Foal Temperature Regulation

Are foals born with the ability to sweat, or cool themselves?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Q: I recently clipped my 1-week-old Norwegian Fjord colt as he was having a hard time with the 95-97-degree heat here in Florida. We at first thought he was really sick with a fever, but after ruling out everything else we (me, my veterinarian, other Fjord breeders, and the University of Florida vet school) felt it was the heat. His temp went up to 105 at one point, but hovered around 103-104 during the day and 102 at night. This happened when he was 3 days old and I body-clipped him the next day, as well as hosing and having him under sprinklers. After about three more days we had a cold front move in and the temps went down to 70-80 during the day and then he was very comfortable without the hosing and sprinklers.

I have done some research and discovered various opinions on when foals begin to sweat to regulate their body temperature. My most informed sources (veterinarians in Florida who have dealt with this problem before) say that foals can begin sweating from around two to six weeks. Until that time if they overheat they can only pant to cool themselves, and this is very inefficient.

My foal had a very thick, wooly coat compared to Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in this area, so I believe this is something that those of us in the warmer climates need to be aware of

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

Written by:

Christina S. Cable, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, owns Early Winter Equine in Lansing, New York. The practice focuses on primary care of mares and foals and performance horse problems.

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:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
288 votes · 288 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!