Re: RC: sweat foam between hind legs

[Linda Flemmer <bluewolfranch@yahoo.com>]

--- Pamnetus@aol.com wrote:
> Any truth to white foam between hind legs tells the
> condition of horse? Pam 
> in Reno

No truth to this at all - one of the "Old Wives Tales"
of horse management - just like you can't let your
horse drink water or eat until he's completely cooled
out after exercise.  Our endurance horses would die of
dehydration and starvation if we followed that one!

The sweat glands make surfactant - a soap-like
substance that will suds up.  It takes time for the
surfactant to build up.  If a horse is worked
frequently, the surfactant does not accumulate to
appreciable levels between work outs and the horse
will not get frothy.  The froth or sudsy sweat is
dependent on the interval between workouts, not the
condition of the animal.

Just to make it a bit more complicated, the sweat
composition of a conditioned horse is slightly
different from that of a pasture potato!  It just
doesn't show up in frothy white foam/no froth.

Linda Flemmer
Blue Wolf Ranch
Bruceton Mills, WV



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