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You are exactly right - she was panting to cool herself. In high temps 
and particularly high humidity evaporative cooling from the skin is not 
very efficient. Some horses will pant to offset the loss of cooling. 
Although the air may be hot and muggy it is normally cooler and less 
humid than the air inside the lungs so there is a heat transfer from the 
lungs with the outside world through panting.

A panting horse is a hot horse and that is the main concern. You lower 
it by taking away the source - you cool her off.

Truman

Kathy Ramspott wrote:
> The last conditioning ride we did Maariahhs pulse was fine throughout. 
> She had energy, was eating good and was relaxed. My concern showed up 
> when her respiration seemed "high" I don't know what high is though 
> but she seemed to be panting at one point and of course I hand walked 
> her at this point until she caught her breath and was eating grass.
> This happened towards the end of our ride and sure enough when I 
> checked it had gotten to 95 degrees by that point and who knows how 
> high of humidity.
>
> So, what are the respiration rates that are ok during a good workout?
> Does heat/humidity effect it?
> How do you all lower it during rides?
> What do I need to be concerned about when she seems to be panting?
>
> Thanks!
> Kathy R Georgia


--

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things 
and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil 
things, that takes religion.” Steven Weinberg – Nobel Laureate, Physics


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