question for you folks down south

[Terri]

We, like the rest of the country, are in a heat wave. Both today and yesterday hovered near 100. Our horses are not used to this. I have been hosing them down at least once a day. So the question is, is it better to scrap the excess water off or let them drip dry. Which keeps them cooler longer?

[appyday]

I know there is a correct answer to this...I THINK you are to wipe them off..honestly we have been OVER 100 and up to 115 heat index this week here..I hose mine and am too lazy to take the excess water off..I leave them dripping...some I do and put back in stalls under fans and others are in the fields..in this weather..you are doing them good whatever you do...good luck and stay cool.

[JennLM]

We have wind here almost constantly so I leave it on so it continues to cool them. Ours get hosed usually twice a day. I do them in the morning and if I am home, the evenings.

[Abejita]

I have read that when hosing a hot horse (as in after a workout ) you are to scrape them..but fans and breezes will help with evaporation which is cooling.I know they say for dogs to only hose their belly as the hair on the sides and back traps the water and then it can act like a sauna ..but our horses are not long haired like most dogs..

[appyday]

We have wind here almost constantly so I leave it on so it continues to cool them. Ours get hosed usually twice a day. I do them in the morning and if I am home, the evenings.

Yeah we have a breeze too today...at 102 it feels like a dog panting on you... :-?

[JennLM]

LOL I know when I am working out there I constantly get myself wet and it does keep me cooler.

[appyday]

LOL I know when I am working out there I constantly get myself wet and it does keep me cooler.

Do you use a sweat scaper afterward?? :roll:

[Cindy]

It is best to scrape the horse if he is hot from a workout as what cools the horse is the sweat absorbing the heat and then being removed. If they are really hot I will sometimes hose them, scrape them, then hose and scrape again. But if you are just hosing them and they have not been exercised, they are not as hot and the slower evaporation over a longer peiod of time might be better. When they are very hot leaving the water on actually makes them stay hot longer as the water absorbs the heat.

[Edurne]

hose and drip dry if they are outside, hose and scrape if they are in under fans.

[Cindy]

Edurne, could you elaborate? What is the reasoning for the difference. I would have thought it the other way around.

[Edurne]

the horses here are sweating just standing around. We hoze them and let them drip dry - they do fine, and Primero likes to take a sun nap afterwards. If they are sweating from work, we hoze them and again if they live in the field they drip dry, if they are stalled during the day under fans, we hoze them, scrape them off, let them airdry for a little while in the sun while they munch grass, and then they go in under fans. It's cool there and perhaps we worry that they would catch cold!! Some of the horses come to the water pipes and ask to be hozed - they are all ex-race horses and just love it.

I like to hoze Primero until his chest feels cold - probably just a few minutes. We have another horse that has had terrible time cooling down, it takes over half an hour of hozing just to get her to "warm" temperature. She had Lymes, but on being retested is clear. The cause for this slow cooling down has not yet been diagnozed - she's fat. She pours new sweat out (and hyperventilates), which you can see as you move the hoze from one side to another. It has been a big concern. Primero cools down from work very quickly.

We hoze during day - not usually in the evening.

[Blair]

I am not that far from Appyday and like her, our humidty factor is through the roof with the heat. When it is dry heat, leaving them wet usually works but when the humidity is this high, the water won't evaporate. I have been hosing mine down at dusk, scraping them, toweling some with a chamois and then reapplying repellent because the mosquitos are so bad. If I leave them wet the insects just go to town. It seems to be working because both come to gait and wait for the bedtime bath!!!!

Cool weather soon.......
Blair

[appyday]

Yeah Blair but I thought at 100% humitity whats a little more??

[Terri]

Okay, hosed them, turned the hose on myself. thought everybody was happy until that nitwit qrt horse went and rolled in the dust. Now he is muddy. Now what? We do have a slight breeze and when I come out of the pool wet it actually feels cool, so I am guessing the wet horses feel cool as the breeze helps evaporate. I am looking forward to this weekend's cold front.

[appyday]

Mine do the same thing...go back in the house in the AC you did your job..

[Terri]

A/C!!!????? You have A/C in your house? Can I come visit?

[appyday]

A/C!!!????? You have A/C in your house? Can I come visit?

