How to Cool Out a Hot Horse

The last ten to fifteen minutes of every ride should consist of walking on a long or loose rein to allow the horse to relax, stretch his muscles, and, if he is winded from the exercise, catch his breath. This may be all the cool-down the average horse requires in order to physically recover from moderate exercise on a cool to warmish day. But intense workouts can strain muscles, ligaments, and tendons, and when coupled with soaring summer temperatures can cause your horse’s body temperature to skyrocket. An appropriate cool-down in these cases addresses the recovery of the horse’s muscles and other soft tissue structures that have just been in use, as well as bringing his heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature safely down to their normal statistics.

Every cool-down plan will vary slightly according to the individual horse and the type, intensity, and duration of exercise.

“You have to take into consideration the length of the ride,” says Mercer, pointing out that a horse that has just completed a 100 mile ride will need a different cool-down than a hunter/jumper horse that has just done about six minutes of work going around a course. “It’s also about how fit the horse is to begin with. It’s just like us. Horses’ muscles shouldn’t need as much stretching out or as long a cool-down once they’re more fit.”

Allowing your horse access to fresh drinking water will also help cool him down. “Veterinarians will tell you it’s perfectly alright for horses to drink when they’re hot, but a lot of people have it in their head that can cause colic or tying-up,” Mercer explains.

“When it’s really hot – we’re talking July or August heat – I’ll use straight rubbing alcohol. The evaporation of the alcohol off the skin cools the horse quicker. I’ll spray under his chest and neck and then wash it down right away with cool water, then spray again and wash it down with water again. The thing with alcohol is you don’t want to get it anywhere near their face and you don’t want it on any cuts because it’s going to hurt like heck.”

It’s also really important that you keep your horse moving. “The length of time you should walk your horse out depends,” says Mercer. “If you’ve done a 50-mile ride, I’d say you’d be looking at walking for at least an hour. You want to achieve the horse’s resting heart rate. This again goes back to the fitness of the horse. Some horses might be fine in half an hour, but to be safe I would say at least an hour.”