# Hosing down a horse in hot weather



## GamingGrrl (Jan 16, 2013)

I do this after I work my horses in hot weather. I also start with the legs and get the accustomed to the water. You can't actually shock their body system with cold water though, that's just a myth. I just start at the legs because it seems nicer than a sudden spray everywhere. It's like dipping your toes in a lake first.

Just make sure you use a sweat scraper to get the water off afterwards, or the sun will heat up the water and they'll be hotter than ever.
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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

That's really nice of you to do that, but don't forget to use a sweat scraper and get off the excess water. Water left on their skin can make them hotter than they were. 

My horses would love to come live with you. I top off their trough once a day, but only dump and clean it once a week! LOL


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## luvbeach (Aug 24, 2012)

*Responses*

Thanks for the responses, I didn't even think about the sweat scraper, I will certainly do that.


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

and after scraping rub the hair backwards to stand it up, but really they are probably fine without being hosed to begin with assuming outside horses that are acclimated to your region.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I spray some of my horses down several times a day. I've got 4 large horses, 2 of whom are solid black and they love being sprayed down on days like today when it's 100 degrees and sunny.

What the others suggested about the sweat scraper, IMHO that depends on the horse. Mine will immediately go out and roll as soon as I stop spraying them. That works to get rid of the excess water and also gives them a protective coating of mud. If the horse doesn't roll, though, I'd scrape the excess off.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

smrobs - that's mine - straight for the nearest dirt/sand patch. Scraped or not so I don't usually bother.....


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

I wonder .. do people run out after a rain and sweat scrape their horses? Or if they lay down in a pond or a puddle? lol

My horses are like smrobs' .. I can't even turn the hose off and they are laying down and rolling .. preferably in the deepest, softest dirt they can find..


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## upnover (Jan 17, 2008)

The reason you're supposed to scrape the horses off is because the sun will heat up the water touching their skin and make them warmer, almost like wearing a heated blanket. Damp is just fine, dripping wet on a hot sunny day is not.


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## texasgal (Jul 25, 2008)

Well, my boys enjoy a sudden and drenching downpour in sultry hot humid Texas ... and I'm not about to run out there and sweat scrape them!

Sometimes I think we over think this stuff... but that's just me.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

If horses have to be scraped down after getting wet, how on earth have so many survived in the wild when that service isn't provided. I think it's when the horse is shampooed. Even tho we may think we have all the soap residue out usually a few scrapes lets us know if more rinsing is needed.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I haven't scraped once and I swear we have had drenching downpours every day for what seems like forever.... My arms would fall off from the effort.


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## GamingGrrl (Jan 16, 2013)

Actually I hold an umbrella over their heads so the rain never touches them. :lol: 

Always gotta be critics. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

It's generally different between actual rain (which usually comes only when the sun _isn't_ shining brightly), and spraying them down when the sun is beating down.

I've felt the water I scrape off of them after a few minutes of standing in the sun...and it was hotter than I would take a bath with. Plus, if the layer of water is too thick, the wind won't permeate to their skin and give them any cooling off.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Mine either roll in the mud (Cowboy & Trooper) or shake like a dog (Mia). The hot days here are usually 10% humidity with a breeze, so they dry off regardless in about 5 minutes. Cowboy always ends up looking like an adobe horse...


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

I get a chuckle out of people who think you should never put cold water on a hot horse. Event riders know how to cool off hot horses since they have a very short time to get a horse cooled and calm after an XC run. We often pack ice on their necks and rear ends!

Anyway, if you live in a place with lower humidity, you don't need to scrape your horse down. *Evaporative *cooling is very efficient and your horse won't overheat. However, if the humidity is very high, there will be little evaporation going on. Then, if you put them in a place where there is a fan or a good breeze, they will be cooled by* conduction*, which is also a very good method of cooling. I would only scrape on a hot, humid day where you are putting the horse out in full sun, with no shade.


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## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

I hose and run my hands down the legs, then put up in stall under two fans and a bucket of Gatorade. Some mare I know is spoiled!
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## Mochachino (Aug 14, 2012)

cakemom said:


> I hose and run my hands down the legs, then put up in stall under two fans and a bucket of Gatorade. Some mare I know is spoiled!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Holy wow is she ever! When I hose down it is usually near or at the end of the day and then I tie them in the shade to drip dry. When I untie them they go straight to the sand pile and roll. It's good though as that helps with the bugs.


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## FaydesMom (Mar 25, 2012)

Fayde either shakes or rolls after being hosed down and turned out, seems a waste of effort to scrape her off. 

Horses stand out in the pouring rain all the time without being scraped off after each shower, I don't see the difference. 

As for the comment about it usually not being sunny and hot when it's raining, I would like to introduce everyone to the mid-southeastern united states. We regularly get pop up showers in the middle of a blistering hot sunny day. The humidity is through the roof, but the horses seem to cope just fine without being scraped off...usually by shaking or rolling.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Mine just wallow in a pond like a pig. I have to hose them off when I bring them in to saddle. It is faster to wash all of the dried mud off than try to brush it all off. We hose them off when we take off their saddles. 

