# To Scrape or not to scrape....



## Ambers Echo (10 July 2018)

That  is the question. Actually no it isn't. The question is why do people think you have to?

At a recent pony club camp I was told that failure to scrape ALL the water off the ponies would cook them. And I was tasked with making sure all the kids at camp knew that THEY MUST SCRAPE. This was being taught to them as basic pony care.

This was news to me so I did a bit of searching online. I found that most people say you must scrape. BUT Dr David Marlin published an article over a decade ago saying this was complete nonsense and he and other vets have been repeating that ever since.

 He was the vet tasked with drawing up the guidelines for how to keep horses cool during the Beijing Olympics. He conducted a review of the literature and original peer reviewed research using thermal imaging showing that scraping water off made absolutely no difference to cooling rates. So hosing then leaving was no different to hosing then scraping, BUT lots of people hose, scrape,hose, scrape and those horses stay hottest longest as people waste time scraping instead of just hosing for a bit longer.

The official guidance for Beijing competitors explicitly stated that scraping was unnecessary to cool the horse. That was a decade ago.

Peer reviewed and published research is far more compelling than received wisdom and anecdotal tales of cooked horses so that will do for me. I won't bother scraping. But where does this come from and why is it still so prevalent a full 10 years after a vet proved it was not helpful. Just curious really as to why certain beliefs stick.


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## Ambers Echo (10 July 2018)

ETA or is he a rogue vet and there is other research out there. My google efforts have taken me to sites that talk about 'research' done in the run up to Atlanta which says failure to scrape leads to super-heated water insulating the horse but the articles don't cite the papers which makes the claims impossible to evaluate. I mean it's not a hard question to answer! And one that is  quite important given the current heat wave.


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## ycbm (10 July 2018)

The evidence for scraping was for long distance horses with highly elevated body temperatures finishing a race in a hot climate.

It's been misquoted ever since and it certainly doesn't apply to UK Pony Club, no matter how hot the summer !


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## Leo Walker (11 July 2018)

I hose off until cool then leave to dry. I do run a scraper over his stomach if water is dripping everywhere. I would be more than happy to accept what DM said. Its peer reviewed research.


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## JillA (11 July 2018)

There was a FB post recently saying you shouldn't turn out a wet horse because the water on their backs would heat up to boiling point in the sun!! Basic misunderstanding of physics and evaporation


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## Shay (11 July 2018)

There is a debate about the best way to cool a horse and the research you quote, although peer reviewed, has been contradicted.  Too much depends on the ambient temperature, wind and humidity.  If you are in a very humid space water on the surface is less likely to evaporate and can re-warm.  In a very dry climate less so. A lower ambient temperature can impede evaporation; wind increases it.  There are too many variable for consistent universally applicable advice.  The only constant seems to be that prolonged cooling is more effective - whether you scrape or not.

Pony Club can be quite out of date - and indeed out of step with BHS which is slightly annoying.  But if you don't do it the PC way you can't pass your efficiency tests.  In this particular issue BHS also specifies removing water after cooling.  But if you are able to give a plausible and safe explanation for what you do it is supposed to be accepted.  Although I'm not sure I would gamble the exam fee on this!

ETA - re-warmed water does not boil.  As JillA says - that is a misunderstanding of basic physics!  It could, in some weather circumstances, insulate the horse stopping cooling before it evaporates - or drips off...)


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## hobo (11 July 2018)

When I rinse my horse off after exercise when I have finished washing I scrape her as if she than goes in her stable or field and rolls she ends up filthy which defeats the reason of washing off.


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## Ambers Echo (11 July 2018)

The advice in Beijing was to hose till cool. Any warm water next to the body is displaced by fresh cool water. When you have finished hosing it makes no difference to further cooling whether you scrape or not. There are other reasons to scrape but it does not cool the horse better. This was advice in a hot, humid country. In a hot dry country leaving water on is helpful as the evaporation of the water cools the horse so allegedly pro endurance riders in gulf countries never scrape. Either way scraping is  never necessary for cooling though you may do it for other reasons of course. But at least my kids know the pony club take on  it and can pass pc tests! I wonder how many other old wives tales are passed on as fact  and even tested in exams. I don't agree with ignoring new evidence. If knowledge has moved on then that should be embraced. Or we would all still think the earth was flat!


