Re: [RC] Horses and acclimating to heat/humidity - Vallonelee
I have taken horses from the HOT SW AZ desert to the humid NE coastline and
had very little apparent acclimation problems. They returned to work very
soon after moving and showed no apparent distress. They took a bit longer
to recover after fast work but that resolved quickly. I then returned
those same horses from the NE to the SW and had a longer acclimation time. I
also bought a horse and shipped him from Ohio to the SW and he took a long time
to acclimate and adjust. He has been here a year now.
One interesting thing that I did notice was that the total change in
cooling apparatus for these horses wasn't firmly established until about one
year. Their coats stayed thicker in the NE even in the summer. In AZ they
are almost naked but that took another full cycle of seasons to return to.
Their vasculature is more prominent, but again, that took over a year to reclaim
after they returned. They were in the NE for 3-4 years before returning to
AZ.
