EQUINE WINTER WONDERS-Did You Know Your Horse Has a Superpower Hidden in Their Legs?

The Hidden Heating System Inside Your Horse's Legs

Did you know that when the weather turns cold, horses actually change the way blood flows through their legs?

 Think of it like the plumbing in your house. The pipes don’t move, but by turning different taps on and off you can change where the water flows.

 Horses do exactly the same thing with blood.

 On cold days, blood vessels near the surface narrow, reducing heat loss and allowing more warmth to stay within the deeper circulation. As the warm blood travels down the leg, it passes right alongside the cooler blood returning to the body. Because heat naturally flows from something warmer to something cooler, the returning blood picks up much of that warmth before the blood even reaches the hoof, helping keep the rest of the horse warm.

 At the same time, the hoof still receives all the oxygen and nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

 One really important thing to remember is that this isn’t happening all the time. Horses are constantly adjusting their circulation to suit the weather. On cold days, the body works to hold on to heat. On warm days, blood flow changes again to help get rid of excess heat, while sweating becomes the horse’s main cooling system.

 This is also why your horse’s lower legs can feel surprisingly cool on a cold morning. Those cooler legs don’t necessarily mean your horse is cold. They may simply be one of the ways the body is helping keep the rest of the horse warm.

 If you want to check whether your horse is warm enough, don’t use the lower legs as your guide. Instead, feel the chest, where you’ll get a much better indication of your horse’s body temperature.

 You’ve probably picked up your horse’s feet thousands of times, yet most of us have never stopped to think about the incredible engineering taking place inside those legs every second of a cold winter’s day.

 Fifty-five million years of evolution…

 …and it’s happening inside horses every winter, whether we notice it or not.

 How amazing is that?