Three tips to quickly and safely cool down your horse
Summer has begun! Wonderful of course, but it also means that your horse can get quite hot during training. Horses heat up faster than humans and have a harder time getting rid of that heat. Properly cooling down after work is therefore very important. How do you do this best? We give you three tips.
Skin
Others
7 June '22 • 2 min reading time
Tip 1: Cool water over the entire body
The most important way to quickly and effectively cool down your horse is with cool or cold water. Eventers/endurance riders throw buckets of ice water over their horses when they come out of the cross-country/ride, but you don't have to go that far. You can start by spraying cool water over the entire body. In the second round you can maybe continue with cold water. It is important to make as much of your horse wet as possible. This gives the fastest results. Don't forget the inside of the hind legs, where there are a few large veins through which you can cool the blood faster. But in general: the wetter, the better.
Tip 2: Take a walk in between
Cool your horse down in a few rounds. This means rinsing off, walking a short distance, and then rinsing off again. Walking keeps the blood circulation going well. Warmer blood then returns to the skin surface. And you cool that off in the next round of rinsing with cool water. Do several rounds of rinsing and walking consecutively until your horse's breathing is normal and he doesn't feel very warm again immediately after walking.
Tip 3: Don't use a sweat scraper
Many people have learned that they should use a sweat scraper on their horse after cooling down. The theory is that otherwise an insulating layer of water would form that holds in the heat. This is nonsense. By evaporating the water on your horse's coat, the horse stays cool. Just let that water be. Maybe your horse will enjoy rolling after this cooling ritual.
Myths?
There are quite a few myths circulating about cooling down horses. For example, in the past it was thought that cold water would be bad for the muscles and cause stiffness. Not true! The cold only reaches the blood vessels in the skin and not the muscles underneath. A horse is not a human. Overheating is a real danger for horses. Just because you don't mind the heat, doesn't mean your horse doesn't. Horses quickly push themselves beyond their limits and don't quickly show when they are uncomfortable. That's why as an owner, you have to pay close attention to them. Make sure you don't train in the hottest part of the day, but rather in the early morning or evening. And make sure to cool them down properly after training!
