From: Gini Dear Dr. J,
Thank you for taking the time to do this newsletter & web site! I find when I have a question I run right to the Archives and can usually find my answer. This time, I couldn't, so I thought I'd submit it.
Temperatures have been in the 30-60's ranges (day & night). My horse is working on a NICE warm winter coat. I'm trying not to clip or Blanket until its absolutely necessary. I am planning on doing a lot of riding this winter, tho, so I may have to cave in if I don't want a hot, sweaty, sticky & uncomfortable horse! It's November, but its 70 degrees today. We went for a nice LONG trail ride, and my horse is covered in sweat. Although its 70+plus degrees, there is a breeze. It's supposed to drop into the low 40's tonite. My question is, Is it too cold to bath my horse? He was sweaty as can be, and itchy too. I've dried him out, let him roll....BUT I was just thinking how nice he'd feel after a quick bath, probably the last one of the season. I don't have heated water, or a wash stall....and I'm concerned with the temperatures dropping later. Any advice? Thanks! Gini
Natural winter coats are great if horses spend their winters outside, with a shelter for cold, wet, windy days. When horses can move freely and keep themselves warm with free-choice hay and free-choice exercise, they'll hold good weight, stay warm and dry, and never get sweaty unless something gets into their pasture and chases them.
The problem with getting sweaty in winter is not that the horse is WET, the problem is that when temperatures are low and there is even a weak breeze, a horse can become chilled when its coat and skin are wet. A clipped horse with a blanket has some way to retain heat and some protection from the cold. An unclipped horse with a dry coat can "fluff" the coat and keep a layer of air next to its skin, and that horse too has a way to retain heat and protection from the cold. But a clipped horse with no blanket has no protection and no way to retain heat, and a WET horse has even LESS protection than a clipped one! The long coat will hold a lot of moisture over a long time, and if you can imagine yourself standing out on a cold day, in the wind, wearing a soaking-wet terrycloth bathrobe, THAT's what your horse would feel like if he were standing outside in cold weather with his long winter coat wet.
If your horse grows a long, thick winter coat, and you work him hard, and his coat becomes soaked with sweat, you will have to walk him dry and groom him to clean his coat so that he won't be itchy. This can take a long, long time -- several hours, usually. Most people don't have this much time to walk a horse dry after a ride, because they have to go home or go to work. That's why many people give up riding during the winter, and let their horses grow long coats and enjoy their natural weather protection. Other people, who want to continue riding during cold weather, are careful to ride gently and slowly, walking for the most part, so as not to get the horses sweaty. Still other people want to continue to ride actively through the winter months. If you're in this group, you should consider clipping your horse and blanketing him to make up for the lack of his winter coat. That way, you'll be able to ride, he can become sweaty, it won't take you hours and hours to cool him out, and then you can put his blanket back on when he's dry and clean and comfortable.
Washing isn't really a good option. Winter baths are possible -- and usually involve hot water baths and radiant-heat lamps for the wealthy, and hot damp towels and a lot of elbow grease for the rest of us. ;-) But it's time-consuming, messy, and the results aren't always satisfactory. It takes a lot of scrubbing to get sweat and soap out of a long winter coat -- and it's not necessarily a good thing to do.
Natural winter coats protect not just because of their length and thickness, but because of the oils in the coat. When you bathe a horse, you get rid of those oils, and the horse becomes more susceptible to getting chilled.
Jessica
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