If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated - nonsweating horse

[mzfp39]

My mare struggles with anhydrosis. I bought her in 2012 and she was sweating slightly, but not enough. Last summer (2013) she was sweating less, but injured herself in turnout so she was out of commission for most of the summer and got back into work again when it started cooling off. This year, she’s shown more heat and exercise intolerance than she ever has before.

So here’s some background on what’s been done to her/her symptoms etc.

We tried One AC in 2013, it helped slightly but did nothing this year. This was coupled with an electrolyte.
We started her on relatively new supplement called Platinum Refresh which is supposed to support nonsweating and also doubles as an electrolyte. This gave us some sweat, but it was still not enough so we continued looking for a different solution.
We did the equiwinner patch treatment in May, and we got some sweat while the patches were on (we pulled her off of the refresh supplement to do so) but after the treatment was over, she was back to not sweating. We put her back on the refresh and since then she has been sweating under her bridle, saddle, breastplate and between her legs consistently. She occasionally sweats on her neck and chest. However, her respiration still gets extremely elevated and she was showing signs of lethargy over the past few weeks - but she is sweating (minimally and inconsistently, but I take what I can get). She also has access to a Himalayan rock salt lick in her stall, which she loves and goes through rather quickly. We also give her Guinness leading up to a horse trial.

We attempt to keep competing her over the summer (we are located in Maryland) - I pick and choose events that run Training first thing in the morning (I do dressage at 8, and jump around 10, before it gets too warm). I also have someone constantly chasing me around with a bucket of ice water and bigeloil to keep her cool. At the last horse trial we competed at the weather was pretty mild, I believe it got into the low 80’s while I was competing. However she came off the course WAY too hot and was jumping around very sluggishly toward the end of the course. The horse has run much harder and longer courses than that, so fitness is not really an issue. We gave her a week off after that, and took her back to XC school at the same place. The weather that day was great, I believe it was in the mid 70’s, but it was slightly more humid than it had been. I warmed her up and noticed she was breathing a bit heavier than she should have been for the amount of warm up we had, so I walked her around for a little bit, sponged and scraped her neck, chest, stifle, and between her back legs and waited for her breathing to return to normal. When she was breathing normally again I jumped about six fences, and took a walk break and noticed her respiration was crazy high, I decided to call it a day as I was not going to safely get anything done. And cooled her out. After walking for twenty minutes her heart rate finally returned to normal.

After that incident we had the vet out. He pulled CBC, lyme, and IR. All came back negative/completely normal. We have not pulled for thyroid, but that is the next thing we’ll do. She had been getting regumate consistently from Feb to about two weeks ago. We pulled her off of it to see if the lethargy got any better and so far it has - she’s been far less lethargic and I jumped her around today when it was in the high 80’s with pretty significant humidity with no problem at all. (minimal warm up, lots of walk breaks, hose & scrape before I ride and I hit her with more water during my walk breaks).

So I guess my question is, what could possibly be causing her high respiration/exercise intolerance? I’m sure the nonsweating is contributing, but there is never really a pattern to it. She goes off the property often, as we do not have a place to condition at our farm, and is fine at the barn we condition at. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this irregularity? And any solutions?

Sorry for the novel, thanks in advanced!
PS. We have no plans of competing her again until it gets cooler/this issue is resolved.

[khall]

Have you tried acupuncture yet? It works quite well for anhydrosis in horses. I had a cushings gelding that even in the barn under fans would overheat was hosing 3-4 times a day (live in GA) did not have access to acupuncture at that time so vet put him on ventipullin which one of the side effects of it is sweating.

It is extremely difficult and IMO not fair to ask a non-sweating horse to perform at any level in summertime heat. I’ve dealt with this off and on over the years with several different horses and they just cannot tolerate much if any work with heat and especially humidity which is what we deal with around here.

[Zipsmom]

I have had this problem with my horse. Two years ago he stopped sweating. Tried One AC, electrolytes, beer. Then my vet thought we could try him on an herbal treatment New Xiang Ru San. A couple of months on that and he was sweating normally. One year ago he stopped again in March (I am in Florida so it gets hot early). Started on herbs- started sweating in patches but not fully. Did acupuncture and herbs and he started sweating normally. This year I started the herbs in February and kept him on them for about 3 months. He never stopped sweating this year (knock wood). Good luck with your horse!

[asterix]

I had a good friend who managed an anhydritic horse successfully in MD through prelim.
The key is to NOT stress the system - it’s like the opposite of a regular body, which can build up heat tolerance over time. The more heat stressed the horse get, the more sensitive to heat it becomes.
What my friend did:
Did NOT compete in the summer. Period. I know this may sound crazy, but even 10 years ago we had many fewer events in the summer around here than we do now.

Acupuncture and herbs.

