My husband recently got a free horse that we are evaluating for
suitability for endurance. He is a 12yo anglo arab that has been given
away several times because he was too much horse for all of his owners.
He is spooky and forward and just got into pulling wars with everyone who could
manage to stay on him. We don’t mind spooks (so therefore he’s
getting better and better with each ride) and definitely don’t mind
forward – allowing forward usually cures all kinds of ailments!
With what we know about his conditioning (short walking
rides every couple weeks), we expected the horse to be out of shape, get tired
easily and see high heart rates and slow recoveries. But his highs and
recovery speeds are in line with the horse I’ve been bringing along this
summer (that has the fastest recoveries I’ve ever seen). All with a
heavyweight riding him for the past month. We’re still not pushing
things, but he did 20 miles today on a flat trail with plenty of grass stops
and was just starting to lag a little toward the end – which meant he
didn’t choose to canter on his own, but would still canter with a tiny
ask.
Anyhow, the horse sweats a LOT! Typically it is really
bad (dripping) for the first half hour and then we’ll do a short break in
a shady or windy area and he dries right off. He seems to start drying
off with any slowing or rest, but when he starts sweating, it is just a lot and
over his whole body. The horse I’m currently riding barely sweats
at all (I would have worried about that too, if he didn’t sweat under the
saddle!), so he is not a good comparison. We’ve had a more humid
year than normal (this is SE Colorado, so humid to me is over 50%) and I know
that is contributing. And I’m sure to some level his nerves are contributing,
but he doesn’t really act like he thinks he’s about ready to be
eaten like other horses I’ve dealt with. This is just more sweat
than we’re used to seeing on a conditioning ride – more like the
beginning of an endurance ride when they’re all idiots.
He doesn’t care to drink as much as I think he should
with that much sweat, but we’re still working on his drinking ethic
(which mostly relates to his fear of open water!)
Any comments on “normal” ranges of sweating vs
what we should worry about in considering this horse as a long term endurance
prospect? This sport is certainly what his mind is improving with –
and we also are working on getting his feet balanced to minimize the amount of
protection from interference he needs. Something else new to us.
Thanks!
Marlene
Marlene
Moss
www.LosPinos-CO.com
- boarding, training, sales
www.KineticEquineAnalysis.com
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