Keeping the anhidrosis horse cool

[blob99]

My horse has developed anhidrosis this summer. She went from being a heavy sweater to not sweating at all and unfortunately, it’s a scorcher. We are in the process of trying all the things to see what might help/work. Very open to any suggestions on what might be worth the try. So far we’ve tried beer, plantinum refresh, one AC, and some chinese herbs.

But in the immediate, was actually also hoping for some advice on how to keep her cool, esp as we look ahead to a big heatwave next week. Temps will be in high 90s with high humidity as well. She will be inside during the day with a fan, we will hose her down periodically. Is there something else we can do to keep her cool? Unfortunately even inside with the fan is not always enough to keep her body temp in a comfortable place even days that are much cooler than the ones we’ll be getting next week. Any tips or ideas?

[Marla_000]

We did get some sweat for a few days on double dosing of Mad Barn Electrolytes plus 2 TB. Iodized salt per day. But it stopped.
One A/C did nothing. Just starting P. Refresh.
Here in hot, humid Fl. I hose
Hourly on the super hot days. Plus my mare decided she likes outdoors in the shade of some big oak trees. Just got a .new sealed fan for outdoors, so I may use 2 fans.
Oh, plus a bottle or 2 of red Gatorade.
Good Luck !!

[RhythmNCruise]

This has been the saga of this summer here too. I’m fortunate that I’m a teacher and have the time during the summer to take care of my poor guy. He’s dealt with this on some level for many years but this summer has hands-down been the absolute worse. There’s just no relief. Actually, today was a relief and he was comfortable all day, even allowed to go outside as he wished. No sweating that I saw, but not much need. No huffing and puffing though, which was glorious, so no hosing.

We’re having horrid heat starting this weekend and going into next week as well. Regular temps now at 99 for the weekend with high humidity and feeling like 115+.

I’ve done EVERYTHING this summer. One AC, Guinness, electrolytes, salt, Chinese herbs, Equiwinner patches, and acupuncture. There have been tiny improvements here and there, but only when the heat eases up a little, but even then it’s still not enough sweating to cool him. I’ve got Platinum Refresh coming. I used it once a couple of years ago and it seemed to work then.

I think the main problem is I waited too late to start any of the things. I kept putting it off because the weather wasn’t bad and he was sweating, and then mid-June we had an unseasonably “July-like” week of extreme heat that shut him down and I’ve not been able to get him started again.

He will be in his stall with his fan and I will be hosing periodically over the upcoming heat wave. I’ve also toyed with the idea of buying a cooler, loading it with ice and water, and having towels soaking in it to put on him for a quick cool down between showers if needed.

[bingbingbing]

I have found that the super sweaters often turn into non sweaters. So I try to protect them like a non sweater.

My non sweaters are outside in the shade with a sprayer. Which obviously is only helpful if they will used it. They also get beer, 1AC, electrolytes.

Next year start supplements before it gets hot. It usually helps them sweat longer if they are going to shut down.

[Heinz_57]

If you can rig up a mister to go with the fan, it is a huge help in my experience.

[BEJ]

I have an Equi Cool down body wrap for the super hot days! The owner is great, too!

[Renn_aissance]

My horse has been sweating reasonably on Platinum Refresh for something like 10 years and then this year he stopped. Trying to get him started again on something else.

I’m giving him cold showers every 2-3 hours during the day. The barn has allowed me to bring my laptop and a chair and work from the tack room.

I don’t know what else to do.

[Annie10]

I second the mister. I got barn fans from TSC for each stall. Then I found misters on Amazon. They are just rubber tubing with little nozzles. They zip tie to the front of the fan and make a huge difference. There are several different kinds that you can order with different kegrhs of tubing for your situation and they are CHEAP .
I did notice the stall got wetter than I would like, so I also got the pelleted bedding and I use that under the shavings. He’s still not really sweating but at least he’s not cooking himself.

[casemonster]

@Annie10 Can you post a link to the misters?

[MsM]

Fortunately, my guy is so far maintaining on Guiness. Folks where I buy it might think I have a problem!