All summer work done very early in the morning.

All interventions (oneAc, which he used), herbs, etc started LONG before the heat kicks in. If you wait, nothing works as well.

Good luck!

[mzfp39]

Acupuncture has been done, but I have not tried the herbs. I will see if I can get a hold of those.

My mare is currently sweating in some spots, but I guess I’m wondering if there’s a respiratory problem that could have exasperated this? Her respiration goes up slightly even in the walk on days she struggles with the heat, and the days she does struggle with the temp and humidity is somewhat unpredictable. Ex. Rode the horse when it was 70 degrees and she was hotter than she was on a day when it was 80 degrees with the same humidity and after a similar amount of work. Or could this just come back to stressing her system?

[RacetrackReject]

My TB suffered from anhydrosis for a few years, but seemed to come out of it last year. I tried several things including ac one (worked a little) and Guinness beer (didn’t notice a difference).

The thing that seemed to work for him was Morton’s low sodium salt and bringing him in once every day to hose his neck (jugular areas). Once I started these 2 things, it seemed his system reset itself and he started sweating more and more. The last 2 years I haven’t given him anything, but I do watch him closely. Anyway, it very likely could be coincidence that this happened at the same time, but who knows.

[caryledee]

The respiration issue is part of the anhidrosis. She is panting (like a dog) to cool herself off. If her respiration was up on the 80 degree day, that would explain why she was cooler than the 70 degree day. It seems like different things work for different horses. It is good that she is still sweating a little because it means that she does have the ability to sweat. Starting treatment early in the season (before the really hot weather) seems to be a key. What feeds/supplements/meds is she on? I have heard good things about KER’s Restore SR electrolytes, even though they are not specifically marketed to non-sweaters.

[mzfp39]

Read carefully - I said her respiration rate was higher on the 70 degree day than the 80 degree day. You would expect the opposite from a horse that can’t cool herself off properly. She is currently on cocosoya, a joint supplement and platinum refresh which is a supplement that is marketed toward nonsweating horses, it also doubles as an electrolyte. She has access to a salt lick in her stall as well.

[caryledee]

[QUOTE=mzfp39;7700523]
Ex. Rode the horse when it was 70 degrees and she was hotter than she was on a day when it was 80 degrees with the same humidity and after a similar amount of work. Or could this just come back to stressing her system?[/QUOTE]

No, see above. You said she was hotter. I thought you took her temp on both days and it was higher on the 70 degree day. Good luck with her.

[mzfp39]

Oh I see what you are saying. What I was intending to get across was she handled the 80 degree day better overall than the 70 degree day.

[Underthebridge]

[QUOTE=mzfp39;7700953]
Oh I see what you are saying. What I was intending to get across was she handled the 80 degree day better overall than the 70 degree day.[/QUOTE]
I wish I had some answers but I used to have to hose in the middle of the night,
it is cooler at night??
I tried to follow what the humidity was doing but found nothing that made sense.
You should still shave and keep the horse out of sun, it helps a lot.

[mzfp39]

[QUOTE=Underthebridge;7701200]
I wish I had some answers but I used to have to hose in the middle of the night,
it is cooler at night??
I tried to follow what the humidity was doing but found nothing that made sense.
You should still shave and keep the horse out of sun, it helps a lot.[/QUOTE]

It is cooler at night, turnout is never really an issue. She sweats more when she is turned out (just standing there, she doesn’t even have to run) than she does in work. Her respiration also does not rise when she is turned out unless she starts running etc.

[rthonor]

I have a horse like this and he pants when worked. I keep him on iodized salt and a tea spoon of ginger. This will help him some. This year I started the ginger earlier and he has maintained some sweating. I also hose him before an intense workout and spray him with rubbing alcohol. I think every horse is different and you may have to try different things.

[HeatherCK11]

Ok. So, anhydrosis is best managed by trying to prohibit the symptoms. Down here in the south, many are fairly versed in how to get one jump started but it can be challenging.
First, it’s not just about the heat. It is about heat and humidity, and tends to be problematic when the two values come close or near equal.
A horse that is not sweating has an incompetent ability to deal with exercise. They are unable to adequately cool themselves and can reach high body temps in short order. On a hot day? Just walking outside in unshaded area can create a crisis. I found my mare puffing like a freight train a few weeks ago :(.

Your best rule of order would be to try and keep this horse as cool as possible.
Over the years, this has what I’ve found to be successful.

1. Indoor only, no access to daytime temps or sunlight.
2. Turnout at night (if RR is normal), bring in before first light
3. Prosweat… product I found years ago. Have to special order online. Give 3 times a day.
4. Fans, 3 going full blast.
5. Cool showers during the heat of day.
6. Add Ventipulmin if nasal flare is seen at rest.

