Heat exhaustion?

Question

I rode my horse for onyl about 12 minutes because it was to hot to give him a full long workout. after i rode him i cooled him out and hosed him off. HE WAS COOLED OUT completley. he was cooled out for about 15 minutes....for a 12 minute ride. then he started acting weird. he started pawing in his stall, and like "bowing" putting hs head under his belly and shaking his head and throwing his body. i looked up symptoms of heat exhaustion, because it was in the high 80's that day and humidity level was over 60% if not more...i called the vet and he said put a soaked saddle pad ove rhs back, and i did. and then i started rubing his belly and then he pooped...loll. so after about 10 minutes of me rubbing him and the cold water on his back he seemed to be fine. so i took his temo and it was 99.4, my vet book said 90-100 is a heat related thing. i went back to the barn later and his temp was around 88-89. trust me, he was cooled out. it had something to do with the heat.whatd the norm temp?

Answer 1

It did not sound like heat exhaustion to me.

To me it sounded more like his gut (colic)

a temp of over 105F is heat exhaustion..NOT 90.  

A normal temp for horses is 99-100.5F

You need to toss out that vet book or you read it wrong.

signs of heat exhaustion (stroke is worse)

Weakness (wobbly)

rapid breathing

muscular tremors

collapse

temp gradual onset 105-108

Heavily sweats

When the sweating stops but he is still hot then he is now going into heat stroke.

My gelding got heat exhaustion compounded with other things but I packed him on ice and gave electrolytes.

His temp was up to like 106F.

If it's hot and humid and you do ride give a bucket of electrolyte solution next to his fresh plain water.

I purchase the powder electrolytes and make it available during these very hot days of over 90 degrees with high humidity.

Answer 2

You have some good answers already, so I will not repeat them...but I wonder, what is his stall like?  If it's a stifling hot, humid day and his stall has zero air circulation, and it's in a dark corner of the barn or something...it could be significantly hotter in there than it is outside in the sun.  With that in mind, attach a box fan near your horse's stall if you feel air circulation and heat in there is a problem.

Answer 3

I tried to find your question mixed up in all of that, but I couldn't...what is your question, specifically?  Are you asking what is the normal temp of a horse or what?  Need more information regarding your question.

Answer 4

Not sure what you meant by "throwing his body" - do you mean, throwing himself down on the ground?? Sounds more like a colic, maybe related to a little dehydration (some impaction).

At any rate, it doesn't sound like heat exhaustion.  A couple of pertinent questions related to that subject:

How fit is your horse?

What did you do for the 12 minutes? Walk and trot, or were you galloping and jumping?

What time of day were you riding, and were you riding in the shade?

Did you offer the horse water before you rode?

Did he drink after you rode?

Do you add salt to his feed (they need 2-4 oz. added per day)?

Did you check him for dehydration? (tacky gums, skin pinch test)

What was his temp before you rode?  You should have taken his temp immediately after riding.  I do both when riding in hot and humid weather.

Was there a change in comparison to how much he normally sweats? (stopped sweating - azoturia- or sweated a lot more than usual)

Signs of heat stress include:

Depression

Increased resp rate, HR and temp (normals are R -8-16/min, P-20's - 40's, T - 99.5-100.5) So you need to know what your horse's normal temp, pulse and respiration are, and how he normally responds to exercise, as a basline for comparison)

While TPand R all elevate during exercise and remain elevated afterwards, a temp over 105 is dangerous, and all vitals should be back to normal within 60 min at the most.  Respiration should return to normal within 30 minutes.

BTW, putting a wet pad over his back is not a good idea, as it very quickly reaches the horse's body temp, and thereafter acts as an insulator, preventing cooling.  Evaporation is the horse's primary means of cooling, this is why hosing and scraping and hosing and scraping is the best cooling method. Ice in the a**s (poor horse)also works, but then you don't get a true reading from your thermometer when you want to monitor the changes.



As I said, it doesn't sound heat related, more like a mild colic.

If he's reasonably fit, and the weather hasn't suddenly changed (it takes 3 days to a week for a horse to acclimate to weather change), 80's with  60% humidity isn't that bad. When the heat index reaches 150, that's when you need to really be careful (heat index = temp in Farenheit + relative humidity.  So your heat index was 140 or so) The higher the heat index, the less the horse is able to cool himself via the evaporation of sweat.

If you are concerned with the effects of the heat I'll tell you what we do.

I ride every day, and where I am it's usually upper 90's with humidity 80 - 90%.  I just take a lot of precautions.

Offer water before and after riding. (The practice has been to limit water intake to a few sips at a time for a hot horse, until he's quits drinking, but some new research is indicating that this practice is not necessary.  Can still limit to be on the safe side).

Ride early in am, if possible, or late in evening

Ride in the shade if riding during the day

I temp the horses before and after riding

Cool out in the shade with lots of cool running water, and scraping

All of the horses get 4 oz of salt added to their feed, and electrolytes if they sweat anywhere other than saddle area, and amount depends on amount of sweating/ time ridden

I do not ride fat/unfit horses other than at the walk for 20 minutes or so, very short trotting, in the shade ONLY.

Fat unfit horses are much less able to handle the heat than fit horses.

1/2 hour of work in the heat is equavelent to 1 hour, in terms of stress on all of the horses body systems (cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, etc).  So always decrease intensity and time to be on the safe side.

Hope this helps alleve your concerns.