I do not have running water near my horse pastures and they all seem to survive just fine.


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

I know that if a human is hot or overheating, you do everything you can to cool them (ice packs, cold soaked towels.) It transfers to horses too - it isn't going to hurt them. 

At the racetrack where I work, there are some HOT days (90-100, if it's over 100 I think they consider cancelling the races) and yep, the horses still race. After sprinting a mile plus in that hot, hot weather, we often get horses overheating. We've got a 'cool down station' near the receiving barn where the hot, snorting, lathered horses get sprayed down with cold water. They LOOOOOVE it. The really bad ones get sprayed down on the track. Some get towels that were soaking in a bucket of icewater, some get a cooling sheet after their baths. In short: No. Cold water on a hot day will not hurt them. They will in fact probably love it.


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## pinkpony555 (Jan 13, 2013)

*"hosing down"*

I also start at legs.After a ride though, I especially try to hose the vein areas on the insides of all her legs near her belly & get them as cool as possible. I "make"- (just dribble in periodically) her drink a little water from the hose. My problem though is I can't afford to go though so much flyspray. Endure says it doesn't sweat off, but it seems too. Has anyone tried a "Neem Oil" mixture ?? Because of all the flyspray posts, so many different ideas...


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

JUST REMEMBER, if your horse is overheated always start with hosing the extremities, the legs, first to take the temperature down. EMT's do this with people to prevent shock to the system and heart failure.
Otherwise, a good hosing helps to get rid of the sweat which attracts flies. Just don't get mad when your clean wet horse rolls after. =b


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## xGirugamesh (May 16, 2013)

pinkpony555 said:


> I also start at legs.After a ride though, I especially try to hose the vein areas on the insides of all her legs near her belly & get them as cool as possible. I "make"- (just dribble in periodically) her drink a little water from the hose. My problem though is I can't afford to go though so much flyspray. Endure says it doesn't sweat off, but it seems too. Has anyone tried a "Neem Oil" mixture ?? Because of all the flyspray posts, so many different ideas...


Have you tried Piranha?


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

Corporal said:


> JUST REMEMBER, if your horse is overheated always start with hosing the extremities, the legs, first to take the temperature down. EMT's do this with people to prevent shock to the system and heart failure.
> Otherwise, a good hosing helps to get rid of the sweat which attracts flies. Just don't get mad when your clean wet horse rolls after. =b


As an EMT: That's only partially true. If it's a heat stroke, we cool ASAP with any means possible - buckets of cool (not cold, we don't want shivering) water, cold packs in the major vein areas. If they start shivering, then we slow the cooling down, because shivering causes your body to warm up - but we don't start at the extremities to prevent shock. It not really about shock, we just don't want the patient's brain to think it's suddenly too cold and start shivering. (I just double checked my textbook, which is the most up to date certified one to make sure, as I didn't remember completely). 

When someone is hypothermic, and we're warming them up... THEN it's walking on eggshells to prevent cardiac arrest. Passive warming, and active cooling.

I think I would start at the legs on the horse just because there's more veins there. At the rack they just hose them down with a blast of water, usually starting on the neck and back. In fact, they rarely make a point to get the legs. None of the horses have had problems from it, but I personally would start with legs. Seems more pleasant that way.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

When I've been working with a horse and they're hot, I normally start on the legs because all I've got is cold water and I think it's probably more pleasant for them to not have that sudden cold shock. I don't know if horses react the same was as people do, but I know that if I'm hot and sweaty and jump into a pool of cold water, I immediately do the "OMG, gaspchokesputterscreamobsenities" thing because that cold water just takes my breath away LOL.


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

We also don't have fur coats to take away some of the shock of the sudden cold.

I've actually seen people pass their ice coolers over fences at the track to help keep a horse from tipping over with heat. The horses are more scared of the cooler than they are about the sudden cold!
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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

DancingArabian said:


> We also don't have fur coats to take away some of the shock of the sudden cold.


 That's a good point LOL. I didn't think about that.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Just got back from a 3 mile jog in about 90 deg heat. Ice water on my back would not have felt good, but tap water from the hose was fine. I'm not sure why a horse's back would be more sensitive than mine. Didn't wet my legs, but that was because I didn't want soggy running shoes...although a good hosing down might help them with the smell. Good thing my nose is at the other end of my body!


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

bsms said:


> Just got back from a 3 mile jog in about 90 deg heat. Ice water on my back would not have felt good, but tap water from the hose was fine. I'm not sure why a horse's back would be more sensitive than mine. Didn't wet my legs, but that was because I didn't want soggy running shoes...although a good hosing down might help them with the smell. Good thing my nose is at the other end of my body!


Hose yourself off over clothes and you'll find its not nearly as cold as against bare skin. Now imagine if that's a layer of fur instead of a thin piece of cloth.
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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

DancingArabian said:


> We also don't have fur coats to take away some of the shock of the sudden cold.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Back to the "squeegee or not to," their hair does trap the water against the skin. Water magnifies sunlight. Their hair is darker so it absorbs sunlight too. Why not remove the excess water so the air can get down to the skin easier?

