It is very interesting how quickly horses not used to heat and humidity are
over come by these conditions. My wife and I along with another rider went
out to the mountains to spend the summer. One goal was to do the ROC in
Utah which we did. We spent a total of 10 weeks in Utah and Colorado -
doing several rides in each. Now our horses are used to the heat and
humidity - that is all we have in Florida. In all her miles in the
Southeast she has never had any problems cooling.
We came back - rested two weeks and headed to North Georgia to do the Gold
Rush 100. This ride was very hot and humid and wouldn't know it - Misty
could not handle the heat and humidity. Lisa Williamson (theGold Rush
head vet who was at the ROC doing an endotoxin study) said I had spent too
much time in the West and Misty needed to reacclimate to the heat and
humidity. I know I could probably finish - but it would have taken the
entire 24 hours and considering it was only going to get hotter I decided
to pull. Misty had never had any problems with heat/humidity before and I
did not want to chance any metabolic problems.
Truman
Truman Prevatt
Sarasota, FL