This message is from: "Mary Ofjord" <ma...@boreal.org>
This has been a great discussion about Fjords and heat. I am currently using my Fjord for a trail guide horse for the local stable. It has been "relatively" hot here in northern Minnesota with the temps in the high 80s and the humidity around the same.
The trail we use goes steadily up hill for about a mile to a mile and a quarter. My horse gets quite sweaty, even sweating around his eyes and face and the top of his rump by the time we reach the top of the trail. He doesn't seem to breathe heavily though. No panting or flaring of nostrils. I have tried to get him to drink more water and have run across the old proverb -"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" more than once. Yesterday, I got him to take a few mouthfuls of water by playing Dunking for Cookies! If I put some corn chips into the bucket, he'd go after them, but he really didn't drink. He did finally take some water in the trough they have for the dude horses, which was warm and icky. He's slightly.overweight, but seems otherwise in pretty good condition. The stable horses are mostly Arab-crosses and don't seem to mind the heat nor sweat as much as my Fjord (or his owner) does.
Do any of you feel it's okay to keep working him in this heat because of the sweating on the uphill leg of the trip? They generally cool down by the times we get back down.
Mary O (in HOT Northern Minnesota) Did somebody mention Global Warming? __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 7270 (20120704) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
