The last 2 years Cowboy has been suffering from anhidrosis (nonsweating). The first year he had a little sweat and I really wasnt riding much so it wasnt too bad, but last year he got really sick and those few weeks of hot hot (umm much like RIGHT NOW) weather I was out hosing him off several times a day and sticking him front of the fan etc. It was very concerning, esp when he got so sick because some horses actually have to be MOVED to a cooler climate ! I had tried several supplements, and I got a little response from one of them called One AC last year. He made a little sweat behind his ears and one spot under his mane. BUT. It made him a crazy horse ! So I had to stop it. Over the winter I continued to search and stumbled upon a herbal supplement called chastetree berry. Apparently folks give this to their Cushing's horses but the mechanism of action of this stuff is much like the One AC so I thought I would give a go. I have gotten more sweat than previous, but not like a HUGE sweat (maybe that means I havent been riding hard enough? LOL) Actually Ive been a little nervous to push him really hard, didnt want to set off a crisis.
SO !! Yesterday I worked then ran errands than went rushing out to the barn to hose him off, I was really scared of what I might find (like other horses sweating and him not, and also him having that hang dog sick look) and... ::drumroll::: I FOUND SWEAT and LOTS of it !! yay ! He had the same amout of sweat as the rest of the horses, but since I was already there, I hosed him off, stuck him in front of the fan and gave him a bunch of horse crack (hay stretcher..Man they LOVE that stuff!). He was a happy boy, esp when I put him back up without riding or exercising him !
The good news (or for him bad news lol) is that now I feel ok about going out and riding in the evenings etc, well maybe after tues :)
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7 comments:
Good, I'm so glad he's sweating! Btw, what CAUSES anhidrosis??
Now go out and start riding! :D
thats the thing about anhidrosis....you dont know !!! they can flip out of it as quick as they flip in it with no explanation. Theres no "real" cure either, but this chastetree berry is working and thank goodness its cheap cause hes staying on it !
I'm glad you have found something that is working some for Cowboy's anhidrosis. That is serious and nothing to mess around with, as you know. This is a BAD part of the country to have to deal with it in! I did some work with Dr. Mansmann on anhidrosis between my second and third year of vet school, on a horse that was long listed for the Olympics. It was jeopardizing the horse's chance of going. As it turns out the horse didn't make it because of an unrelated injury.
Be careful about riding him too much or too hard, IMO. One of Dr. Mansmann's theories, anyway, was that the condition would worsen as time progressed over the hot months, like the horse would "run out" of sweat.
I hope Cowboy continues to do well! Here's wishing you a lot of sweat, LOL!
That's good news! :-)
That is GREAT news. I was out of town this weekend. I got out to the barn last night and it looked like all my guys had been rode hard and put up wet with all the dried sweat marks. We had a nice little hose party.
That's great news!
Now, time to get back to that horse torture known as riding!
Did you ever try feeding him a Guiness? I always thought that was funny...and even odder that the horse would eat it!
Yayyyy Cowboy for sweating! Isn't it funny how "little" things can make us so happy sometimes? :)
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