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## Ambers Echo (11 July 2018)

ETA I am not disputing that some research has found scraping to be better though it would be interesting to see the actual research. Apparently some vets had a pre Atlanta conference and discussed this but I can't f8nd any citations. What I object to is the way it is presented as absolute fact. And the fear of God was put into the kids! YOU MUST SCRAPE OR YOU WILL COOK YOUR HORSE!


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## ihatework (11 July 2018)

Its all about putting things into context.

David Marlin isnt incorrect, but what he says is based on high performance and hyperthermic horses - ie those horses whose core temperature is too high. In those circumstances the only message is cold water quick and dont faff around with anything else. Definitely no stopping for scraping breaks.

A very hot performance horse would probably be wise to follow similar. But the crucial-ness of it would depend very much on their temp and the surrounding temp and humidity.

But for your average slightly hot and sweaty horse it really doesnt matter too much. The body is doing its job cooling the horse by sweating. Scrape or dont scrape to suit. If in doubt then keep applying water and dont stop to scrape.


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## Auslander (11 July 2018)

Agree with IHW. I've seen a fair amount of confusion on FB about it over the last few days - and I think it's to do with cooling v washing off. It's pretty unlikely that any of us (apart from the endurance lot) would have to aggressively cool a seriously hot horse, which is what Davids research is referring to. Incidentally, he's not a vet, rogue or otherwise!

In hot weather, if my horse sweats, I walk him til he's cooled down and isn't sweating any more, then hose him down to wash the sweat off, and chuck him out. I don't scrape, because I don't see the point.

The only beef I have with the scraping hullabaloo is those who are asserting that you MUST scrape, because your horse will overheat more if you leave water on him. That's just silly


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## madamebonnie (11 July 2018)

I suppose in the case of eventing/competing where you will most likely not have a hose to hand the scraping method has it's theoretical uses. On a hot day with a hot horse after xc it makes sense to scrape off the excess water in the theory that it could have warmed up on the horses body and then gives you chance to reapply sponges of cool water. Practically since I have been helping my friend grooming we just go for the method of throwing on as much water as possible. With one leading the horse and one sponging there's not enough hands to go round! 

My aunt rode a lot of showjumpers in France. In the long hot summers there they religiously cooled down the tendons first before moving to the body. Not something I see much of in the UK, but then **usually** our summers are not +30 everyday.


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## ShowJumperL95 (11 July 2018)

If after riding on a hot day to help cool down my boy I will hose him off and then go round scrape the warm water off his body, then hose him again then scrape him off and continue until it is scraping off cold. I always finish bu lightly scraping the water off where it is dripping otherwise he will just stamp constantly as he doesn't like the dripping.


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## Auslander (11 July 2018)

ShowJumperL95 said:



			If after riding on a hot day to help cool down my boy I will hose him off and then go round scrape the warm water off his body, then hose him again then scrape him off and continue until it is scraping off cold. I always finish bu lightly scraping the water off where it is dripping otherwise he will just stamp constantly as he doesn't like the dripping.
		
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But if you don't keep stopping to scrape, you'll get the horse cooler quicker! That's the basis of the "Don't stop and scrape" advice. Although the aggressive cooling research is mostly applicable to dangerously hot horses, the principle is sound!


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## ihatework (11 July 2018)

madamebonnie said:



			I suppose in the case of eventing/competing where you will most likely not have a hose to hand the scraping method has it's theoretical uses. On a hot day with a hot horse after xc it makes sense to scrape off the excess water in the theory that it could have warmed up on the horses body and then gives you chance to reapply sponges of cool water. Practically since I have been helping my friend grooming we just go for the method of throwing on as much water as possible. With one leading the horse and one sponging there's not enough hands to go round!
		
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If you don&#8217;t have enough hands and are trying to cool a horse, stopping to scrape is not the thing to do. Keep applying water non stop.

I quite often run the finish for a friend, one horse runs high - after his first 4* he was still >40 15 minutes post finish, so I&#8217;ve had to become pretty clued up on this!
Routinely though we generally wash & scrape, more from habit than anything else.


