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There were studies conducted on cooling funded by the IOC and conducted 
by the UGA before the Atlanta Olympics to determine how to best cool 
horses and keep them safe in the 90 deg, 70% relative humidity that 
would be seen in Atlanta in August 1996. They found a few things. First 
water - 60 to 70 degrees - everywhere over the horse would not cause 
problems and was necessary for cooling hard working horses under those 
conditions. Second they found that applying water, scraping it off, 
applying water, scraping it off, etc., was much more efficient than 
applying water and leaving it one. The water would heat and actually 
form an insulation barrier that would retard cooling.

Clearly in cold weather - you need to take care and at 80 degrees in 10% 
humidity with a breeze you can get a chill, but again in those 
conditions you probably don't need a lot of cooling since evaporative is 
very efficient.

Except for a few months of the year our riding weather in FL is warm to 
hot. Most of the time my horses get hosed off front to back, top to 
bottom with a hose when we are finish riding. They actually like it. It 
cools them off, gets off the sweat and salt and makes their hair nice 
and wet so when they go roll in the sand they can look like they have 
never been given a bath.

Sisu West Ranch wrote:

> Where you put the water depends greatly on the air temperature and 
> humidity. I have seen butt cramps when water is put on the butt, but 
> that was at cool/cold rides in MN.  (I consider a cool ride < 40 F, 
> and a cold ride <35 F).  At late and early season rides in MN it isn't 
> uncommon to see a horse with a blanket on the rump being sponged on 
> the front.
>
> I suspect that humidity also makes a big difference.  If it is very 
> dry, like the west, a thin film of water produces great cooling.  I 
> would guess that at low humidity (To me low humidity is <20% )  
> excessive cooling would happen at much higher air temperatures.
>
> The Atlanta Olympics, were conducted at high temp (>80 F) and high 
> humidity (>70%).  Under those conditions I would expect that any 
> method of cooling in any manner would not hurt a horse.  Under similar 
> conditions, I have taught horses to be bathed by getting them really 
> hot, and turning a garden hose on them.  It feels so good that even 
> Sassy, who had a uniformly bad attitide, learned to enjoy a bath with 
> just a couple of lessons.
>
> One October on a yucky day in MN (35 F, mixed rain and snow), I 
> watched some competitors who had come all the way from Texas, Alabama, 
> and other points south for a National Championship Series Ride, cramp 
> their horse's butts by not blanketing the rump at stops.
>
> I also saw a number of competitors not get the pulse down at a very 
> humid (probably >90% and 80 F) here in the west.  They were used to 
> just putting a little water on the horse and letting evaporation cool 
> the animal.  We put the water on, squeeged it off, and repeated until 
> the water was no longer hot, and had no trouble in cooling.
>
> My bottom line is:  The weather (wind speed, temperature, humidity, 
> precipitation) is a big factor in how to cool or keep a horse warm.
>
> Ed
> Ed
> Ed & Wendy Hauser
> 2994 Mittower Road
> Victor, MT 59875
>
> (406) 642-9640
>
> ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx



--

"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what 
we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true."  - 
Bertrand Russell




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