Cold hosing

vhf

vhf

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Standing for 20 minutes cold-hosing a hock gives you plenty of time for reflection... :rolleyes:
  1. How effective is it when you drag a paddock kept horse in to stand in the pouring rain with a hose running down its leg for a few minutes?
  2. Do you just hose the apparent injury point, or the entire swollen leg where you presume gravity has taken the excess fluid...?
  3. Has anyone designed a clip to attach said hose to said horse so you can actually get everything else done...?
  4. Have there been any proper studies done on the efficacy of cold-hosing in various circumstances and environmental conditions?
 
There are sort of boot type things with a hole to connect the hose to. If you hose the injury the water goes onto the rest of the swollen leg anyway so I am confused about your question regarding that bit. A few minutes cold hosing has little or no effect it has to be a minimum of I think it is 10min but I could be wrong there maybe it is 20min so for this information to be available makes me think a study must have been done though I do not know for sure. Not very scientific but I have cold hosed myself on occasion for infected swellings nasty insect bites and it definitely helps with pain if nothing else. Hope your horse recovers soon.
 
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Firefly9410 said:
There are sort of boot type things with a hole to connect the hose to. If you hose the injury the water goes onto the rest of the swollen leg anyway so I am confused about your question regarding that bit. A few minutes cold hosing has little or no effect it has to be a minimum of I think it is 10min but I could be wrong there maybe it is 20min so for this information to be available makes me think a study must have been done though I do not know for sure. Not very scientific but I have cold hosed myself on occasion for infected swellings nasty insect bites and it definitely helps with pain if nothing else. Hope your horse recovers soon.
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Thank you. Yes, too much time to think... I was pondering whether the water that ran down the rest of the leg was still sufficiently cold to be having an impact once it got to the lower reaches! I recall a 20 minute rule as well, but can't remember whether it was from reading something scientific, or ancient wisdom. I have been cold hosing for about the last 46 years (told you, too long to think) everything from big knees to snake bites, so I do hope it has an impact!
I am NOT planning to need a boot... ! But it could be a godsend on a big yard.
 
The Trooper said:
I've seen someone at the yard place the hose above the injury and wrap in a vet wrap which you can take off and hang up to dry afterwards.
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Ooh, like it! My level of Heath-Robinson! (Cue injured animal suddenly recovering all use of limbs and disappearing at speed pursued by wildly spraying hose...)
 
BOWS28 said:
I'm a definite cold hoser and indeed believe 20 mins is the minimum for optimum effectiveness :p
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But where has 20 minutes come from? I'm pretty sure it's 20 minutes to tub a foot, too... so where's the research or did someone once think it was a good length of time to tell their groom and the rest is history?!
 
vhf said:
But where has 20 minutes come from? I'm pretty sure it's 20 minutes to tub a foot, too... so where's the research or did someone once think it was a good length of time to tell their groom and the rest is history?!
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If i'm honest it's just something i have always always been taught. 20 mins does sound like a nice time though, doesn't it? :p
 
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I did a lot of cold hosing recently and the vet said as much as I could as often as I could so even if that’s 4 times a day for 5 minutes it’s better than nothing... certainly seemed to work
 
Abi90 said:
I did a lot of cold hosing recently and the vet said as much as I could as often as I could so even if that’s 4 times a day for 5 minutes it’s better than nothing... certainly seemed to work
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You see, that seems logical to me, and yet - there I am at silly o'clock so I can do 20 minutes...
 
With a sensible horse I have used a loose bandage to hold the dratted hose onto the horse whilst I muck out etc beside it.

I usually do 20 minutes too if it is something important (have to set my watch as it feels oh so much longer!), but less if it is just a precaution.

I also like those old fashioned bandages (Bonner Bandages) that you stick in the freezer and swap every half an hour. These days I buy ice cube bags or cool bags and use thise sleeved in a Tubigrip. If I was doing a yard full with a convenient freezer you could do a whole lot of cooling.
 
I bought some boots that came with inserts that you can freeze or heat up, they were only cheap and saved me so much time stood cold hosing. They stayed cold for about 50 mins and are reuseable. I seemed to be spending my life walking and cold hosing, much to the disgust of my horse :)
 
I have one that won’t have the hose near her. A friend gave me the brilliant idea of dunking a fleece bandage in really cold water and applying loosely and removing when I left her. It worked really well on a puffy leg.
 
This morning I hosed in a different location. The field rather than the yard, so the water could filter straight back into the borehole and water the grass while it was at it, rather than make the gateway muddy. Plus the view was better... you'd think I'd suggested using a chain saw... sigh...
 
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