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## milliepops (11 July 2018)

Auslander said:



			Agree with IHW. I've seen a fair amount of confusion on FB about it over the last few days - and I think it's to do with cooling v washing off.
		
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^^ this

Personally I've hopped off my horses when they are really hot a few times recently, because the flies have been driving them mental when we've finished work and there's no chance they will walk quietly...  then it's a case of tack off quickly and hosing until cool, I don't scrape then, just keep cooling.  That's not in the same ballpark as top performing horses at the olympics  but for my horses doing 45 mins in the high 20s is probably a similar effort :lol:

Most of the time I'm just washing off, getting the sweaty patches clean again and then I do scrape because it makes less mess in the stable afterwards  

This is one of the few times that FB really does my head in though, so many people presenting statements as "fact".  Pfffffft.  PC is usually a few decades behind on most things though IME, that doesn't surprise me


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## ShowJumperL95 (11 July 2018)

Auslander said:



			But if you don't keep stopping to scrape, you'll get the horse cooler quicker! That's the basis of the "Don't stop and scrape" advice. Although the aggressive cooling research is mostly applicable to dangerously hot horses, the principle is sound!
		
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I have never heard of don't stop and scrape. He does cool down quick this way, how is what I do cool him down any slower than how you cool down your horse? You walk your horse round until he has cooled down that way when surely getting off and washing him straight away will help cool his body down quicker? Everyone has their own ways of cooling down their horse and surely at the end of the day if the horse gets cooled down properly and is comfortable it shouldn't matter how each of us does it.


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## Auslander (11 July 2018)

ShowJumperL95 said:



			I have never heard of don't stop and scrape. He does cool down quick this way, how is what I do cool him down any slower than how you cool down your horse? You walk your horse round until he has cooled down that way when surely getting off and washing him straight away will help cool his body down quicker? Everyone has their own ways of cooling down their horse and surely at the end of the day if the horse gets cooled down properly and is comfortable it shouldn't matter how each of us does it.
		
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I don't want a row - was just saying that things have moved on now, and it's widely recognised that there are more effective ways to cool a horse down. It's you horse though, so if it works for you, that's fine. As I said in an earlier post, none of us are likely to get a horse core-hot enough to need proper cooling!

What I do with my horse isn't relevant, as he doesn't work hard enough to get hot, now that he is semi retired. If he was still in proper work, and got hot and sweaty - I would walk him for the last 10 minutes of the session (I do this anyway, as it's good management!), then hose him til the water ran cool, then chuck him out.


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## Ambers Echo (11 July 2018)

ShowJumperL95 said:



			I have never heard of don't stop and scrape. He does cool down quick this way, how is what I do cool him down any slower than how you cool down your horse? You walk your horse round until he has cooled down that way when surely getting off and washing him straight away will help cool his body down quicker? Everyone has their own ways of cooling down their horse and surely at the end of the day if the horse gets cooled down properly and is comfortable it shouldn't matter how each of us does it.
		
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It doesn't matter. My point is my kids (and all the kids on camp) were told that NOT scraping would put their ponies at serious risk of being 'cooked' by super-heated water which is rubbish. Scraping is fine but not necessary. If your horse is dangerously hot and needs to be aggressively cooled then scraping wastes time because you stop hosing to scrape. In that situiation it is better to keep the hose on the horse until cool. The hose/stop/scrape/repeat advice is based on the idea that somehow a super-heated layer of water stays near the skin unless you scrape it off. And as far as I can tell from reading the papers this is simply not true.


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## Auslander (11 July 2018)

Ambers Echo said:



			The hose/stop/scrape/repeat advice is based on the idea that somehow a super-heated layer of water stays near the skin unless you scrape it off. And as far as I can tell from reading the papers this is simply not true.
		
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Apparently, the only instance where it could be a problem, is when humidity is 90 degrees or more, as then the warm/hot water doesn't evaporate


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## ester (11 July 2018)

As the theory is that you waste time scraping I've always quietly pondered whether when you have multiple hands applying water whether it makes a difference if one of those people scrapes. But I'm a bit sad like that


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## Ambers Echo (11 July 2018)

Auslander said:



			Apparently, the only instance where it could be a problem, is when humidity is 90 degrees or more, as then the warm/hot water doesn't evaporate
		
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In that situation I can see how you may prefer to scrape off the final layer of water, but not to keep stopping hosing in order to scrape. You aren't relying on evaporation if you are continually hosing as the continuous flow of cool water displaces any warmed water.


