#anhidrosis

I censored one part cuz it had my exact age. BUT YEAH!! Ive improved since the last time I posted art and I think it looks VERY good. I really love it, its so cutsey. It's literally me like omg. Every detail. Im so proud. That's my real Kandi, a real shirt I have, real shorts I have, real socks real EVERYTHING.

Beauty is subjective. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” They say. Just act like yourself  And you’ll find it within.

So why is it that I hear jokes About parts of my life. Hear people call me brave  When I have done nothing  But hide.

Maybe I’d be beautiful if my hair  Was long and luscious And strands didn’t fall  Like leaves in autumn  When I do much as run my fingers through.

Maybe I’d be beautiful if I didn’t tire From the first few minutes  Of an activity I might actually like  In another lifetime  Where I’m not weighed down by heat 

Maybe I’d be beautiful if I my skin Wasn’t growing and regrowing  Scales like a lizard  And I’m in some zoo cage stuck  As people ask what went wrong 

Maybe I’d be beautiful if I switched your eyes  For mine  And my shoes  For yours  And see you panic over something that means nothing to me 

…

Prints of Sweat

Mouse model for studying sweating in health and disease by live imaging perspiration on the toe-pad under two-photon excitation microscopy with a novel fluorescent dye cocktail

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Kazuki Yatsuzuka and colleagues

Department of Dermatology, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Scientific Reports, January 2024

Earlier this summer, my new OTTB prospect was diagnosed with anhidrosis.

Anhidrosis is defined as a decreased or inability to sweat, which most commonly manifests in hot and humid climates like Florida and other Gulf Coast states, according to Dr. Martha Mallicote, a veterinarian with the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville, Fla. It’s a problem that plagues performance horses because thermoregulation, or the ability to regulate the body’s temperature, is so dependent on sweating. Roughly 2-6 percent of horses are affected by anhidrosis, studies show.

I was devastated when I showed up to the barn one afternoon in July and saw my horse panting away, unable to catch his breath even though he was in his stall and under a fan. There wasn't a lick of sweat on him.

Luckily, this isn't my first rodeo with a non-sweater. My Hanoverian broodmare was a chronic non-sweater that required daily maintenance and twice-a-year visits from the chiropractor for acupuncture treatments. With her, we tried injections, supplements (specifically One AC), acupuncture, topical creams, beer in her feed, you name it. One AC was the only thing that worked for her.

Anhidrosis is tricky because there's no one cure. Each horse responds differently to various treatments. With my warmblood mare, we were convinced the onset of her anhidrosis was related to hormones and her pregnancies. With my young thoroughbred gelding, we're assuming it's metabolic, and a recent change in his diet, coupled with a new environment and the intense summer conditions, triggered the change in his body. We're still looking for a method that works for him, but he’s responded well to acupuncture. 

This bout of non-sweating derailed any and all plans I had for training this summer. It probably will push back what I hoped would be a fall debut at horse shows. My bank account is in the negative for paying for treatments. It's a bummer. But on the positive side, I've tried pretty much each and every method to treat anhidrosis this summer. Here's a breakdown of each and every remedy I've heard of:

Give 'em beer: Add a good a dark beer to each feeding. I've heard the darker the better, so we went with Guinness Stout. No results on the OTTB, but it did help my Hanoverian mare when she was having a particularly bad day. Some people say cheap beer like PBR works too. Others have told me they've tried adding a cup of vodka.

Give 'em supplements: One AC is probably the most common, but there's Mega Sweat and Let-M-Sweat and the list goes on and on and on and on. I used One AC and Let-M-Sweat with varying and temporary results.

Acupuncture: This is some voodoo magic that I don't understand, but it honestly had the best results for both of my non-sweaters. The results can be immediate (my gelding was dripping after his second appointment) but sometimes can take several sessions to unlock. It's a great for maintenance in the cooler months, too.

Electrolytes: This seems like a given, whether it helps your horse sweat or not, in the summertime. It helps replenish nutrients lost during the sweating process. And when my gelding was panting away in his stall, it was the only thing that helped reduce those symptoms and provide some temporary relief. I recommend a high concentrated paste like JailBreak when treating anhidrosis symptoms. EquiWinner also has a line of electrolyte balancing "patches" that we’re trying right now. (It’s a 10-day treatment)

Remove Grain: This may be easier to do in cooler weather states, but one vet recommended taking my horse off a pelleted-grain diet for two weeks as a way to "reset" his system. This would require a heavier forage-based diet and probably a nutrition balancer to accommodate. My horse is hard to keep weight on, so I have not tried this.

Chinese Herbs: There are a variety of Chinese herbs that work as "cooling fluids" to help unlock changes in the body that would stop a horse from sweating. A few of the more common herbs are Eu Yan Sang and New Xiang Ru San. My gelding is currently on these herbs at the recommendation of his acupuncturist. So far it seems to be helping him stabilize after his acupuncture treatment.