Very puzzled here ~ horse is always WET!!!!! Anyone have ideas why?????

:confused: I have a 14 year old reg. Paint gelding. He is sound, healthy, has the typical stocky QH build, but he is not over weight. Eats normally, mostly just hay, but also gets 1 cup of TC senior textured feed in the a.m., just so he won't fuss seeing my Arab eating grain.

Right now, he's got the long winter coat. What I'm puzzled about is he's always wet around his chest/between the front legs, at the girth area, and the flanks. Always!!!! No matter how warm the day, cold the day, this wetness is present. I'm assuming this is sweat. He is out 24/7, has a run-in shed, which he uses when it rains. When I first noticed this strange business, I took his temperature. Normal, in fact, over the days it never read over 98 degrees. He does roll, but I don't ever see him lying down for periods of time. He is in a field by himself, with access to the other two geldings over the fence. Oh, also he seems to drink a lot of water, more so than the other two. He's not a runner.... occasionally he'll trot or canter to the barn when I drive up to feed, but generally he just moseys around like any relaxed horse.
I ran this by my vet, but got no answer. Just told to watch for other changes, like temp rise, going off feed, loose stools. None of that has presented.
I don't even ride him because of this. One, I fear putting a girth on long hairy wet spots, (can't clip wet hair!) and two, what if there really is something wrong with him?
I do know he has a WHOLE lot of Impressive breeding, on the top and bottom...... never had him tested for HyPP. He's never showed symptoms of this disorder, like what we read about; the shivering, stumbling, falling. I suppose I should send some hair out for testing, but anyway, what would that have to do with this strange sweating business???? Anyone with an idea? Thanks!

You could start by just clipping a little bit on his neck and chest. (yes, you can clip wet hair but it helps if it's clean!) This is usually called a strip clip or a pony clip and I do it to all of my horses in the winter just so they don't get too uncomfortably warm when they run around or on warm days. Leaves them 90% of their coat to keep warm (and I blanket as needed) but gives them an easier way to just cool off.

I am not typically one to look for a diagnosis of disease all the time. Maybe he's just too warm. :) Those would naturally be the exact spots where a too-warm horse would sweat first.

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Originally Posted by ILuvmyButtercups

... One, I fear putting a girth on long hairy wet spots, (can't clip wet hair!)

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Why can't you put a girth on wet hair? When you put a girth on dry hair, and ride and the horse gets sweaty, you have a girth on wet hair...there really is no difference...

Excessive sweating can be an early sign for Cushings or IR. Has he been tested for both of those conditions?

Louise has a good point.

I agree to the IR and/or Cushings sweating, increased thirst, and age all point towards potentially being one of those.

Thanks to all! I'll have my vet check this.... isn't this the time of year you can't check for Cushings? It's the fall months you can't get a good read. Maybe in January?
About putting a girth around a wet area - it's always been drummed into me by many good horsemen that the horse needs to be dry before tacking. I've seen it myself, horrible girth galls when they are ridden "cold", and wet. True of course, when they sweat during a ride, that area becomes wet, but it's warm/hot wet, a gradual process where the girth warms with the surface it's covering. I don't know, it's just something I learned ages ago, and a rule I'd always adhered to, just to avoid galls.
Anyway, I'll call my vet, see when the best time to test would be. Again, thanks so much y'all! :D

Hey, you can test this time of year the labs will take into account seasonal rise. You will want to test ACTH, Leptin, Glucose, Insulin, T3/T4 but not Dex Suppression Test. Also, you will want to use Cornell's lab as they are very accurate in situations like this. The vet will need to take a non-fasting blood sample spin it down ASAP put it on ice and ship it.

Also, there is a yahoo group that specializes in IR/PPID very informative they have been a life saver for me:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/E...hings/messages

I think I'd try clipping him. A bib clip is simple to do. If the clip doesn't help, then run tests.

If he drinks a lot, are you sure he isn't playing with the water trough/bucket and splashing his nose back and forth on the water surface, so it splashes his chest? Many horses will do that right before they drink, to clear the surface of "debris"

Yeah, he does like to play in his water. Hovers over it, does the flippy dippy thing with his lips. But that would explain the chest wetness, but not the girth and flanks. The sweating is always even on both sides, and he never feels hot, like they get after a workout. It just concerns me because this is present even when it's been a cold day, and windy. On warmish days, I expect it. He never shivers or acts uncomfortable when I sure would be if I were wet anywhere in windy cold weather. He's not at all cresty necked. He does have the rain gutter down his back, and rump, but no depression in front of the wither like many horses who are prone to laminitis. I feed 1st cut Timothy/grass hay.
I think I'll try the trace clip, and see if that helps. Like I said, he's normal in all ways, eating, movement, eliminations. Stands great for the farrier trimming him, shows no tenderness, even on hard ground. Has SUPER DUPER feet - farriers say they wish all horse had feet with frogs and soles this nice. It'll be interesting to see how he does when the real winter weather comes, Jan and Feb and March.