As for not squeegeeing after rain, the sun usually isn't shining and it usually isn't that hot. That's why it doesn't affect them the same as hosing them off when they are hot.
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## Sherian (Aug 28, 2012)

on a silly note on the scraping issue, I was once coming back from the wash rack at a horse show, and had forgot to take a scraper, so water was dripping off the horse's belly. The horse decided to kick out at the dripping and nailed an occupied port a pottie on the way by. It rocked, but thankfully didn't tip and I got the heck out of their before whoever was in there could come out.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

i hose ours off, I dont scrape it off , unless I have use soap. or if I am going to fly spray them, And yes, i do it while they are wet they dont get drenched with spray , just sprayed. 
the horses will go stand under the shade cover, or roll, and some go scratch butts and sides on the pipe and stand in the sun . I dont scrape myself off after a swim and dont scrape my hair after swim and sitting in the sun . AND If I get to hot outside working i do hose down my arms and legs and have hose down my head !! FEELS GOOD


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Water droplets magnify sunlight. Plain water does not. Water lying on the skin under fur may feel hot, but I doubt it is from sunlight. A pool of water in southern Arizona has warm water, but not 100 degree water. If you feel really hot water on the horse's skin, it might be that it got hot absorbing heat from his body. Rub off (I use my hand) and water some more.

"_When your horse is hot, look for shade and breezes to help cool it down, but never use a blanket or “cooler” on a horse that is sweating, he adds, suggesting the best way to cool a horse quickly is to rinse the horse’s body repeatedly with cold water and scrape off the excess water. “You can cool the horse two degrees in ten minutes this way: pour on the water, scrape it off, pour on more, and just keep repeating it,” says Lindinger. “The scraping part is important, because otherwise the water will be trapped in the horse’s hair and will quickly warm up. By scraping and pouring on fresh, cold water, you keep the cooling process going._”

Cooling Hot Horses | Horse Canada


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Instead of changing your horses' water 3 times a day and wasting fresh water (there is only so much of it in this world), why not freeze an ice cream pail or two of water and put it in their tank to keep the water cool. I will do this sometimes if it's really hot out.


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## KatieQ (Apr 4, 2011)

I LOVE that idea Waresbear! I live in an area with a water shortage, so I don't dump the trough as often as I would like to, and sometimes topping it up doesn't really cool it on a hot day. Especially as my far pasture only has a cistern for water (and it is black!- the cistern not the water!) So on hot days I am only adding more warm water. I have tons of ice cream buckets and now I have another use for them! My horses will thank you!


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## FaydesMom (Mar 25, 2012)

usandpets said:


> Back to the "squeegee or not to," their hair does trap the water against the skin. (1) *Water magnifies sunlight.* *(2) Their hair is darker so it absorbs sunlight too.* Why not remove the excess water so the air can get down to the skin easier?
> 
> As for not squeegeeing after rain, the *(3) sun usually isn't shining and it usually isn't that hot. *That's why it doesn't affect them the same as hosing them off when they are hot.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


(1) Actually, the curvature of the surface of a water droplet causes the magnification, not just the presence of water itself.

(2) Unless they are light colored. 

(3) And again, let me introduce you to the mid-southeastern united states...where we regularly get pop up showers where it is pouring rain while the sun is still blazing hot and our humidity is regularly over 90-95%.

If they don't want the water standing on them, they simply shake or roll.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

KatieQ said:


> I LOVE that idea Waresbear! I live in an area with a water shortage, so I don't dump the trough as often as I would like to, and sometimes topping it up doesn't really cool it on a hot day. Especially as my far pasture only has a cistern for water (and it is black!- the cistern not the water!) So on hot days I am only adding more warm water. I have tons of ice cream buckets and now I have another use for them! My horses will thank you!


You can thank my mother, she told me to do this years ago for my horses. My mother is extremely non-horsey but a smart old gal:wink:!


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

FaydesMom said:


> (1) Actually, the curvature of the surface of a water droplet causes the magnification, not just the presence of water itself.
> 
> (2) Unless they are light colored.
> 
> ...


Can't agree more. Water sitting in a horse's fur might warm up from the sun and its body heat, but unless it's a water droplet or standing water, it won't magnify the sun's rays. Wet fabric won't magnify sun, my wet hair won't, a horse's wet coat won't. It has to be a a droplet or something to have the magnifying effect.

I usually scrape off any excess with my hand because I don't like a dripping horse, but Clem ALWAYS rolls after a bath, so I usually don't worry about it. I know that when I played rugby in 98 degree days, we'd have a big ice water bucket of sponges that we'd wring our over our heads and shirts between plays, and it only ever warmed up to body temperature. It was still magnificent. I made a point to NOT ring anything out - warmish or not it was still better than gross sweat. 

A lot of times if it's hot Clem will roll about in the pond in the pasture and stand without shaking. If it really got unbearably hot, she'd shake it off, or not roll in it at all! I agree with the active cooling though - if you're trying to cool an overheating horse, scraping and spraying down again would be massively beneficial. But just for a summer shower? Nah.


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