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## Auslander (11 July 2018)

Ambers Echo said:



			In that situation I can see how you may prefer to scrape off the final layer of water, but not to keep stopping hosing in order to scrape. You aren't relying on evaporation if you are continually hosing as the continuous flow of cool water displaces any warmed water.
		
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I'm on your side - see my previous posts!!


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## Ambers Echo (11 July 2018)

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I am just trying to understand what people are recommending and why under different conditions. At the pony club camp I knew no better and just had to bite my lip as the instructors were going on about super-heated water and boiling ponies etc etc etc. And worse still giving me the job of reminding all the kids to scrape every time they came off a ride. I had signficant doubts about what they were saying but lacked enough knowlege to argue so I went along with giving out that advice and am retrospectively feeling quite annoyed about that!

 I want to be better informed next time, that's all.


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## Theocat (11 July 2018)

Someone told me a few years ago that washing my horse down and leaving him wet was "the worst possible thing you can do". Their argument was that, when you touched the horse, you could feel that it was hotter - and therefore, applying cold water was making the horse heat up...!

If you want to cool a horse down, I would have thought that keeping the cold water running would be best, followed by drenching the horse and leaving them wet, because then there's more water to evaporate and you should end up with a cooler horse. If you scrape, you remove water, and therefore remove an opportunity for evaporation, which slows the cooling process down, no?


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## Ambers Echo (11 July 2018)

Yes! Unless it is too humid for the water to evaporate. But even then failing to scrape does not heat the horse up which I think is the basis of the 'your horse is at risk if you don't scrape....' stuff.


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## Mule (11 July 2018)

I only scrape if I want them to dry off quickly. The idea that they'd somehow get hotter if they were left wet always struck me as ridiculous.


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## Goldenstar (11 July 2018)

I always scrape then towel dry the legs and head I can&#8217;t bear horses dripping about the place .


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## pixie (11 July 2018)

I only scrape at the end because he's grey and tends to get filthier quicker if he is left wet


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## SEL (12 July 2018)

A few years ago I accompanied the vets at one of the major 3 day events on x-country day (watching only, special invite of a friend). It was a boiling hot day and a lot of the horses doing the x-c were struggling. 

At the end of the course the grooms, vets and anyone else handy were literally throwing buckets of cold water over the horses. Some of the horses came off the course pretty distressed and I was told that to avoid heat stroke, neurological damage etc it was important just to get their temperature down and constant cold water was the best way to do that. There was no scraping! 

I think both PC and the BHS can be slow to update. The 'must never feed your horse before riding' is my latest niggle (from a newly qual BHS). High starch? Absolutely. Hay or chaff - well that has been shown to minimise the damage from acid splash back and is therefore a Good Thing.


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## Ambers Echo (12 July 2018)

And what about you must never feed AFTER riding? But leave it at least an hour and preferably 3?

Sports science research in humans has shown that feeding immediately after strenuous exercise is the perfect time to replenish the muscles. There is a 'golden hour' after hard work when muscles are most receptive and therefore  repair and rebuild quicker with a high protein feed. Chris Froome was made to neck 2200calories within 20 MINUTES of mountain stages at the Tour de France last year based on that science!

Human endurance athletes have been refeeding immediately after hard work for years. Hence the rise of recovery shakes. Why should it not be the same for horses? A very experienced local rider/trainer advocates high protein feed straight after any hard session with horses and is having fanastic results in terms of recovery and muscling up. 

I wonder what the racehorse trainers do?


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## hopscotch bandit (12 July 2018)

Best practice with a really hot horse is to scrape as you hose, and continue to scrape until the water you are scraping off is cool.  That's what the professionals used to do at horse trials.  I just hose mine when I've untacked and feed when she's cool, fly sheet and turnout.


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## Ambers Echo (12 July 2018)

hopscotch bandit said:



			Best practice with a really hot horse is to scrape as you hose, and continue to scrape until the water you are scraping off is cool.
		