For short term relief, I have a spray bottle of water, alcohol, and wintergreen. I will spray him before riding and whenever I am around when it is extra hot. I am grateful that my boarding barn does night turnout and fans in the stalls during the hot days.

[Horsecrazy3]

You could try Equiwinner. https://signal-health.com/ I have not used it for anhidrosis, but know someone who did and their horse started sweating again. They have continued to use it.

[endlessclimb]

I’ve never had to manage this problem (knock on wood!). For those that have, what did you notice first? Generalized overheating? Tying up?

I’ve got two retirees on site that do zeros, one of which has never been a big sweater in his whole life - I feel like it would be harder to notice on them than on a horse in work.

[Renn_aissance]

Generalized overheating. A fit horse huffing and puffing under saddle after minimal exertion, with less or no sweat on the body. It was a pretty sudden change and the differential between that and heaves was “oh shit this horse isn’t sweating.”

In a retiree, I’d still look at breathing as the indicator (my kid is 30 now and it’s the first thing I use to assess if he is having a bad day.) If you want to be sure it’s not heaves, check whether the respiration rate drops back into normal once the body temperature is lowered.

“Acting generally miserable” is another indicator but possibly less valuable when the appropriate response to the weather conditions is to act miserable.

[endlessclimb]

Thank you! I’ll keep my eyes peeled. I’ve never seen either of them huffing or puffing (except at grain time for the chunky one, lol), but it’s been downright miserable lately and the Old Man still doesn’t have any appreciable sweat on him - he’s my “never been a big sweater, never been a big drinker” horse.

[Simkie]

I’ve usually noticed it when they come in blowing but totally dry. Or are standing away from everyone in turnout, in the best shady/cool spot they can find, blowing.

You can check temps if you’re worried. Easy peace of mind. The temp will go up if they’re not sweating, since they can’t cool themselves properly.

[RhythmNCruise]

The raised respiration is the first thing I’ll see, then when I get close enough, I notice the coat is dry.

I also kind of notice that in the days leading up to it, the hair coat looks very dry and crispy. The reason is because the first kind of sweat that horses have is the kind that basically keeps their skin and hair moist and soft. The second kind is the stuff that cools them down.

Since June, my horse has had a few days where he seems to have been able to regain his “moisturizing sweat” but has not progressed to “cooling sweat” yet and has regressed to “zero sweat” when it gets super hot (as it’s about to do tomorrow for the next several days).

[Renn_aissance]

@RhythmNCruise

I also kind of notice that in the days leading up to it, the hair coat looks very dry and crispy.

Interesting. I didn’t know this. I wouldn’t describe my horse’s hair coat as “crispy” but it’s definitely short on gloss. I had attributed it to some skin funk he got after rolling in something he’s allergic to. Thanks for sharing.

[Simkie]

@RhythmNCruise

I also kind of notice that in the days leading up to it, the hair coat looks very dry and crispy.

Thank you for talking about this! I’ve noticed it too but have always thought I’m just imagining things or going a little crazy.

[tabula_rashah]

I don’t know if this is coincidental or what but I had read that beet pulp could be contributing factor- I tried One AC, Guinness, etc and no results. Then I took my mare that had it off of beet pulp (she was getting a good amount of it) and about a week later she went back to sweating.

[blob99]

thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions and sorry so many of you are dealing with this also.

I am thinking I might buy an evaporative cooling fan for in the stall that might do more than just swirl hot air around like a hair dryer.

re: what I noticed: my mare had a pre-existing respiratory condition, so breathing hard was not the first sign for me, as that happens when she has flare-ups. But since she was a heavy sweater, noticing her completely dry with raised veins was pretty telling. Also, as soon as she was hosed down the respiratory rate came down, when she has a breathing episode that isn’t the case, even though I hose her then too since i’m sure it helps some.

This year for the first time she was given zyretc and it was not long after that that the anhidrosis started, so i suspect that was our trigger. Unfortuantely taking her off of it wasn’t enough to change things (she’s been off for 30 days). But we were already into June when the no sweating started, so starting her on something early was a missed opportunity. Next year, I’ll try to be more preventative, knowing this can happen. But I"m also hoping it doesn’t happen again