns but I can see how that construction would have insulating benefits from the earth
Not if they are designed correctly. Some barns just aren’t designed ideally.
Right now I have a prefab shedrow. It’s not designed for warmth per se, but it’s also not designed to keep them cool. Ceilings are on the low side, air flow isn’t great despite Dutch doors. On top of that, where it is placed, it gets full sun in the hottest part of the day. It’s such a small space that I can’t move enough air in there to keep it appreciably cooler for an anhidrosis horse on hot days.
My other barn that gave me problems was a huge, 100 year old gable style barn. But the ceilings were low because of the massive loft and airflow was almost non-existent in the stalls.
A non-insulated metal pole barn can be an oven in the summer.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, I’m just pointing out some of the logistical challenges. For someone who has the flexibility to move their horse to an ideal situation, anhidrosis may not be a big deal. But a lot of times we horse owners are stuck with the options we have.
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My point was manageable anhidrosis was easier imo than other manageable conditions. The supplements are cheap, palatable and easy to give (relatively of course). One AC is cheaper than a handful of joint injections for example. So I’d take a limb sound horse w manageable anhidrosis over a normal thermo regulating horse that needed annual joint injections to stay sound.
My horse sweats normally with enough supplements even if outside all day in summer. That’s very manageable anhidrosis imo. I choose to protect him from the worst summer heat by stalling him during very hot times bc I am concerned about his anhidrosis staying manageable. Of course it’s easier bc I bought a farm and built a barn with him in mind. 12 ft sidewall height. No solid walls anywhere. But he did totally fine in two different traditional type board barns. His hay consumption and desire for more turnout were far bigger issues than his anhidrosis.
Certainly unmanageable anhidrosis is a different kettle of fish.
I’m sorry you have had to deal with less manageable anhidrosis cases (which is what it sounds like). I’ve seen it go both ways. Manageable like mine and many other horses I know and also many horses that don’t respond well to therapies. If I knew what the difference was, it would be a medical breakthrough.
It’s common in my area for barns to be built well away from any trees (too much risk of trees falling in violent storms I suppose) and since we are flat there’s no shade from the terrain.
I’m not trying to be a PITA but I stand by my OP that manageable anhidrosis is less of an expense and hassle than many other manageable conditions.
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I get where you’re going with this, but it’s about the trouble you know you’re buying vs. the trouble you acquire. 
My horse came to me at age 10 with no significant findings on his PPE. As he aged, he developed Cushings, anhidrosis, a thyroid problem, heaves, and arthritis. Because horses. Any one of those things is “manageable” in isolation. Managing the whole collection is an ever-changing adventure.
It’s like any other finding on a PPE- the PPE tells you about how the horse needs to be taken care of today, but it doesn’t predict the future. Any manageable condition may become less manageable over time. So for the OP’s initial question, the answer is a solid maybe, depending on the horse, the intended job, the intended geography, and the buyer’s confidence and skillset with the condition. I think a seller should be prepared to consider a price reduction in the same way they’d think about any other abnormal finding on a PPE.
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