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Why? Why not just hose until the horse is cool? Why bother with the scraping as you go? I don't believe this is 'best practice' - I believe it is an Old Wives Tale that has somehow stuck. But happy to be corrected if you can show me any evidence.


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## SEL (12 July 2018)

Ambers Echo said:



			Why? Why not just hose until the horse is cool? Why bother with the scraping as you go? I don't believe this is 'best practice' - I believe it is an Old Wives Tale that has somehow stuck. But happy to be corrected if you can show me any evidence.
		
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After all if we're really hot and get in a cold shower we stand there until we've cooled down. No requirement for scraping! 

I'm on a couple of Dr Kellon's nutrition forums and she advocates protein in a feed post exercise. Given mine is never fed high starch food, she gets fed both before and after exercise (once I've hosed her down without scraping obviously) and is then chucked out. Very non BHS apparently.


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## Ambers Echo (12 July 2018)

I've started giving Amber a post workout recovery meal too. She seems quite pleased with that!


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## Elf On A Shelf (12 July 2018)

Racing - we throw a few buckets over them once they come off the track whether they are in the winners enclosure or not. No scraped off. Once back in the stables they are washed down thoroughly and hosed down a fair bit but it's not always possible to stand with them under the hose due to other horses needing washed down and the fact they need to walk round to cool the muscles down. We scrape them off in the stable yard once washed down.


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## Auslander (12 July 2018)

hopscotch bandit said:



			Best practice with a really hot horse is to scrape as you hose, and continue to scrape until the water you are scraping off is cool.  That's what the professionals used to do at horse trials.  I just hose mine when I've untacked and feed when she's cool, fly sheet and turnout.
		
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It's not though - if you read the research that has taken place over the last few years. Scraping was the done thing until the Atlanta ad Beiijing Olympics studies kicked off a lot of additional research - leading to a protocol that does not advocate scraping - it condemns it, if anything. None of the endurance lot scrape - because they are probably the most clued up sector when it comes to cooling, and I can't remember the last time I saw international event horses being scraped. It's all about getting as much water/ice on as possible, as quick as possible


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## chaps89 (13 July 2018)

I crewed at Euston FEI endurance ride last year. It was an unseasonably warm day and the instructions were to chuck as much water on the horses as quick as possible until they were cool. Once through vetting they were then stood in buckets of iced water. Not a sweat scraper in sight.
I'm sure the average rider won't be going to such extremes but I figured if it worked for them it would do for me.
ETA- and they definitely encouraged feeding at each vet gate and the horses had a sugar solution (made from dates/prunes judging by the packaging and purple colour!) syringed down them too. It makes sense to sustain the body after such intense periods of exercise surely?


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## Mule (13 July 2018)

chaps89 said:



			I crewed at Euston FEI endurance ride last year. It was an unseasonably warm day and the instructions were to chuck as much water on the horses as quick as possible until they were cool. Once through vetting they were then stood in buckets of iced water. Not a sweat scraper in sight.
I'm sure the average rider won't be going to such extremes but I figured if it worked for them it would do for me.
ETA- and they definitely encouraged feeding at each vet gate and the horses had a sugar solution (made from dates/prunes judging by the packaging and purple colour!) syringed down them too. It makes sense to sustain the body after such intense periods of exercise surely?
		
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The endurance people are always at the forefront of progress in horse care. Equestrianism as a sport seems to be very reluctant to embrace nutritional science and behavioural science compared to other sports. Tradition is given too much importance imo. 

Another example is positive reinforcement in the form of clicker training. It's been used since the 50's in marine life and avians. It's been used by zoos, dog trainers, etc, for decades. A lot of horse people still think it's voodoo! Even the founder of behaviourism back in the 50's tried to work with horse trainers. His conclusion was that horse people didn't believe in being nice to horses!


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## Auslander (14 July 2018)

Just to add to the debate - DM has just posted the following on Facebook

"WILL YOUR HORSE OVERHEAT IF YOU LEAVE IT OR TURN IT OUT WET? 

*** PLEASE SHARE - HELP BUST THE MYTH ***

This myth still seems to be doing the rounds so let's bust this one. It's an easy one to bust.

