Cooling Out
Dr. Jonathan Foreman, professor of large animal medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, conducted extensive research during the 1996 Olympics on the proper way to cool out a hot horse. He found that two accepted practices actually are detrimental: not scraping off the water after hosing down a hot horse and the use of a cool-out sheet. Both practices interfere with the horse's ability to dissipate heat through sweating.
“One of the key things is to scrape the water off frequently so that it doesn't just sit there like a hot, insulating blanket,” he said.
A cool-out sheet, which becomes wet and hot soon after it is draped over the horse, also holds in heat. Don't use a cool-out sheet; allow the horse's sweat to cool it naturally, he advised.
When bathing a hot horse, Foreman recommended using very cold water. He said the adage that cold water on hot muscles will cause the horse to tie up is not true. Studies looked at horses bathed in water of ambient temperature and those bathed in very cold water.
“There was no difference in those two groups afterward in terms of muscle enzymes, no evidence of tying up,” he said. “In fact, the group with the colder water did cool off faster. … Even ice-cold water when you put it on, by the time it runs around the horse's belly is very hot. And that's going to act as a hot-water blanket unless you scrape it back off.”
Regarding watering off, Foreman said horses essentially limit themselves because a horse can't drink water and breathe at the same time. A horse coming off strenuous exercise has a fast respiratory rate, and it only will drink until it needs to take a breath.
“If a swallow is 150 milligrams, then a gallon is 25 swallows,” he said. “Most horses, if they're still breathing hard, won't drink 25 swallows because at some point, they have to pull their head out of the water to catch their breath. They are just not in any real danger of overdrinking after exercise.”
No Fancy Electrolytes
Don't put electrolytes in the horse's water, Potter said.
“If you get the electrolyte concentration in the horse's water too high, it will discourage the horse from drinking. The best way is to put the electrolytes in the feed trough,” he said. “But in my description of electrolytes, we're talking about salt. You don't need the complicated electrolytes that have sugar, amino acids, and all that stuff — just plain sodium chloride.”
Potter advised horsemen to place a handful of salt in the horse's feed tub, separate from the feed, with each meal. Do not mix it through the feed because too much salt will discourage the horse from eating. In his research, Potter found the optimum amount of salt per day for the average horse is 90 grams, or roughly three ounces, in addition to the minimal amount contained in commercial feed. He discourages horsemen from providing a tub of free-choice loose salt in the stall because he said some horses may develop a psychological salt addiction, which may cause physical problems.
