Excessive Sweating.

[DARQHORSE]

I'm finding that my 5yo sweats a lot. Hes in pretty good shape, and fully body clipped, but after every ride or lunge he is very wet...even after 'easy' rides. My other horse is worked harder, and rarely sweats up like the young horse does. Should I be concerned about this? Is sweating a symptom of anything serious??

[Go Fish]

I think I read somewhere that horses that sweat excessively may be difficient in selenium. And, looking at where you live, this could be a real possibility. Where does your hay come from?

[midwestrocket]

have a vet out for blood work. A friend of mine has a 10 year old arab in perfect help that was a serious sweater and in addition it would tak ehim longer than most to return to his resting heart rate. He ended up being diagnosed with the beginning stages of cushings as well as a heart murmur...you can never be too careful!

[Guilherme]

A horse sweats for the same reason we humans do: to get rid of excess heat.

How much sweat is "excess?" To answer this question we first determine "how much is normal?" That's going to vary from horse to horse. Some are "sweat hogs" and some are not.

Before I spent a lot of money on tests that might not tell me anything I review the horse's performance. Are you getting what you want in the way of work? What is the horse's pulse and respiration like? Are there any signs of distress? If everything else is normal then I'd not worry about sweating. If you've got some evidence of something else going on then it might be worth a workup.

G.