It was 99F today. I recall that studies were done for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics on how to best cool off a horse. Does anyone have any references to that (or more current) work?
Cross posting in Eventing.
I live where it can be over 100 degrees for several months at a time. Right now it is also humid. Best thing I have found is to hose, scrape and put horse in front of high velocity fan.
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Those big fans can be a lifesaver. We had a horse at my barn that spooked and got loose on a very long hand walk yesterday and galloped back to the barn in 90 degree humid weather… A distance of at least 1 1/2 miles. He arrived severely overheated, got hosed off for about 30 minutes, stuck in front of a big aisle fan for the last 10 minutes of that and about 15 minutes more. As of today, he’s remarkably all right.
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We use these in the wash stalls and grooming bays: https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft_cooling_fans-ft_portable_fans;pg105527.html
I have two 36" and one 42" barrel fan for my horses, who are 24 & 25. I keep hay out to encourage them to stay in the barn. There has only been two days this summer that were so miserable hot & humid they chose to go below the barn and hang out under the trees because the fans were pushing obnoxiously hot air:(
They both love those big barrel fans blowing air on them:). I don’t spray them as staying in front of those fans keeps even those big horse flies off them. Plus their easy keeping selves hold their weight down by spending several hours in the barn each day:)
No references, but at the track we deal with this all summer. If the horse gets overheated, cold hose them. If they heat back up after hosing, hose again. Let them drink and rehydrate.
Dr David Marlin has excellent cooling info on his website and FB page. Dr. Susan Garlinghouse too. Basically throw out all the bunk we were pony club taught as kids. Water, cold water and lots of it. If you’re sponging as opposed to hosing, throw ice in the bucket. Don’t scrape, just keep adding cold water. Check rectal temp- 103.5 is your hard limit, major danger zone. Put your horse in the shade. Add fans if you have them. Give them as much water as they want to drink.
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here’s some more recent info (scroll down to my post, probably p.2)
Also, I disagree that 103.5 is the hard limit, although 104 and over is where muscle damage can begin, but not “major damage” by any means. Now if I had an arab or other endurance type horse with that type of body build, it’s a good guideline. If you are working a heavy muscled/draft type horse, you learn to live with some other numbers. Also the vets in the vet box with experience tend to recognize this reality as well. The really important thing is how fast does he recover? If you have a horse who’s heart rate and respiration is normal in 5 minutes, his temp is 103.5 but it came down 1.2 degrees after 5 minutes into cooling off, you will get OK’d out of the vet box. You probably aren’t going to see a lot of those horses in endurance, but a heavier wheel horse or a fjord/haffie in CDE? That’s going to play a little differently!
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