Re: RC: Tevis Weather

["Dave & Abby Bloxsom" <cyclone@snet.net>]

You're right about the pumping thing, Bobbie - and there's more to it than
that.

I just finished a hot 25 here in New England in which my riding partner & I
brought down her very hot chunky little gelding by flying along a flat
stretch of shaded road (mostly cantering, alternated with stopping to
sponge) after lunch.  He was inverted when we came to lunch and we got him
down, but he was still pretty hot when we left (after standing and sponging
for a long time, maybe 40 minutes).  We had him dry & not blowing at all
after about 3 miles of cantering in the shade!!  The heat builds up on the
hills, because they're working harder to keep up the speed.

Y'all can check out a piece I've just written about cooling that's posted on
the ECTRA website at
http://www.ectra.org
scroll down to the bottom of the page for the link to my articles.

FWIW, at the finish, the horse was cooler after several miles of fast
trotting and cantering in the sun than he had been after walking a mile
downhill in the shade into lunch.

-Abby B

> You've hit upon the mechanism: standing and blowing will drive up the
> core temperature *and* keep the heart rate high. He stays "cooler" at
> speed because of the passive pumping motion of venous blood returning to
> the heart with the assistance of the large working muscles. That's why
> Ti always taught us that a better "warm down" was a jog, not a walk.
> Standing was worst of all. If your horse won't recover at a hot,
> shadeless vet check, and you can't get enough cold water on him to make
> a difference, either walk him slowly and/or work the large muscles with
> sweeping flat-hand lifts.
> Bobbie
>
>
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