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  Discussion on Excessive sweating
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Member:
sbower

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008 - 9:47 pm:

Okay, wasn't sure where to post this. My reining horse seems to be sweating much more than usual and I'm wondering if its normal or not? within a few minutes of riding or lunging he's soaked. Is there ever a point where excessive sweating is something to worry about? His coat is also very heavy this winter (not curly). He over heats very easily and it takes hours to cool him out. He's ridden 5 days a week and he should be in good shape but he's been very slow to gain muscle. Water intake, respiration and temp have always been normal.

A little more background, he's nine, underweight but slowly gaining. Last summer he lost a lot of muscle and was very weak in the hind end. I took him to a veterinary hospital where they did an EPM test, lyme disease test, lameness exam, bloodwork/vit e/selenium and a neurological exam. All was considered normal EXCEPT for a vitamin e deficiency. They said his weakness was due to a lack of turnout which caused weak stifles and mild to moderate back pain. They did not scope him but felt he had ulcers and I did treat him with gastroguard (he definitely showed improvement).

Since then he has been on cosequin, a vitamin e supplement (e5000) and Cool calories for weight gain. He was also moved to a new barn where the hay is significantly higher quality. He is being fed 4 quarts of carb guard and free choice hay. Wormed every 8-10 weeks most recently with Quest followed by Ivermectin w/praziquantal. Pasture turnout every day. Gets ulcerguard before all shows/travel.

My trainer is thinking cushings but he's only 9? Last winter (we bought him that fall) we clipped him so I don't know if a heavy coat is usual for him.

He just is not thriving and its driving me crazy!

I have a vet coming tomorrow to inject his hocks at the trainers insistence. He does have some mild DJD in the left hind hock and still has back pain (chiro/massage has not helped). I'm thinking
that if we can alleviate the hock pain (there is no lameness just decreased performance) then maybe his back pain will resolve.

I apologize in advance because this posts sounds like a lot of vague complaints that don't add up to anything. I mean of course a horse with a heavy coat will sweat right? It's the combination of everything with the performance problems (mostly switching leads/kicking out/spooking) and the lack of weight gain that make me think somethings up.

I guess what I'm worried about the most is that the deficiency of Vit E caused permanent muscle damage...

Any advice would be appreciated.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Feb 7, 2008 - 8:21 am:

Hello Shelly,
Riding horses with heavy winter coats will lead to heavy sweating. I think he needs to be clipped if you are going to continue to ride him with the heavy winter coat: perhaps a hunter clip if the weather is still cold? It also sounds like you have the weight issue under control: gaining weight slowly is the way you want to do it. But if it is too slow you need to feed more concentrate.
DrO
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