2007-03-27 14:42:40 · 7 answers · asked by delokhel 2 in Sports ➔ Horse Racing
The cold water has the effect of limiting inflammation and has an analgesic (pain-killing) effect. It is also an emergency means to limit the effect of a soft-tissue injury like a sprain, strain or tear: icing down the injured area stops or limits swelling and keeps the effects of the injury more localized. It's a kind of axiom with soft tissue injuries: first you ice it down to minimize the damage, and then after some period of time (I think 24 to 48 hours), you start applying heat to aid in healing.
It used to be, in the days before racing became a pharmaceutical game, that it was fairly common for trainers to ice down the legs of their ouchy horses before a race to make them less ouchy. Old-timers tell stories of going to the backside a couple of hours before racetime and seeing the cheap claiming horses standing in tubs of ice. Nowadays they mostly put the horses on bute (Butazolidin) for pain and inflammation, and give them steroids. Not a kind regimen to the legs and joints.
Sometimes, if a horse has a foot abscess, you have to soak the foot in a bath of warm water with epsom salts to get the abscess to break. My horse was prone to abscesses and I had to teach him to stand in a tub of warm water. He quickly learned that it made his foot feel better and was very compliant to standing for up to an hour with his foot in a bucket of water.
"Tubbing" a horse with cold water, as it's called, can be therapeutic to injuries. Standing with a leg in a bucket of water is not a natural action for horses, and it's an amazing example of how trusting and compliant horses can be in doing things for people. I love horses and if you've ever been around one that's hurting, it's an awful feeling to watch-- you want to do anything you can to make the horse feel better, and when you do manage to accomplish this, and you see the horse relax and respond to your treatment, it's just a wonderful feeling.
2007-03-28 08:08:33 · answer #1 · answered by Karin C 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The main reason for hosing down a horse from the knee down after exercise is because the veins are closer to the surface of the skin there (very thin skin also). A horse will cool down much faster and more safely if you hose their legs for several minutes to acclimate them to the cool water. Think about it this way: on a very hot day, when you are very sweaty and hot, if you put ice cubes on your neck and wrists, you will cool down very quickly, because you are cooling your blood down, which reduces your core temperature considerably. (That is also why ice packs in people applied to wrists and neck can reduce fevers).
Also, most people start with the legs in consideration for the horse... how would you like it if you had run a mile and someone dumped icey water over your whole body all of a sudden? The shock would be immediate and uncomfortable.
Hope this answer helps! Have a great day!
2007-03-28 05:06:36 · answer #2 · answered by ♥♥♥ Mommy to Two ♥♥♥ 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
After riding a horse, or exersizing the animal, the cooling fo is very important for prevention of inlfamation in the leg and feet joints. Besides "walking" your horse (about 15-20 minutes after an hour of exersize or riding), watering the horses legs is an additional methos to prevent inflamation and cool down the horse. Some stables have automotive walkers which are the most efficient mehtos of cooling a horse down, yet even stables with this contraption will still water the legs.
2007-03-27 19:35:14 · answer #3 · answered by Roy W 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We cold hose after work outs to bring down the temp of the horse quickly and to releive any swelling in the legs.
If they work out hard sometime their legs swell and the cold will take it down. They also have veins close to the skin surface and hosing them cools the horse.
But mostly it is done for pain and swelling.
2007-03-28 15:00:40 · answer #4 · answered by tlctreecare 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It helps to relieve inflammation and swelling. It can also to wash the sweat off of them. It really helps on those hot days. It can be for treating wounds, infection etc...
Most people that do eventing put really disgusting grease on it to help them get through the water faster when they run so they have to wash it off their legs for health reasons so the skin won't be irratated and cause skin problems.
2007-03-28 02:18:00 · answer #5 · answered by xoxMeaghanoxo 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It helps relieve inflammation and swelling, which horses can be prone to. Also sometimes just to clean them.
2007-03-27 14:48:15 · answer #6 · answered by DogOwner 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It helps relieve inflammation and swelling
2007-03-31 07:33:32 · answer #7 · answered by jerry 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