Anhydrosis- a Heated Issue

ANHYDROSIS

A HEATED ISSUE

It’s summer time in the Northern Hemisphere, which means the mercury is rising and the sun is shining! All in all, it’s a wonderful time of year- or at least it should be. For horses with Anhydrosis, it can spell disaster. While we associate the hot weather with fun and games, horses afflicted with Anhydrosis feel nothing but discomfort and stress. While we can’t exactly turn off the sun, there are other ways we can manage the comfort of our equine friends with this condition.

What is Anhydrosis?

Anhydrosis is a condition that does not discriminate between breed, age, sex or color. Also known as dry horse syndrome or the puffs, it is defined as the inability to sweat effectively in response to appropriate stimuli. Put simply, the horses sweat glands simply give up. 

Normally, horses can expel up to 65% of their body heat through evaporation of their sweat, so horses that are unable to do this greatly risk overheating. 

Anhydrotic horses can also suffer prolonged periods of elevated pulse and respiratory rate after exercising as they try to cool themselves through puffing. In unaffected horses, respiration would only account for 25% of heat loss. Regularly, the process of a horse returning to normal body temperature takes no more than 30 minutes.

There are varying degrees of Anhydrosis, the most common being what is classified as incomplete. Horses may live for many months without diagnosis in this situation as the symptoms do not present themselves often or to the severity that chronic and acute cases do. This may simply be because the horse may not be under the stress of intense exercise at any given point in time.

Symptoms of Anhydrosis

Symptoms that may be indicative of Anhydrosis may include;