December 5, 2003, Newsletter Issue #154: HANGING OUT WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS & HORSES #2

Tip of the Week

Learn how to properly "Warm Up or Cool Out" your horse for his total enjoyment and exercise.

I recommend that each horse have a full body or a fitted blanket style cooler. To warm up a horse for "Free Lungeing" you want to mix a spray bottle with either Vetrolin or a Linament of usually 1 part of either of those, and 7 parts water. I spray the horse thoroughly WHERE the cooler will cover. Place the cooler on the horse and hand walk with the leg/foot boots on the horse as you learned last week. Once the horse has walked at least 10 minutes, then you can remove the cooler, and turn the horse loose (as we discussed last week). After exercising, then take the horse with the cooler on back to the grooming stall. Remove the cooler, and reapply the mixture in the Spray Bottle, covering the horse thoroughly; especially the areas that may be sweaty, such as between the legs, the neck the loin or the neck areas.

Now replace the cooler, and hand walk the horse for another 10 minutes, ensuring that the "underchest" area is cool to the touch, and that the respiration and the pulse has returned to normal.

When you return to the "grooming area" then you can remove the leg and foot boots at the same time that you put your horse`s regular blankets back on him/her. It is not necessary, in the winter to make sure that your horse is completely bone dry when spraying down with Vetrolin or a Linament as the evaporation under the blanket will dry these areas.

BUT, you can not put away a horse that is "SWEAT WET" under blankets~!~!~!

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