Relationship between the Total Sweating Rate and the Unit Area Sweating Rate at the Neck during Exercise in Horses

Abstract

Our previous study suggested that measurement of the unit area sweating rate (SR) at the neck in horses was suitable for estimation of the total sweating rate of a horse during exercise. We developed a special garment made of high-absorption polymer sheets to be fitted on the horses for measuring the total SR, and examined the relationship between the unit area SR at the neck and the total SR in a horse. The correlation between the total SR and the unit area SR at the neck was found to be highly significant (r=0.9254, P<0.01). Total sweating rate (kg) = 0.2676 X (unit area sweating rate at the neck (g)) + 0.6735 (r² = 0.8563 P<0.01). We considered that the total SR could be calculated from the unit area SR at the neck based on the results of our previous study, and derived the aforementioned formula.