I have a lovely horse that appears to be well suited to hunt with exception of the fact he has anhidrosis. I’ve been trying a variety of remedies with no luck so far. I took him in his first hound walk this morning and he was super, but it was a cool morning. Am I setting myself up for heart break if I can’t get him sweating?
Yes. Even hilltopping can be a workout, and you won’t be able to control the pace while hunting to keep him cool. Picture yourself miles into a territory with a horse that is overheating because he can’t sweat.
One of our whipper-ins has a horse that can not sweat. She will ONLY hunt him on very cold winter days.
How long have you had the horse? Do you know if he ever sweats? My horse sweats well in the winter as well as early spring and late fall. It’s just summer he can’t handle, with the humidity. If he can sweat as long as it’s below, say, 60 degrees and not too humid, you may be okay with some restrictions. If he doesn’t sweat AT ALL, then yes I think you’re setting yourself up for disappointment and him for health problems.
I’ve had the horse since last November. He did not sweat last summer with previous owner, but he does sweat fall, winter, spring. Sounds very similar to your horse. How do you manage yours? What types of restrictions?
He’s new to hunting, so I hate to throw him in the deep end by starting him when the season is up and going, but our cubbing is pretty hot.
[QUOTE=Debbie;8209330]
I have a lovely horse that appears to be well suited to hunt with exception of the fact he has anhidrosis. I’ve been trying a variety of remedies with no luck so far. I took him in his first hound walk this morning and he was super, but it was a cool morning. Am I setting myself up for heart break if I can’t get him sweating?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
We sold our good horse to a family in Ohio- we tried for 2 years (let em Sweat, beer, some other supplements) nothing worked.
I would not want to try to foxhunt one that doesn’t sweat. Much of the conditioning would be hard to do during the late summer. I would think you wouldn’t be able to truly condition until fall and then wouldn’t feel comfortable hunting (but we have a pretty fast pack with coyotes in our territory) a horse in Dec, that doesn’t have the miles they need. For us the weather and footing go to he!! after Dec. So, not only would you have a hard time hunting, you’d be hard to have a horse in condition.
Just out of curiosity sake, what is the breed, body condition scale and age of your horse?
[QUOTE=Debbie;8209841]
I’ve had the horse since last November. He did not sweat last summer with previous owner, but he does sweat fall, winter, spring. Sounds very similar to your horse. How do you manage yours? What types of restrictions?
He’s new to hunting, so I hate to throw him in the deep end by starting him when the season is up and going, but our cubbing is pretty hot.[/QUOTE]
My guy just turned 19 and we have been showing Grand Prix dressage the past couple years, so he is in pretty heavy and consistent work, but not nearly the cardio workout you guys do. His anhydrosis started almost 10 years ago now. I tried beer, which worked for one summer then stopped, and One AC, which he’s still on even though I’m not sure how much it helps. I am also trying acupuncture but have only had one session so I can’t report back on that yet.
By “restrictions” I mean that I only ride before 9 am or so in the summer, and I don’t compete between early May and late September. He still only sweats lightly during morning rides, mostly under the tack, but the temp is lower so I am less concerned about him actually overheating. I do a good cool-down with cold hosing and walking, then park him inside under the fan for the day, and he gets turned out overnight.
This has been doable for me but I would be hesitant to try what you’re thinking about because of the greater conditioning demands. At first I was thinking that since foxhunting season is in the winter you might be okay, but I didn’t think about the conditioning aspect. I know very little about foxhunting, having gone once as a guest on my event horse, so I would defer to others. I think jawa gave you some good advice.
Good luck!
He is a 6 year old TB. I’d put on the poor side of body scale - very hard keeper. Unfortunately I do not have a barn, but they are in a very shady paddock. I haven’t observed him having increased respiration in the field, but he does heat up quickly with any work beyond a walk on hot days. We had a cool morning yesterday and he handled w,t and a good canter without distress. I was prepared to take him in at any time or put him in the pond, but he did well. Evening rides in the humidity are definitely out of the cards.
He had pretty good fitness coming into summer, but maintaining it will be a challenge if I can’t get him sweating. He’s currently on Mega Sweat and I’m going to try to get beer in him as well. He’s a picky eater so that may be a non-starter. Looking into acupuncture as well.
Thanks for all the advice. Keep it coming please!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k7ox616ituz9c84/.facebook_1435701157799%20(1).jpg?dl=0 edited to add a photo link.
Yeah, it’s dangerous, sorry. You don’t want him going down in the middle of nowhere with you aboard!!
I guess keep pressing for treatments. Nag your vet, try out everything. I’m betting it’s a metabolic issue (seems to be in humans) so maybe do some blood tests? Might also pick up on mineral deficiencies? To me he looks like an ulcer horse (I have one and they do drop muscle in specific places) so I’d try some digestive treatments but I’m doubtful that will affect the anhidrosis.
I would not want to hunt a horse that didn’t sweat. As folks have said, much of the conditioning / cubbing and even hunting takes place when it is still warm and even in the winter my boy works up a sweat in the hunt field.
That said I have a horse (one I don’t hunt) with anhidrosis. He completely quit sweating a few summers ago. I did Guinness and One AC and he began to sweat again in the fall. I start One AC each May – not sure if it does anything, but I am afraid to stop – and he has been fine except for some “inappropriate” sweating on occasion – sweating when the others are dry, etc. So give your horse some time. This may be a temporary condition. My boy’s grandfather also had one summer of not sweating years ago and never had the issue again.
Good luck!
I would not try it. I have a welsh pony who went through a period of anhidrosis and he would go from fine to compromised rapidly and without much exertion.
I have a horse that had anhidrosis…due to surgery. Found out the hard way he stopped sweating the summer after when doing an eventing clinic. I did the One AC, Guinnes and accupunture. That winter we had a tough one and I didn’t blanket him. Started him back on One AC in the spring. He had free access to a stall and would come in to a fan when it was hot out. That seemed to help reset his clock the next year. Due to other issues, I pasture boarded him for the past three years and did not do much with him until the past couple months. Currently, he is sweating like a mad man without using any supplements but I am keeping an eye on him. I am just using him for hunting and not eventing. But I know the horse and was able to fix the issue but am vigilant of his temperature. However, I wouldn’t buy a horse with that problem . It’s a lot to worry about.
My friend has a Fresian cross that has anhidrosis. She also seems to have other metabolic problems along with that. The vet was of no help in trying to figure out how to treat. The vet said to try thyroid supplement. This did seem to help stabilize the mare’s weight. She tried beer, OneAC with no real change. With all of her research into the problem, she found that her mare was very low in iron and copper. For several years she had her on two different vitamin mineral supplements. They seemed to help a little bit. In the summer when we ride, we ride early in the day. We also freeze sports bottles of water and carry with us, so she can cool the mare down if needed until we get back to the barn. My former barn owner hunted and I know that she started conditioning for the fall around this time of year. Good luck with finding a solution to the problem.
I had a paint with it. He did start sweating again but was very prone to overheating. The more heat stress,the worse this condition gets. If they are cool,in a dry environment they sometimes get better but probably never normal.
I would only do light trail rides except in cold weather. Keep him body clipped. Build up condition very,very slowly.
But know he will always be at risk for heat stroke/death, even if he returns to sweating. I don’t think I would hunt a horse like this. Maybe in Montana or other cold,dry state?
