How Much Is Too Much?

[Does’ Leap]

We have an 80 bushel spreader with lots of hills. Both horses are worked regularly (logging, spreading, field work, haying etc.) and are in fairly good shape. We always spread downhill when we can, but it often necessitates hauling a full load uphill. After our 10th load today, one of our horses was really breathing hard – 120 respirations/minute and down to 104 respirations/minute after a 3 minute rest or so). This seems like he is still breathing hard even after a rest. I don’t mind when they are breathing heavy, but I like to see recovery. My question is what should they recover to, respiration wise? How much is too much?

Oddly, my other horse was breathing hard but he recovered more quickly than the other horse (he has a much longer stride). The struggling horse is also ridden regularly while the other is not.

Any information/insight would be much appreciated.

George

[CharlyBonifaz]

can you take its pulse? in long distance horse races, they expect the pulse to regenerate to below 72 beats per minute within 10 minutes (or 64 within 20 minutes), otherwise the horse will be disqualified; so if it takes longer than that possibly check your horse’s health because usually well trained/conditioned horses manage those limits easily….

[Pete]

Wind broke mabey?

[Ira]

Was it warmer than normal there? It sounds a little like too much heat?

[Carl Russell]

George, I was pulling logs uphill with my horses this week, and the heat has certainly been a factor. I noticed my mare was breathing pretty hard at times too.

It is virtually impossible to judge from here whether your horse has some other condition, or if this would constitute abnormal breathing. I like to see my horses breathing hard. However, managing that is what I spend most of my time doing. I am typically more concerned about heavy sweating than I am about heavy breathing.

I like the animals to exert themselves in spurts, resting them regularly. If you are just taking them out with the load and keeping them underway until they get back, this could result in over exertion. If a team can pull the load uphill, then they can start it on the hill, and I would take the hill in sections, especially when hot like it has been.

As far as one horse showing it more than the other, I have always had one horse that was a little more intense than the other. Whether it is nerves or a tendency to try harder, the difference in exertion and recovery may not be directly related to conditioning.

There is no doubt that you can over-work a horse in the heat, but I would be inclined to work on managing the exertion. Now that you have seen this type of response, you can work the animals up to this level and keep them moving comfortably. You can get a lot more out of a horse that doesn’t over-exert himself. Go light, and go often, and rest them so that they are showing the reserve that you need for the work at hand, and you should be able to work them all day, regardless of the temp.

Carl

[near horse]

you can over-work a horse in the heat

I would imagine that even with well-conditioned animals, the first bursts of heat we see in the spring can be more difficult for horses (people and other animals included) to deal with as there hasn’t been much time for acclimation. Think of what 80 degrees seems like in April vs August.

Carl mentions managing/monitoring exertion as what he spends a lot of time doing. I think it is probably THE issue I have the most trouble with. One of my horses sweats buckets after a little work while the other one not much at all. Hard to gauge who’s tired and who’s nervous or what have you. Also, easier to see the sweaty horse’s breathing.

[mitchmaine]

hey geoff, seems like you’d only have to manage the hot horse, and forget the other one. we take baths, harness and all, on the hot days. cold water on their feet, then up the legs and onto their backs. they didn’t like it at first, but now they don’t mind too much. one horse even drinks out of the hose now.
it’s the flies that get us. penny came up with a good idea a few years back. we had nets on and still the horses were worked up. so she wanted to try face masks over the bridles. quite a squeeze, but without flies in their ears and eyes they almost forgot about them. quite a dramatic change. mitch oh, and i hate the heat. it’s me who gives up first.

[ngcmcn]

George,

I used to have a 60 bushel spreader with built up sides and it was real tempting to want to put one more bucket load on with the tractor and freight the spreader but even with hard horses it was a lot for them even with breaks to reload. So i got it down to three bucket loads of wet manure, everything went a lot better, the old spreader ran better, my horses weren’t winded and i could spread all day with them we got in to a nice pace with it all.

I used to have a Karate Sensi; he never tried to bench press a million pouinds, he kept it doable, right size and pressed consistently. And like the old woodchoppers………a lighter axe mean’t they could chop all day.

Like Carl Says; Go lite and go often.

Neal

[Does’ Leap]

Thanks for the replies. We’ll be spreading tomorrow as well. I will go a little lighter and mix in hills with flatter areas. I’ll keep you posted.

George

[Does’ Leap]

We spread 10 loads yesterday and another 12 today. The horse I was concerned about did much better. They were both puffing though. It is a quick business with one person loading with a tractor and the other spreading.

Carl, I you mentioned being more concerned about heavy sweating compared with heavy breathing. Why? The same hard-breathing horse also sweats a lot. Even logging in the winter this horse can sweat so hard his face gets wet. That said, he is always game and likes to pull. I figured it was a constitutional attribute just like humans have (or don’t) – some folks sweat a lot more than others.

George

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