Horse not sweating question?

[Snapper Head]

There is much more to the story. This sounds more like a vendetta of some sort. It certainly has nothing to do with hose sweat.

We have Arabians who do not sweat much at all, unless they are ridden hard. We have a couple of quarter horses who are sweat hogs. It is certainly animal specific, and likely breed specific as well.

Someone with connections want to make your friend twist for some reason, other than horse sweat.


Big Al

 

[texasjohn]

Tallyho8, if you were to give the animal a body condition score, what would it be?

1 = all ribs and back bone showing extremely protruding, extremely weak
2
3
4
5 = sloppy fat, rolls of far around tail head, extreme fat all over

Was animal in an enclosure with water and good forage? What condition is its teeth? If very old, toothless, requires special feed else will be unable to process feed and be in extremely poor condition. Note, I have personally euthanized a horse when it was completely unable to forage anymore.

Was there any evidence of the animal being cared for, or was it simply left in an enclosure with no attention for months at a time.

Am suspecting it was taken to vet for worming because of very poor body condition (either condition 2 or 1) over extended period.

 

[tallyho8]

On your 1 to 5 scoring I would call it a 3.

I don't know a lot of details about the horse but it was about 6 to 10 years old. The pasture was bad but a round bale of hay was in there and it was fed daily.

I suspect it was sort of a vendetta but I can not write my reasons on a public forum.

I do know that my number one horse that I rode almost daily and who was in perfect condition sweated very little when I rode her, usually just under the saddle pad. Years later, now that she is 20 and out of condition but expertly cared for, she sweats a lot while in pasture with temperature in the 90s and high humidity.

Twenty years ago I sweated very little also but today while working in the yard, I changed clothes twice because they got so wet. I think that being overweight and out of condition causes you to sweat more.

 

[texasjohn]

OK, tallyho8, good info.

Body condition is fine, no concern, lots of horses work in this shape.
No comment re open sores or wounds.
Apparently daily attention.
Apparently water
Apparently hay available
Likely teeth in adequate shape
Age not an obvious issue
Recent vet visit = not neglected
Horse with same owner for some years

Sweating discussion is spurious...not an indicator of any sort for a horse just standing in the pasture, even with no shade.

Sooooo. It's a mystery.... I can only suggest that somewhere out there there IS a mistreated horse that the judge issued his court order for and that the wrong animal was picked up in a strange mix up.

Or, a blatant case of horse stealing... supported by the court system...hard to believe that the courts have sunk to this level.

There is surely more to this than we can extract from the information available.

 

[EarPlug]

Found a very interesting at Thoroughbred Times from 2004. Horses not sweating is a known condition known as Anhydrosis. It is especially common in the Gulf States

Veterinary Topics: Help for horses that do not sweat - Thoroughbred Times

 

[dmay]

A person I know had their horse in a pasture. A passerby (nosy) noticed that the horse was not sweating and reported it to the Louisiana SPCA. The LSPCA went to a judge claiming animal abuse and got a court order to remove the horse. They confiscated the horse and told the owner that if they want it back they have to pay $25 a day for care and put up a $3000 bond to insure that they properly care for it.

Lets assume the LSPCA and the judge are good people doing their jobs placing the horses interest first. What did they see that you are not reporting? How did they make the determination the horse was being abused?

If this person truly cares for their horse, they should pay the money and put up the bond and get their horse back. Then if they felt they were wrongly accused I suggest they take this to their local small claims court.

And lastly, they had just paid a veterinarian 2 days earlier to worm the horse and give it vaccinations and pull the required coggins test.

Seems to me this is may be an indication the horse was under good care. If the attending vet can concur, I'd say they have a solid case to pursue.

 

[tallyho8]

Found a very interesting at Thoroughbred Times from 2004. Horses not sweating is a known condition known as Anhydrosis. It is especially common in the Gulf States

Veterinary Topics: Help for horses that do not sweat - Thoroughbred Times

Thank you very much for this information. It is very valuable to me. Since this is a condition that is extremely rare in other parts of the country but much more common here in South Louisiana, I can see why most people never heard of it.

Lets assume the LSPCA and the judge are good people doing their jobs placing the horses interest first. What did they see that you are not reporting? How did they make the determination the horse was being abused?

They claimed that since the horse was not sweating, this shows that it was abused. (not properly cared for)

If this person truly cares for their horse, they should pay the money and put up the bond and get their horse back. Then if they felt they were wrongly accused I suggest they take this to their local small claims court.

In Louisiana small claims court is not practical against large institutions because they are allowed to just move the case to a higher court where their lawyers can handle it and then if you don't retain a lawyer you have a very minimal chance of winning.

Since the lawyer they consulted advised them not to take action as it would cost them much more to do this than to pay the costs to get the horse back, they decided to buy another horse.

Some people are in the financial position where they can fight for what they think is right even if it costs them more and others are unable to do so. They chose the second route.

 

[texasjohn]

OK...well, second horse better be a demonstrated sweater!! Or it'll go away, too.:drool:

 

[kyspartan]

they will keep going after them, if they think they have an easy mark. i would forego a horse for a while to see what happens. and do get more opinions from different attorneys.