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Training a horse and keeping it in optimal shape requires time, effort, and expertise. You must know the right techniques for a proper fitness regimen and for recovery cooldowns. Hot walking a horse is common practice when it comes to both training and cooling down horses.
What Does Hot Walking a Horse Mean?
Hot walking is the process of walking a horse at a normal pace before and after it exerts itself. You can employ a human hot walker or invest in a mechanical hot walker. Hot walking a horse usually involves walking it in a circle at a constant gait.
The Benefits of Hot Walking
While it may seem like a simple routine to warm up or cool down your horse, hot walking has several scientifically proven benefits you can’t ignore. Here are some of the most prominent ones:
Restores Your Horse’s Vitals Back to Normal
A horse’s vitals will be off the charts at the end of a rigorous training session or race. These include functions like respiration, pulse, and other essentials. Restoring them to normal efficiently and expeditiously is essential to your horse’s well-being. That’s because they help ensure optimal muscle and tissue repair. It also allows your horse to dissipate the heat stored in his body quickly.
Minimizes Health Issues
Improperly warming up or cooling down a horse can trigger many health issues in a horse. Hot walking your horse is an excellent way of mitigating those issues. Some ailments you can avoid by hot walking your horse, among others, include:
- Colic
- Metabolic collapse
- Heatstroke
- Stiff muscles
Hot walking your horse is essential to keeping him fit so he’s in optimum condition. Whether you use a human hot walker or a mechanical one, just make sure to hot-walk your horse before and after exerting it.
Advantages of Mechanical Hot Walkers
Traditionally, hot walking was the responsibility of horse groomers or stable boys; however, with the advancement of technology, mechanical hot walkers are fast gaining popularity.
Do mechanical hot walkers have any added advantages to human hot walkers?
They certainly do. Here are some of the most significant advantages you’ll get from mechanical hot walkers:
- Hot-walk multiple horses simultaneously.
- They can be used in any weather conditions.
- You can use a mechanical hot-walker as a regular horse exerciser.
- It helps you save on human hot-walker salaries and benefits.
- You can have various speed settings to accommodate each horse’s needs.
Perhaps the most significant advantage of a mechanical hot-walker is that, unlike human hot-walkers, it’s always available. Human hot-walkers may need personal time off to attend to life’s issues, but a mechanical hot-walker never needs time off.
Hot Walking Your Horse Is Not an Option but a Necessity
Hot walking a horse is an essential part of keeping your horse in tip-top shape. With so many advantages for both you and your horse, getting a mechanical hot walker is a no-brainer. So, go ahead and check out our inventory and pick the one that best suits your needs. Alternatively, give us a call at (352) 737-6743. We’ll be more than happy to assist.