[HalfPass]

Hey everyone.
I got my mare about a month or so ago. She was in a much warmer climate before coming up to my place. It gets cold enough to freeze every night. Lately it has been almost in the single digits at night. She does not have that thick of a coat at this time.
When the trainer works with Candi, she sweats very easily. If she goes into the round pen she works herself into a sweat pretty quickly.
I purchased a quarter sheet for the trainer to use when she is working with Candi. At this time she is not under saddle. She is in the process of learning to lounge among other things.
Today I put her into the round pen to let her get a bit of excersise and she worked herself into a bigtime sweat. I actually had to scrap her and then towel dry her off, put a cooler on her and keep her moving in the sun.
We can clip her, but I know she has never had this done, so I am sure it would be stressful for her.
I don't mind that she sweats, but when the temp ouside is only creeping up slowly throughout the day, it does concern me some.
Today it was sunny out so I had that on my side, but on days whe there is no sun or there is a breeze or wind, it takes much much longer to get her to dry out.

What would you all do other than what measures I am already doing???

When the sun is out, it is actually much warmer outside the barn than inside so walking her outside is better. But when the weather is not so great I don't have any other choices but to walk her around inside.

This is my first time owning horses in this climate. Years ago when I had horses before I was not that concerned since the climate was much warmer and rarely was at the freezing mark. Right now the high for the day is around 50 degree's and sunny, with lows almost in the single digits. Typically around this time of the year it is actually a bit cooler during the day.
Anyway.....I managed to get her cooled and dry much quicker today than if it were not sunny so I got lucky with that, but as I said before when the weather is not that great, it can take quite some time to get her completely dry.
One of the gals at the barn has offered me to use her hair dryer. Now I am not real sure how Candi would handle the noise, but I suppose i am willing to try it and see how it goes.
What do you all think? I have never used a hair dryer on a horse...lol

HP

 

[7Ponies]

Make sure she gets electrolytes and don't worry so much. I'd much rather have a horse that sweats than one that doesn't

I would NOT use a hair dryer. Horses have very sensitive skin and you could easily burn her. (I guess you could use it on "cool" setting)

 

[western walking horse]

thakns i learn something now

 

[HalfPass]

Thanks 7ponies,
The hair dryer thing did seem weird, but many people do different things and have different ways of dealing with things.

Do you think it is due to her being out of shape and unworked for a long while?

She really does dry out quickly when the sun is out.

 

[kevinshorses]

Horses that are fed a high protien diet will sweat more than a horse on a lower protien diet. If a horse is getting more protien than they need they have to convert it to energy and that generates excess heat, hence the sweating. I would cut back on the high protien feed and not worry about the rest. Horses can sweat in freezing weather and be fine. The worst thing you can do for them is rub them with a towel. They have coat that is designed to insulate and if you rough it up and distribute the moisture through out the hair it inhibits the way it works.

 

[HalfPass]

Hey Kevin
So I got to thinking about all the sweating issues.
Candi is not on a high protein diet, but I decided to try something different today.
She is full of tons of energy and when the barn staff take her to turn out she somtimes runs and runs and bucks and jumps. Now I will not put her in a really large turn-out because I was told she was jumping a 5 ft fence at her last residence. I do not doubt this for a second because when she arrived she had scatches and a gash on her tummy I fixed right up.
Anyway. When I arrived today she was soaking wet. So I just brought her in from the turnouts, scraped the excess off of her coat and threw her cooler on. then we walked.
It was only about 38 out and the clouds were blocking the sun for about the first 30 min, but the sun returned and I noticed that she actually dried much better than when I toweled her.
She did not dry to quickly persay but more evenly and naturaly
All the people at my barn just seem to freak when they see her so wet. But what are you gonna do...So I am doing as 7 ponies suggested and not being overly concerned any more. It is what it is.
She will adjust and as time goes on things will get better.
Thanks
HP

 

[mom2pride]

Yeah, when I have one sweat up in the winter, I will usually just blanket, and walk, I don't sweat scrape even, because with a polar fleece cooler, the moisture wicks away really easily, especially when it's still just sitting on the top coat. Once they are dry, then I will thoroughly groom them and get rid of any 'sweat' marks and the rough coat.