20/06/2026
Post-exercise cooling — what you’re doing right and what you might be missing
A horse’s core temperature after a hard set can hit 41°C. Cooling is not optional.
Recovery starts the moment work ends — and how you cool your horse matters more than most realise. 🐴
Common cooling mistakes:
✗ Walking down and calling it done (evaporation is the mechanism — movement alone isn’t enough)
✗ Cold water directly on large muscle groups (thermal shock risk)
✗ Stopping at ‘feels cool’ (deep muscle temp lags behind surface by 5–8 minutes)
What works:
✅ Large surface coverage with cool (not cold) water
✅ Scraping and repeating — evaporation does the work
✅ A cooling product that extends the evaporative window on the skin
✅ Electrolyte replacement after sustained work in the heat
Save this for your post-competition routine. 💛
Because We Care! ❤️
📍 Atoms Polo Loft
