Cooling Overheated Horses

I am concerned about exercising my horse in hot weather. What can I do to make sure my horse is properly cooled out?
Share
Favorite
Please login to bookmarkClose
Please login

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Cooling Overheated Horses
After the competition, you want to make sure that your horse has shade and a bath with cold water. Be sure to look for any signs of stress, including a high heart rate. | Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse

Q: With summer upon us, I am concerned about exercising my horse in hot weather. What can I do to make sure my horse is properly cooled out? Are there steps I can take before, during, and after exercise?

A: There are many variables involved in this question. The answer depends on how much exercise your horse will undertake and how strenuous the exercise is. Also, it is necessary to consider how hot the external temperature is. Other considerations include how fit the horse is and how the horse is going to be used. Is he going to be asked to do work beyond what he normally does?

There are some basic things you can do to make sure that your horse does not overheat during the summer. Your horse should be fit. If your horse is in good condition and if you have been exercising him on a regular basis as spring has progressed into summer and the temperatures have steadily risen, then you probably have been preparing him for summer exercise. This type of regimen should have acclimated him to the heat and to the type of environment in which he must work

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share
Catherine Kohn, VMD, currently at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, serves as United States Equestrian Team veterinarian and was the FEI veterinary delegate at the U.S. Olympics in 1996 and at Rolex Kentucky in 1998.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How do you decide when to vaccinate your horses?
199 votes · 199 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!