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[RC] second sweats - Andrea DayI've always heard this problem called "after sweats." My understanding is that after sweats are caused by failure of the horse to conduct the interior body heat to the surface, either because he is big horse or one that is extremely unconditioned. If the latter, his sweat/heat dispersal mechanisms haven't kicked in yet, and you need to back off a bit. If the former, the horse is simply too big to disperse the heat efficently--either because he's heavily muscled or too fat. I rode some well-conditioned QHs that wanted to after sweat anytime they were worked hard in the heat, simply because they couldn't get rid of their interior body heat effectively.Most posts addressed what to do with after sweats when they occur--I'd strive to keep after sweats to a minimum by doing all you can to cool the horse while riding, by sponging whenever possible, alternating gaits, and resting in shade or standing in a creek. The next thing, and most important, IMHO, is double your warm-up and cool-down times. If you're now walking the last half-mile or mile in, then start walking a mile or two miles. If your doing two miles, do at least 2.5 or 3. It's a pain, but the time you spend doing that will be well worth it as you won't have to worry about drying the horse off or about him getting muscle cramps. I've had good luck increasing the warm-up time by walking at least a mile or a mile and a half, then starting a VERY slow trot for another mile before "opening up." I'm not sure why, but it seems to kick in the cooling system a bit better. You can always use that time to develop a really superior walk on your horse--if they're a bit sluggish going out, but can really zoom when you're headed home, they're not using themselves to full capacity. Time to get them to put a hustle on and get into a BIG walk! _________________________________________________________________ Try MSN Messenger 6.0 with integrated webcam functionality! http://www.msnmessenger-download.com/tracking/reach_webcam =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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