I'd be sure that I treated him like a cushings horse; low starch feed & hay & get the vet to do the tests or get another vet who is more proactive. Let us know what you find out.

Even if the clipping helps the sweating, in my opinion with the other things you mentioned, I'd be concerned about IR/PPID. A horse doesn't have to have sore or "bad" feet to be IR/PPID it is when IR/PPID isn't caught early that you start to see feet problems. Therefore if it were me I'd rather do the blood work just to rule it out and if he comes back either IR/PPID then feel blessed that you caught it before anything worse happened. If not at least you have a baseline for the future.

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Originally Posted by ILuvmyButtercups

I do know he has a WHOLE lot of Impressive breeding, on the top and bottom...... never had him tested for HyPP. He's never showed symptoms of this disorder, like what we read about; the shivering, stumbling, falling. I suppose I should send some hair out for testing, but anyway, what would that have to do with this strange sweating business???? Anyone with an idea? Thanks!

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Personally, I'd have him tested for HYPP, but that's probably because I used to own a "grade breeding stock paint" gelding who was HYPP N/H. Arlo, like many other N/H horses, had quite a few symptoms but none of the big seizures, shivering, muscle twitching, or collapsing that most people asociate with HYPP. He drank copius amounts of water, and urinated a LOT. Had several bouts of what really seemed like mild colic, but were probably actually discomfort fromt he HYPP. Would flash his third eyelid when being lunged with sidereins. Basically just a whole lot of little oddities that didn't seem like much by themselves, but could all be attributed to the HYPP.

And the vets didn't make the connection at all. I didnt either until I was just randomly reading a chapter in an animal science textbook that was talking about horses who were N/H, and it sounded so much like my horse that I sent hair in to UC Davis.

Maybe that's not the case for your horse at all. But if it was me, I'd want to know.

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About putting a girth around a wet area - it's always been drummed into me by many good horsemen that the horse needs to be dry before tacking.

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oh no, absolutely untrue. When it's really hot out, if you hose your horse off good before tacking up it helps the horse stay cool.
Everything under the tack usually gets wet with sweat anyway, why would it be wrong to start out that way?
many "good horsemen" have been doing weird things for centuries that have been proven to be wrong, this is one of them.

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Originally Posted by wendy

Everything under the tack usually gets wet with sweat anyway, why would it be wrong to start out that way?

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That's what I've always figured too.

If it's warm out and my horse is covered in mud (particularly if it's wet mud that's impossible to brush out completely) I'll hose her off before I tack up. Being wet under the tack is pretty much inevitable, and it seems like it would be way more comfy to just start out that way than it would to have residual bits of scummy gummy dirt floating around under the girth.

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Originally Posted by ILuvmyButtercups

I do know he has a WHOLE lot of Impressive breeding, on the top and bottom...... never had him tested for HyPP. He's never showed symptoms of this disorder, like what we read about; the shivering, stumbling, falling. I suppose I should send some hair out for testing, but anyway, what would that have to do with this strange sweating business???? Anyone with an idea? Thanks!

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What is your horse's registered name? Maybe one of us could do a search with APHA to see if his sire or dam was N/H. If one of them is N/H then you should do the test, if not then there's no way he could be and you save a few bucks on that test.

His name is: TJ Bright Colors (1997). He's by: Bright Red Bar, out of:
TJ Skips Conclusive.
I read in a comment section on FHOTD that Conclusive was N/H, but I don't know about the sire. Haven't done the research, (wanna keep my head in the sand?). I don't know... I bought him not knowing about his lineage - it was one of those deals where I just liked him so much one day, rode him, bought him on the spot. The papers were given to me then, but I didn't do a pedigree search until a month or so later, on Pedigrees.com. How do you find out the hypp status on his relatives? Thanks for any info on this.

Well... not a definite answer.

What I've found is this: On the top side, Bright Red Bars has no Impressive breeding, so no worries there.

On the bottom side, I know that Conclusively Pretty is N/H. There is a 50/50 chance that he passed on the gene to TJ Skips Conclusive. Her dam side is Impressive free.

Maybe someone with an AQHA membership can look up TJ Skips Conclusive? I would but I don't have an AQHA membership and she's not double registered with APHA.

Without knowing his dam's status there's no way to tell. If she is N/N then you have nothing to worry about, but there is a 50/50 chance that she is N/H. If she is then there is a 50/50 chance that your guy is N/H. If it were my horse I think I would be doing the test at this point for peace of mind. If he is N/N then you can look at other factors for the sweating, if he's N/H there are ways to manage HYPP through diet and exercise.

Best of luck :)

My Arabian, Willie, has Cushings and is always wet in the exact areas you mention. I would definitely have your horse tested for Cushings. We always do the test in January to make sure he is on the correct amount of Pergolide.
Good luck!