Do horses on the EPSM diet have an increased difficulty handling the heat? We have had 100+ temp here a couple of days, but prior to he seemed to really be winded just standing in front of his fan. Someone suggested it was that horses on a high fat diet have more trouble.
Thanks

I have heard that endurance riders are embracing high-fat low-carb diets for their horses because it seems to help them handle heat and exercise better. My horse does not seem to be affected by heat any worse than a normal horse--I think she actually handles it pretty well. The oddest thing is that her sweat dries up and leaves white streaks all over her, which I assumed was salt but is not! Very odd. Anyway, they're all different but in most cases I don't think high fat makes it harder on them to bear heat.

Tina is right - high fat diets do help horses to deal with high heat and humidity. This came out of the studies done prior to the Atlanta Olympics. The thing to watch for in the diet is protein. High dietary protein will cause more body heat production during exercise, so aiming to reduce total protein intake during this time would be valuable. When horses are sweating a lot they may need electrolytes as well as water. Of course, if a horse on a high fat diet develops increased body fat, that would be a problem in the heat :)

My appendix QH gelding started having problems in hot weather several years before he was diagnosed with EPSM. It started with high respiration during exercise and eventually (over the course of 2-3 years) escalated to high respiration even during rest.

The high fat diet has actually helped alleviate this. I still cannot work him much in hot weather, but at least now his respiration is normal at rest.

Colleen, does your horse sweat properly? If there is any question that perhaps he is unable to sweat enough to cool down in hot weather, the supplement One AC has helped a lot of horses to sweat more normally. Can't hurt, and might help!

He is not a heavy sweater (and never has been) but he does sweat. The sweat patterns are normal; under saddle/girth first, than neck, chest etc. He is also a very laid back horse and does not expend any more energy than necessary! I did try One AC 2 summers ago but did not see any improvement or increased sweating.

Thanks for adding this. Sounds like sweating is not an issue with him. Some horses just do better in hot weather than others, just like people I guess.