I have 4 in it... :lol:

[Blair]

Yep Appy, this humidity is out of control so you are right, what is a little more!!! I find it funny that after all of this, I am more wet and hot than the horses and have to go take a shower myself! I would kill for a breeze - we haven't had one all week! It was actually ok out this morning at 6:30 but I had to work and couldn't ride. Maybe I can get some time in this weekend if it goes below 95!

[LynnG]

I think the water evaporates pretty fast as the horse's hair coat is short when it is this hot. I don't scrape unless it is after a ride rinse. I do rinse all the sweat out, and then apply fresh fly spray, so they don't need to be sopping wet in that case.

[Mellifluous]

I have been riding Phoebe in the afternoons after work. The past few days she has conked out on me at 5 miles. It is so very very hot a humid here. I am planning to take her for a longer ride Sunday morning at Watson Mill and will try to start as early as possible. Hopefully the weather will be bearable!

She is usually very hot after our rides around the farm, so I will hose ans scrape and repeat until she has cooled down. Much like Cindy described. Phoebe loves it.

[ErinC]

we have 4 too, one in each bed room , and one in the Living room, two fans in the barn, and the camper has AC ,
I can see the meter spining from here!

[Terri]

BTW - The temperature just fell through the floor! An hour ago it was 95, now it is a cool 79 with a breeze, awwwww, now this is the New England I know and love.

[motorgypsy]

Hosing, then scraping instantly removes the heat absorbed by the water as several people mentioned so it is by far the quickest way to cool a horse assuming the water is colder than the horse. Hoses lying in the sun have a lot of hot water in them so be careful.

If the horse is hot but not overheated and the humidity is not 100% or close to it you will get excellent cooling from the evaporation of the water on the horse. The dryer the air and the greater the breeze, the more effective this method is. We always hose our horses before we trailer them and before a ride on a hot day and it seems to help them stay cooler.

[hast]

When doing endurance you learn that if you don't scrape them off the water will act as insulation and keep the heat in... rather than cool them off. ;-)
edited to add; I didn't see all replies to the same effect :oops:

[motorgypsy]

I've been told that also but it would really only really be true if it were very very hot and humid - but scraping does indeed as was mentioned get rid of the heat a lot faster. Of course you can be lazy and just keep on spraying them. That works just as well as scraping. At many endurance rides though you don't have an abudance of water and certainly not running water so little tricks like scraping can get the pulse down faster than just allowing for natural evaporation cooling.

[Edurne]

scraping if you don't have water makes sense - it's when the water is coming down cold from under their belly, and the horse's chest feels cold that I don't bother. With Phyllis we just keep the hose on her - end up having to do it in relay as it takes so long - because you can touch her chest after 20 minutes and it burns your hand.

[TrueStepPaso]

We have wind here almost constantly so I leave it on so it continues to cool them. Ours get hosed usually twice a day. I do them in the morning and if I am home, the evenings.

Yeah we have a breeze too today...at 102 it feels like a dog panting on you... :-?


HA!!!!!


Terri.....I just leave mine to do their own thing....graze and seek shelter. Occasionally though, I will take them to the pond, or hose 'em off...and let them drip dry.
However, with this humidity...it just sits on them, so maybe I should start scraping.......

[appyday]

Yep I still say in 105..............ANYTHING you do to a horse with water is going to help..

[Abejita]

Edurne The 'fat ' horse that doesnt cool..have you done a Cushing's test on her? They dont have to have long hair coat..

[Edurne]

Vet comes on Tuesday...... perhaps they will go that route. We have been taking internal temperature and it has been the same as Primero who we are using as control. She is six years old. Would that affect respiration rate during work as well? She certainly wants to "go", is very willing. Currently bringing her up in work, so no more than one minute trots being ponied .... and obviously nothing this week due to the heat. No overt fat pads or crestiness - just rotund all over.

[Abejita]

yes it could..but she would run out of steam during work I think..Cookie just was sluggish and even with consistant easy work gained no stamina.And she would get hot and stay hot longer..but if she doesnt have the crestiness or fat pads it probably isnt Cushings..but there was just a study that I think was in the farriers journal (my farrier told me) about how there are many horses that have no outward signs of Cushings that are usually though of (the hair coat esp) that are testing positive for it..