I’ve dealt with this several times. It happens down here in the gulf south, especially when we get no relief from high heat and humidity.
Even once I have one (like my mare) doing ok, I am still really careful for the remainder of the summer…and tend to protect them from the direct heat.
And I keep a small bottle of ventipulmin on hand at all times.

I have found the most important factor to be keeping the horse cool enough that they are not challenged (to sweat) for a good week.

[JLR1]

A friend of mine is dealing with this now. Her vet recommended Platinum Refresh and said it works better than One AC. It’s too soon for me to say whether it’s working or not, just thought I’d pass along a vets recommendation from here in the blazing inferno of Arizona

http://www.platinumperformance.com/Platinum-Refresh0153/productinfo/EREFP3/

[suzyq]

I just got mine sweating with the equiwinner patches. He was on one a c and that wasn’t working.

[mzfp39]

Heather - what is ventiplum?
JL - my mare is already on refresh and sweating more than when she was on other supplements, but is still struggling with her respiration.
Suzyq - tried equiwinner patches earlier this year, no luck. Some sweat during the treatment but as soon as we were done with the patches she stopped sweating

[buck22]

My morgan went through a couple of stages of exercise intolerance. It came on suddenly as dramatic panting and intolerance of more than 20 mins of light flat work with a very hard fluttering panting, like he had just run a race. Had the vet out and it turned out to be thumps, caused by mineral imbalance.

This devolved directly into anhidrosis, which I didn’t recognize right off as the onset was slow and sporadic and the weather was up/down too. His energy level again was sluggish, though vastly better than with the thumps. Like you, he would some times sweat better on cooler days than warmer days (side note, it was a summer of record heat). I was so perplexed I had the vet out to check for early onset of cushings.

Finally learned it was anhidrosis. I tried all the usual products with varying mild success (never did try the patch though), acupuncture and a double dose of One A/C being the most effective, but only just barely.

My horse’s hard feed at the time was rinsed beet pulp shreds as a carrier for his vit/min, but I had become increasingly un-infatuated with beep for a myriad of reasons, so I decided to drop it for alfalfa pellets.

At the same time, I discovered Animed products and their SweatAgain electrolyte, AND someone here posted a home made recipe for anhidrosis that she swore by. If memory serves, it was equal parts white sugar, lite salt and table salt. I forget the feed rate, but it was quite a bit.

Not willing to feed a large amount of sugar to my IR horse, I just started feed table salt along with SweatAgain, and voila! Sweat and return of energy and work tolerance.

Having made 3 changes at the same time, I don’t know which is really the reason, or if it is all three, but like most horse people, I’m sticking to the plan no matter what :lol: so, its SweatAgain, table salt (iodized), and no beep whatsoever.

Ventipulmin is a syrup meant to ease asthma-like breathing issues in horses. It is VERY effective stuff and in many horses it causes an incredible sweating reaction. Some people give it to try to kick start a sweating reaction. It requires a script from your vet.

The first time I bought a bottle for my heaves horse, I wound up not needing it that season for whatever reason. The next year, I needed it and used it right before serving breakfast to my aged guy. As I was in the aisle cleaning up from breakfast, I heard the sound of rain inside the shed where he was eating. I ran over and saw the sweat was literally pouring off of him, like a hose was running on him. He was soaked to the skin from nostrils to tail head. I just about went into cardiac arrest and dialed my vet thinking I’d just killed my horse by giving him expired ventipulmin or something. She explained its a common reaction for many horses.

Hope this is helpful to you.

[Nickelodian]

My bbh has never quit sweating, but will go through periods of not sweating enough. Glistening, but never really wet. He also pants (but will pant when its 30 degrees out just as much as 90 degrees out).

I tried One AC with no luck, but True Sweat has been a miracle worker.

http://www.choiceofchamps.com/true_sweat.html

Just this week I was riding when it was 92 degrees (impossible to avoid in Texas, when your day starts at 86 at 5 am), and he was lathered. I keep him on it year round.

My vet recommended this supp, and all of his anhidrosis cases are on it. He says he’s seen 100% improvement across the board, to varying degrees. He also says One AC doesn’t seem to do much at all.

[Painted_Percheron]

The humidity in Maryland was ridiculous this summer ! Even in the early mornings, the humidity was already outrageously high. Going on 3 years with my dressage horse and his anhidrosis. Ive tried OneAC, Platinum Refresh, Animed, Equiwinner patches, extra salt, and different kinds of beer, all in various amounts of single or double doses. Very little results with all of those.
I tried Let-M-Sweat this summer, and had some sweat when he was standing in the stall. It didnt help during exercise though. I gave him off all summer and slowly bringing him back this past month.
I will try accupuncture and the chinese herbs next spring/summer, thank you to those that suggested it !