THE SHORT ANSWER IS NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT! If you want the explanation, read on....

When you get out of the sea or a swimming pool or even the shower do you start to heat up? No, you immediately start to feel cooler as the water on your skin starts to evaporate. Evaporation is especially fast in warm-hot, dry, sunny and windy conditions!

If you turn your horse out wet it will actually continue to keep them cool as the water held in the coat (around 2-3 litres on average horse) continues to evaporate.

Ahh, but "what about if the humidity is 100% I hear someone say? at 100% humidity water will not evaporate and the horse will be insulated and unable to lose heat!" WRONG!

The ability of water to conduct (move) heat from the horses' skin to the coat surface where it can be lost by convection, is actually BETTER than that of air. At 40°C water conducts heat over 20x better than air. That means it moves heat from the skin through the coat to the surface of the coat over 20x faster than would happen through air within the coat if the horse was dry.

BOTTOM LINE - There is no situation where leaving your horse wet in any warm-hot environment which will lead it to risk being overheated more than if it was dry."


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## Ambers Echo (14 July 2018)

Thanks Auslander. I've shared the post on FB where all the Pony Club bods will see it......


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## EventingMum (14 July 2018)

I can't find it now but a day or two ago there was a post on Facebook showing thermal imaging of a hot horse being washed and scrapped and one not being scrapped. The one not being scrapped was cooler which went against all I had been taught with eventers after xc but would suggest not scrapping is more efficient for cooling.


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## hopscotch bandit (17 July 2018)

Ambers Echo said:



			Why? Why not just hose until the horse is cool? Why bother with the scraping as you go? I don't believe this is 'best practice' - I believe it is an Old Wives Tale that has somehow stuck. But happy to be corrected if you can show me any evidence.
		
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Another important part of cooling out horses is evaporation.  After the horse has been sprayed off, it is very important to scrape the water off. This is because once the horse is sprayed, the water absorbs the horse's heat and becomes warm.  In order for evaporation to occur effectively, this warm water must be removed.  This process can be repeated until the horse's temperature comes down (i.e. spray then scrape, spray again then scrape again, etc.).  If the water is not scraped off, it could act as an insulating layer and actually make the horse hotter than when you started. 

https://www.equisearch.com/articles/scrape-off-water-quickly
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/proper-way-cool-hot-horse (3rd paragraph down)
https://horsenetwork.com/2017/11/need-know-cooling-horses/ (under conduction)
http://articles.extension.org/pages...ply-spray-the-horse-all-over-with-water-and-d (second paragraph)


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## Ambers Echo (17 July 2018)

All the articles you are quoting reference the FEI conference pre Atlanta in 19996 where the hypothesis that an insulating layer of water might keep the horse hot was explored. Loads of people quote 'research' that 'showed' but I have yet to see a citation to the actual research paper. None of the articles cite that reseach either. They reference it but they do not provide links to any papers. So I can only assume no peer reviewed papers supporting that position were ever published.

On the contrary there have been peer reviewed papers that HAVE been published that say this is a myth. That it is simply untrue and therefore this is a theory that has been completely discredited. 

eg: http://davidmarlin.co.uk/portfolio/to-scrape-or-not-to-scrape-when-cooling-hot-horses/

Which is why endurance vets, FEI vets etc do not scrape at majpor events anymore.


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## ihatework (17 July 2018)

hopscotch bandit said:



			Another important part of cooling out horses is evaporation.  After the horse has been sprayed off, it is very important to scrape the water off. This is because once the horse is sprayed, the water absorbs the horse's heat and becomes warm.  In order for evaporation to occur effectively, this warm water must be removed.  This process can be repeated until the horse's temperature comes down (i.e. spray then scrape, spray again then scrape again, etc.).  If the water is not scraped off, it could act as an insulating layer and actually make the horse hotter than when you started. 

https://www.equisearch.com/articles/scrape-off-water-quickly
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/proper-way-cool-hot-horse (3rd paragraph down)
https://horsenetwork.com/2017/11/need-know-cooling-horses/ (under conduction)
http://articles.extension.org/pages...ply-spray-the-horse-all-over-with-water-and-d (second paragraph)
		
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Sometimes hopscotch bandit, google is not your friend.


