sweating horse

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samp

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My horsehas always been one to seriously sweat up. Yesterday we went to an event was in the lorry probably about 1hr - very realxed, all windows open, friend in there. Her friend came out dry, my horse was soaking!

Did our sponsored ride - walked initially to dry off and she got quite sweaty. Washed off when back, dried in sun, back in lorry and once again came back soaking. Can anyone recommend what to do to prevent this? Can you get lorries air con for horses? Does it work? I am not sure it is hot lorries just she has always been a swaety horse - guess like some humans. It is just concerning that she is so wet and possibly dehydrated before any shows. We offer water etc whilst there
 
She is like it when ridden though we can do very little work and he lathers up. I do not think she is stressed in the lorry - though of course she could be? She travels as quite as a lamb and looks pretty chilled out. If she travels in my lorry we leave the grooms door open so that she can see us. I can not do this in my friends lorry. Maybe it is my friends lorry? I do not know about ours yet as yesterday was v hot and she has been travelling well over the winter with minial sweat.

Using my lorry Weds so I could see how she is then?
 
Definitely not, I was considering getting some more roof vents etc put in our lorry but can not ask my mate to do that with hers
 
It might be the plastic coated partitions pressing up again her? You must have had that horrible sweaty feeling when sitting on old leather/plastic car seats in your shorts in mid summer. yucky!
 
I always travel Chex in a thin sheet, but last time it was warm so he went without it - I couldn't believe how sweaty and lathered up he got! I think it was the plastic against his fur causing it.
 
April gets quite sweaty when travelling too but in her case it's just nerves. She's always very relaxed once you get somewhere but she worries up until till then.
She's a bit better in company than when alone but I know it's not the travelling thats the problem as she's always totally fine coming home!

I just make sure I have plenty of time to let her cool off when we arrive.

It was very hot yesterday, we arrived more sweaty than usual too.
 
The usual cause of horses sweating in lorries/trailers is lack of air flow!

ADAS did some excellent research on airflow and how to maximise it!

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/welfare/farmed/transport/ventilation.pdf

As you can see horses would create 500watts of heat/urea etc when travelling so you need to get rid of that. Air flows from the rear of the lorry and comes out the front of the lorry. So windows on one side of a lorry would not be sufficient to keep enough air flowing for the horses to be comfortable.

You can buy a wireless portable thermometer which you can read in the cab so you can see if there are temperature rises from the horses.

Vets do not receommend air conditioning for horses but vets and defra do recommend fans bringing in normal air. You can get them fitted for your roof of your lorry.

With global warming changing our climate to be hotter keeping horses cool will be of more importance.
 
My mare would do this, she was perfectly happy travelling but came out of the trailer dripping. I never got to the bottom of it but after one trip she got Azutoria. Now we always carry salt water, it's amazing how much of this they will drink and it works better than putting in food as the horse can decide how much they need.
 
That was an interesting article. I always assumed the more windows towards the front open the cooler the lorry. Fortunately my lorry is side loading so I may look into having windows placed in the back of the lorry?
 
V interesting article, i didn't know that. Travelling with the dividing door open might be better too?
 
There's probably not that much you can do since you have it as well ventilated as your able. Id just make sure she was topped up with electrolytes (start a few days before travelling) and make up lots of sugar beet water to really encourage the horse to drink on arrival when I would then take the horse straight off the lorry so at least he can dry in the sun / get some breeze.
 
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