Post-Ride Horse Care & Recovery

After a strenuous ride, your horse's recovery process begins with cooling them down while their muscles are tired and fatigued. If a hot horse is not properly cooled, the strain on their muscles, joints, and tissues can cause injury, a pulled muscle, heat stroke, or other problems. It is particularly important to take extra precautions in hot and humid weather; humid conditions decrease the rate at which sweat evaporates from the skin surface, inhibiting your horse's natural thermoregulation.

Hosing your horse down with a continuous flow of cold water for 10 to 20 minutes is an efficient way to keep them cool. Start at the hooves and slowly work your way up the legs, chest, and neck. Work your way over the back and rump in hot and humid conditions; however, you might want to avoid the major haunch muscles in dry, mild climates in order to prevent the possibility of your horse tying-up. Know your horse and use your discretion, as you will find varying opinions on this matter. If in doubt, consult a veterinarian for their professional insight.

You might be at a location or event where you won't have access to a running hose, and more riders than just you are looking to cool their horses down. A good workaround here is to use a round of buckets to keep pouring cold water over your horse. You can also use a bucket and sponge to apply cold water, scrape to remove, then apply more cold water. Removing the water warmed by your horse's body and putting more cold water back on cools your horse's core temperature at a faster rate.

Once your horse's muscles have relaxed a bit from the cold water therapy, continue to cool them down with easy, light exercise. Stagger between grazing, hand walking, and periodic jogs to encourage the stretching of your horse's muscles through long, slow movements. The last thing you want to do after a ride is immediately put your hot horse back in their pen or leave them standing at the trailer!

Offering your horse clean, fresh water will help replenish their fluid loss from sweating. Be aware that your horse might not want water right away; some horses may wait until they're fully cooled down to drink. You may also find that one horse prefers a long drink while another prefers periodic drinks. The vast majority of horses do not drink beyond what their stomach can handle, and it is arguably healthier for endurance horses to have immediate fresh water access following intense exercise. Your horse knows what its body needs, and a healthy equine will regulate its own water consumption.

If your horse is picky about their water sources, you may want to bring water from home with you to help them hydrate. A lot of riders choose to mix up mashes or offer soaked feed to get more water in their horses; this is also a great way to feed powdered electrolytes or other carrier supplements! No matter how you hydrate your horse, water is necessary for their metabolism (to help break down protein, carbohydrates, and fats). It is very important for horses to receive water to replenish the fluids they lost during the ride, especially in hot and humid conditions that increase fluid loss. Allow your horse to drink as much as they want!

Standing wraps utilize compression therapy to keep legs tight after exercise and free of excess inflammation or swelling. Be sure to be mindful of the material of the standing wraps you use post-exercise, as some, like ceramic-infused, can create too much heat and cause soft tissue damage. Not only are wraps handy after rides, they are also a great tool to have on the road. Sponsored rider Krista Williams uses standing wraps on her horses in the trailer for comfort and at night after a barrel race to keep their legs nice and tight. Since horses who live in large paddocks or pastures are used to moving around more at night, when confined to a stall or smaller area, their legs are more likely to stock up and become inflamed and stiff.

While they are generally not strictly necessary, liniments and poultices are a tool riders may choose to take advantage of. It is important to note that liniments and poultices interact differently with your horse's skin when applied. Liniments contain menthol that offers topical pain relief by stimulating your horse's nerves as a counter-irritant. Clay poultices contain smectites that draw out moisture to absorb fluids, toxins, and any other contaminants. Whether you prefer a liniment or poultice, both help cool a horse's muscles while reducing stiffness, soreness, and inflammation. Liniments may be applied locally to a certain area like the legs, or to the entire body for overall muscle recovery. Poultices are typically applied to the legs only, then wrapped for the most efficacy. Poultices can also be packed into the hoofs to offer the additional benefit of relieving any bruising or pain after a long ride.

Some riders will choose to use a liniment as a bath brace right after their ride as part of their horse's cooling process for fast-acting relief. With poultices on the legs, however, it is recommended to use them after your horse has already recovered and cooled down. Applying poultice after a hosing or icing session actually helps extend the cooling effect for a deeper therapeutic treatment. Wrapping on top of a liniment or poultice will prolong their provided benefits, but follow the manufacturer's directions; not every liniment is suitable for use under wraps!

It is important to replace vital minerals that are lost from sweating (like sodium and potassium). Electrolyte supplements are specifically formulated to replenish your horse's depleted minerals while encouraging them to drink more water. Electrolytes should preferably be administered after your horse eats or drinks, so the ingredients can more effectively be absorbed and utilized by your horse's digestive system. Electrolyte solutions carry a small electrical charge that allows them to regulate the horse's nerves, muscles, and organs.

Each horse's electrolyte needs are unique to them, as some require more metabolic help than others. If your horse is given electrolytes without a healthy water intake, the high mineral levels in their blood can cause metabolic issues. It is possible to overdose your horse with electrolytes! Work with your veterinarian or equine nutritionist to help maintain a healthy electrolyte balance in your horse.

Many horses are shod or use performance riding hoof boots for support during challenging rides. For the barefoot competition horse, a rider might choose to elevate their horse's heels after the ride with therapeutic hoof boots, which improve blood circulation and take pressure off of the tendons.

If your horse pulls a shoe, gets bruised, or becomes lame, a therapeutic hoof boot is also an ideal spare tire to have in your trailer tool kit. If you are unsure how to size for hoof boots, check out our guide on How to Choose Horse Hoof Boots.

Packing your horse's feet for the night after competition or strenuous exercise can also be helpful in pulling out any heat, swelling, or soreness caused by bad ground or long trailer rides. Krista Williams likes the Pack-N-Stick Packing Tape from EquiFit for its ease of application and removal.

Watch the video below or read the How to Soak, Wrap, and Bandage a Hoof Guide for more information!

Yes! A horse with a shorter, clipped coat is more efficient at cooling themselves down in warm weather or after intense activity. Clipping reduces sweating, which allows the horse to regulate their body temperature by better dissipating sweat. Many riders choose to give their horse a trace clip to increase the speed at which the horse cools down and dries after exercise without sacrificing the horse's natural thermoregulation. For more information on body clipping, the different kinds of clips, and how to body clip, check out our Complete Guide to Body Clipping Horses.

You will find a lot of opinions on how long a horse needs to rest and recover after a ride, as the amount of time is dependent upon a variety of factors. How strenuous was the ride? Is your horse expressing signs of discomfort? You should regularly palpate your horse's legs to familiarize yourself with what is normal pre- and post-ride. If you feel any heat, swelling, or tenderness, treat your horse accordingly and give them more rest time. Some competition horses bounce back quicker than others, so closely monitor your horse to learn what they can and cannot tolerate.

No! Sweat wraps are not intended to be used immediately after exercise because they increase heat and circulation to a problem area. After a ride, a horse's tendons and ligaments are slightly swollen, tender, and warm. Increasing heat to the legs with a sweat wrap when they're already too warm from exercise can really damage your horse's delicate tendons and ligaments! If there is an issue (like a sprain) that you're trying to bring more blood circulation to in order to reduce swelling, do not do so with a sweat wrap directly after your ride. First start with cold therapy methods like hosing to reduce inflammation and tissue damage. Then, reevaluate and consult with a veterinarian to determine whether your horse needs a sweat wrap treatment.