Re: Sponging: Heat & Humidity

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

ZANYKFC@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Sponging is important...in very hot & humid weather, we sponge, but we also
> wipe off the excess water.  We've been told water forms an insulation that
> will hold  the body heat in on a working horse.
> 
> Any feedback on this?  Kaaren


Yes, it can.  When the humidity is high, heat loss through evaporation
is low, so the most efficient cooling through sponging occurs through
conduction when heat is transferred from the body to the cool sponged-on
water.  Once the water has accepted all the heat load it can (raises to
somewhere around the body temp), then that's pretty much all the cooling
you're going to get from the water on the body.  To get more cooling,
you have to scrape off THAT water, and reapply more.

Susan