High temperatures, frequent in the summer, can have a negative impact on the well-being and performance of the horse. Knowing the risks that stress thermal damage entails and how they can be reduced thus becomes fundamental. 

The horse generates heat in the course of the most varied metabolic processes, in intestinal fermentation processes, as well as in muscle activity. The dissipation of the heat generated and thermoregulation in the horse is done through the vasodilation of the cutaneous vessels, sweating and the respiratory tract, by exhalation. High temperature conditions limit heat dissipation by vasodilation of skin vessels, while high relative humidity limits, in turn, sweat evaporation. 

In circumstances where heat dissipation is not efficient, the increase in body temperature can become worrying and can even be fatal. Horses in intense training or competition, dehydrated, with large losses of electrolytes (through sweating) or unable to sweat (suffering from anhidrosis), are more susceptible to stress thermal. 

What are the signs of stress heat on the horse? 

O stress Thermic may present as intense sweating or less than expected sweating, increased respiratory and heart rate, significant increase in rectal temperature, dry skin and signs of dehydration, weakness, depression, seizures and/or death. 

How to prevent the stress thermal? 

We can minimize the horse's exposure to high temperatures by adequately ventilating the stables or, if the horses are in an extensive regime, providing shade or retreating to the stable during the day and going to the pasture at night. 

Working in periods of higher temperatures should be avoided. After physical exercise, the horse should be cooled down. 

Can nutrition be an ally? 

Nutrition can and should be an ally. The horse's permanent access to clean and fresh water must always be guaranteed. 

The use of a food with good digestibility, which contains heat-treated cereals (through flocculation or extrusion), allows the pre-cecal digestion of starch (digested in the small intestine), which results in less heat production, reserving the fermentative processes of the large intestine for the fibrous component of food.

INTACOL FOODS

In turn, the inclusion of salt (sodium chloride) in the daily diet, or the availability of salt rock, allows the horse to meet its needs in chloride and sodium and stimulates the intake of water, contributing to its hydration. 

The use of an electrolyte supplement feed that allows the replacement of salts lost in sweat (chloride, sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium) is particularly important in horses subject to intense activity and intense sweating. Electrolyte replacement is essential for hydroelectrolytic balance and for the most diverse physiological functions, including muscle contraction, contributing to greater resistance to exercise. stress thermal and for better performance.

REHIDRAMAX

Providing zinc, favoring an organic source (a chelate) that guarantees its preferential absorption, has also proved to be beneficial. In the cooling process, vasodilation of the cutaneous vessels causes a decrease in intestinal irrigation. This decrease can compromise the integrity of the intestinal barrier, with an increase in its permeability with the risks inherent to it (endotoxemia and associated problems, such as laminitis, for example).

The supply of zinc is positive, due to the protective effect of the epithelium that it promotes, contributing to the maintenance of the integrity of the intestinal barrier.

 

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