Keeping a hairy horse cool - again!

Marnie

Marnie

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We did a pleasure ride today, and my hairy mare got really hot and wet again. She is also not as bright as she usually is - could this be related to her getting too hot, I sort of assume it is, she is eating, drinking etc as normal. She can't be clipped, so I need to find ways to keep her cool and minimise sweating.

She has been hogged before, but has a full mane now and feather on her leg (previously clipped out). I could hog her and trim her legs with scissors, but it would not be pretty - would it be worth doing?

Photos from today before the ride......

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Why can't she be clipped?

If she has behavioural issues it would be wrth paying a professional handler to work through the problem with you both.

You could sedate her for clipping.

Clipping out the legs and mane in winter is not a good idea on the grounds that the feather and mane hair are your horses natural winter protection.


Properly managed feather is easy to deal with and prevents mudfever, cracked heels and knocks and bumps.

If you don't clip, you wil need to spend a long time warming down at the end of the ride.
 
I don't think the mane and legs will make any difference. There really isn't anything I could think of that will make her cool apart from clipping. (Or just walking everywhere and hardly riding at all! which is an ar**)

Perhaps you'll just have to take the plunge and clip with sedation? Then, maybe she'll even learn that its okay.

Just out of interest, how on earth did somebody hog her mane, surely that was with clippers? That must have been under sedation I guess...
 
That's a hard one, because her winter coat will be designed to keep her warm whilst only mooching about. Anything which requires a bit more effort will make her sweat. I would be a shame to hog her - why don't you put her mane into long plaits? Star has a mane 18" long and double thickness and keeping hers in plaits does the job in the summer. Luckily, she's clipped out now.

Please don't cut her feathers - she would be so gorgeous as a full trad!

Incidentally, why can't she be clipped?
 
Please don't hog her or do her feathers, She is so pretty! If she can't be clipped then slighly decrease workload? That was she not going to get so hot, esp if you dont have time for her to dry completly before rugging up? Sorry, I don't really know!!!
 
Thanks for the nice comments about Marnie!
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Marnie can't be clipped because last January she kicked the yard owner (while under sedation) in the head when being clipped - leading to the yard owner having to have her eye socket re-built with titanium plates. I just don't feel that I can ask anyone to clip her again. We had got her to the point where she could be clipped without sedation, but had it done just to finish her off, which was the worst thing!

Plaits are a good idea - think I will try that next time. The trouble is that she is sweating up even on just a short hack, and takes ages to dry off - I have just bought a thermatex after previous advice, which is helping a lot, but tonight when I left she still wasn't dry and was quite cold - I left her in a fleece with a stable rug over the top and she had started to warm up.

Perhaps I will just have to give up riding her over the winter!!
 
If she can't be clipped she will sweat so perhaps you will need to take is slowly and make sure you give her plenty of electrolytes? A good sweat rug might also help her.

I did once see someone hosing their horse's neck and chest before riding presumably to keep him cool - I'm sure other people will tell you if this is a bad idea!!!
 
Hogging and taking off the feather wouldn't make much difference. You could always take off her belly / gullet, or give her a trace clip. Her feathers will help keep her legs mud fever free.
 
Is she rugged up all the time then? It might help stop her getting such a thick coat. I think you are right not to try clipping her to be honest, its just not worth the risk sometimes!
 
It was IV sedation. The YO was clipping her hind leg and Marnie just kicked out - I actually think it was her hock that caught the YO, as if it was one of her massive feet, I think the damage would be much greater. That is one of the problems of sedation, the horse doesn't know what it is doing, and they still have such fast reactions. You also tend to get a bit complacent and do things that you wouldn't do to an unsedated horse - not that the YO was like that, just a general thing.
 
If she really cant be clipped (sounds like not a good idea!) then Id just make sure to do lots of walking at the end of any exercise to cool her off, wash her down and chuck on a decent cooler afterwards. Id also make sure she was getting regular electrolytes as this might be making her a bit lack-lustre!
 
Don't take her feathers or mane off please! She is lovely!
My Welshie has the same problem, I don't clip him through choice for various reasons so he tends to get hot on longer hacks. But I have never had too much of an issue with this and invested in a good cooler rug with wicking away properties. I just pop this on after a ride and leave him for half an hour and then turn out in his usual rug...never had a problem.
 
HI! she looks lovely! Do you use electrolytes? If she has sweated heavily it might be an idea to offer some. I find it picks them up again. If you give her a choice of water she can choose to take them or not, but personally I add them to the feed every time Star has worked enough to get reasonably sweaty. Just an idea.

Jo x
 
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