Thermoregulation in horses

Rugging, unrugging, changing rugs – thermoregulation in horses

A horse’s individual comfort temperatures range from around -7 °C (dry cold) to +25 °C. Despite this apparently wide temperature range, temperatures that are too high or too low can lead to reduced performance, discomfort, diarrhoea or colic – in the worst case even to freezing to death or heatstroke. To get our horses through the cold and hot seasons in good health, we can positively influence their thermoregulation, depending on how they are kept and on their fitness and state of health. To adapt to heat or cold, the skin, coat, blood vessels and sweat glands work together. A horse’s skin, which is thick compared with ours, should be backed by a sufficient layer of fat to provide good basic insulation against the cold. In addition, the arrector pili muscles help by raising, turning or flattening the coat depending on the weather. The skin’s sebum layer is water-repellent, so on mild, rainy days you shouldn’t automatically reach for a rain rug. If the horse sweats under the rug, this is worse than getting wet from above, because moisture directly on the skin makes the animal cool down more quickly and it may even get cold.

A rug should always allow enough freedom of movement.

Clipped horses in particular should be well rugged so that they don’t catch a chill or a cold.

The same applies to particularly hot days. Because just like freezing cold, heat can also harm our horses. Horses overheat up to ten times faster than humans. For the horses’ sake, particularly strenuous training sessions or journeys should not take place at temperatures above 35 °C. There are always individual cases where this cannot be avoided, such as an emergency trip to the equine clinic or similar. In such cases it is advisable to support the horses with the cooling they need, in the form of air circulation, shade or cold water.

A neck cover provides "double" protection right up behind the ears.