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## Theocat (17 July 2018)

hopscotch bandit said:



			Another important part of cooling out horses is evaporation.  After the horse has been sprayed off, it is very important to scrape the water off. This is because once the horse is sprayed, the water absorbs the horse's heat and becomes warm.  In order for evaporation to occur effectively, this warm water must be removed.  This process can be repeated until the horse's temperature comes down (i.e. spray then scrape, spray again then scrape again, etc.).  If the water is not scraped off, it could act as an insulating layer and actually make the horse hotter than when you started. 

https://www.equisearch.com/articles/scrape-off-water-quickly
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/proper-way-cool-hot-horse (3rd paragraph down)
https://horsenetwork.com/2017/11/need-know-cooling-horses/ (under conduction)
http://articles.extension.org/pages...ply-spray-the-horse-all-over-with-water-and-d (second paragraph)
		
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But evaporation can ONLY occur as water heats up and evaporates off the horse, taking the heat with it! Less water means slower evaporation. 

If the water on the outside of the horse is hot, it is because you have successfully transferred some if the beat from the horse to the water. Warmer water evaporates faster. 

We - and horses! - sweat because having liquid on our skin cools us down. Why do you think that process is different when it's water instead of sweat? Why do you think less water is better than more water?


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## Ambers Echo (17 July 2018)

Found this! 

https://inside.fei.org/sites/defaul...e_in_a_challenging_climate_SUPPORTING_DOC.pdf

The key section states:

"Prior to 1992, there were only a handful of scientific papers dealing with how horses
respond to exercise in thermally challenging conditions. In the period between Barcelona
1992 and Atlanta 1996, there were over 50 different scientific papers published. The FEI
initiative resulted in collaboration between research groups around the world and included
veterinary surgeons and scientists in universities and research institutes, as well as many
vets working in practice. The results of these studies were presented and discussed at a
number of major international scientific meetings between 1993 and 1996,* the first of
which was the FEI Samsung International Sports Medicine Conference, which took place in
Atlanta in March 1994 which was chaired by Professor Leo Jeffcott.* A book entitled On to
Atlanta 96, which summarised the scientific and veterinary aspects of the research
undertaken to date, was published in 1994 by the Equine Research Centre at the University
of Guelph in Ontario (CAN) and was made widely available.
Between 1992 and 1996 the research covered a wide range of topics related to competing
in thermally challenging conditions, including:
&#61623; How to accurately measure thermal environmental stress
&#61623; The physiological demands of Olympic level Eventing competition
&#61623; How horses respond to exercise in hot and hot humid conditions
&#61623; The effects of hot and humid conditions on athletes
&#61623; Nutrition of the event horse
&#61623; Electrolyte supplementation
&#61623; The effects of long-distance transport on horses
&#61623; Anhidrosis  loss of ability to sweat
&#61623; Acclimatisation to heat and humidity
&#61623; Quantifying cross-country course effort
&#61623; Effects of modifying different phases of the speed and endurance test
&#61623; Clinical evaluation of fitness to continue in the 10-minute box
*&#61623; Techniques for cooling horses after exercise*


Later the section on cooling horses says scraping is a waste of time.

This supports what I had assumed: Scraping was a belief -based recommendation that the research did not support. So the articles that say 'research from the FEI conference shows' are really irritating! It was a question that the FEI conference explored and the research showed it DID NOT help.


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## ester (17 July 2018)

Quite and I wonder if she missed the OP?

AE just as a point of accuracy Dr Marlin isn't a vet


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## Mule (17 July 2018)

Ambers Echo said:



			Thanks Auslander. I've shared the post on FB where all the Pony Club bods will see it......
		
Click to expand...

Heads will explode


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## Ambers Echo (17 July 2018)

mule said:



			Heads will explode

Click to expand...

Sadly I think heads will ignore/dismiss instead!


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## Abi90 (17 July 2018)

The while insulating layer of water just goes against physics and biology anyway. If the water on the horse is warm, thats because its absorbed heat from the horse and made it cooler. Then the action of evaporation would cool again. 

I always thought we scraped to stop the horse getting sore/ dirtier, never heard of some random physics explanation that makes no sense until now


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