Signs of an exhausted horse

Off the top of my head:

Sides heaving
Staggering
Sweating - the froth tends to come from where tack is rubbing against the horse's skin, so around the saddle and girth and where the reins are in contact with the neck. Also between the back legs. It's white and slimy. It's hard for me to describe the smell of horse-sweat. It's very distinctive and I'd recognize it blindfolded.
Head down
Nostrils flared.

Firedrake nails it pretty much. I've seen horses froth around the chest as well, especially if you're using a breastplate - or if they've got a long maine. Also if their coats are longish.

You're talking about riding a horse to exhaustion, no? Yeah, heaving, head down, staggering. The sequence at the end of the new True Grit pretty well demonstrates riding a horse to death. (And no, they didn't harm or drug the horse - horses can be trained to stagger, and fall on cue. Frothing them up is part of the art department's job)

Horse sweat is very distinctive. Almost sweet, as it is from an herbivore. Pungent for sure.

Just keep in mind that some horses may froth long before they become exhausted, especially if they are ridden with contact (mouth).

Canotila said:

What are visible signs that a horse is exhausted? People always write about horses getting "froth" on their flanks when they've been running hard. Do they really? What does it look like? Smell like?

Do horses act different when they're really tired? What is their body language like?

Thank you for your time.

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There are two types of 'froth' - mouth froth and sweaty froth.

Mouth froth is produced in the mouth and is common in horses who are working correcting in contact. Some horses produce more of it than others, and you'll find that horses who play with the bit more produce more.

Sweat froth is white and sticky and smells very heavy and sweet and a little sharp. It mostly occurs on the chest and between the back legs, and looks like the pic below


This would be an indication that the horse is working very hard.

Other signs of a tired/ exhausted horse are flared nostrils showing red/pink, lack of enegry - head low and unwilling to go forward, they may seem off balance and stagger a little, but this can have more to do with dehydration than overwork - horses go through a serious amout of water when they sweat.

This is all really good information! I'm glad you asked this. I remember froth looked a lot like lathered up soap and it smelled like hot skin and organic stinking mulch, leather from the saddle and wet blanket all combined. A down right exhausted would have wobbly legs and walk with locked knees. Really staccato and forced in movement. It has been a while since I've had time with one though, but that's what I remember.

I think it would be better on the horse to walk along beside it, the rider is only added pressure on the back and kidneys. I think the lasting of the horse would depend on its age, but if it is used to mountain travel it might last longer.

Would the rider not take the time to shoot it? That would say a lot about his character and the gravity of the situation.

Don't forget hot. You can feel the horse's heat radiating. The froth is generally not smelly, but horse sweat is smelly.

Walking the horse in between would be best. You would never just let a horse that has worked hard stop and stand. This can cause 'tying up' a painful condition where their muscles stiffen and they are unable to move.

If a horse has their winter coat, sometimes it goes into sweaty little curls. Their coat also darkens with the sweat. They froth between the (for want of a better word) bum cheeks, below the dock, which isn't as dodgy as it sounds...
Sometimes they get a bit snotty too.

Canotila said:

So the horse has to die. They get attacked. Would it work if the horse rears up and falls over, then tries to run away while the rider is defending himself? I'm kind of hoping that if the horse was tired enough and then frightened out of its wits badly enough to try and run, it might collapse on its own and have expired by the time he found it again. If necessary it could get wounded in the attack to hurry things along.

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All of those sound like good results to what you want, but don't hurry it or you'll end up cheeping the poetic moment. Is it a western or just a story with horses? I'm just curious

Determination said:

Walking the horse in between would be best. You would never just let a horse that has worked hard stop and stand. This can cause 'tying up' a painful condition where their muscles stiffen and they are unable to move.

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Actually, no. Here's a good link on Tying Up: http://www.vet.k-state.edu/depts/vmth/equine/medicine/tying.up.htm

Tying up is a muscle problem related to exercise intolerance and has nothing to do with not properly walking out. Not walking out, or putting a horse up hot, can cause founder though. If your exhausted horse survives this he might founder just from the overexertion.

If they want to cover a lot of ground without destroying the horse, he should trot rather than gallop. See endurance racing as an example.

Oh - one more thing - how fit is the horse? The fitter the animal, the less foamy sweat you'll get. In a fit horse, the sweat will be more like human sweat, thin and watery. In an unfit horse, you get a lot of foam.

If you're trying to make it not-dark, why can't the horse just run the wrong direction? Say into the fire swamp

If you want the horse dead, go for it. A minor to minor-moderate wound would only add to the stress of the horse (and make it run faster to get away). A serious wound could ofc cause it to bleed out as it runs.

The horse could break it's leg right before it would drop from exhaustion anyways (clumsy, stumbles, snap).

Keep in mind most horses only run so far before thinking 'wait, I don't see that lion behind me any more, I guess I should slow down and see if it's kewl' so you need your horse to drop within about a mile or so.

And really, imo, not killing your horse but leaving it to die is MUCH darker than mercy killing. Even a knife to the artery, while not pretty (and a bit dangerous), is much better. Or at least try and go chicken shit and watch the horse die anyways if time allows. Just walking off is cold if he has time to find the horse to begin with.

If your MC doesn't try to help the animal stop suffering, or damn well try, you mega alienate me as someone who sympathizes with animals. Same if he left a baby with a fever to die with no wolves circling in (and even with wolves circling in, that's a nasty way for a baby to die, Classics be damned!)

jeseymour said:

Actually, no. Here's a good link on Tying Up: http://www.vet.k-state.edu/depts/vmth/equine/medicine/tying.up.htm

Tying up is a muscle problem related to exercise intolerance and has nothing to do with not properly walking out. Not walking out, or putting a horse up hot, can cause founder though. If your exhausted horse survives this he might founder just from the overexertion.

If they want to cover a lot of ground without destroying the horse, he should trot rather than gallop. See endurance racing as an example.

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Didn't read the whole article, but not just exercise intolerance: http://www.equi-therapy.net/equi-therapy/horse-veterinary/azoturia-symptoms.shtml

And cooling down is important for preventing tying up as well.

jeseymour said:

Tying up is a muscle problem related to exercise intolerance and has nothing to do with not properly walking out. Not walking out, or putting a horse up hot, can cause founder though. If your exhausted horse survives this he might founder just from the overexertion.

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Founder is when the bone pushes through the frog right? Thanks for posting that link

Exactly Fenika! The article you linked to says this :

Another variety of this equine muscle cramping occurs at the end of very strenuous exercise such as racing.

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I've owned horses for fourteen years - although as any good horse person knows there is always something new to learn and I'm always learning!

What is the climate? A horse in uncontrolled circumstances can die of heat stroke. A horse doesn't have to be exhausted to lather - you'll see racehorses going to the post lathered behind their hind legs or on the neck where the lines make contact. It's from nerves/excitement. A fit horse that is exhausted doesn't necessarily lather, but a fit horse can die from heat stroke if it is not recognized and/or treated promptly.

Founder is not an acute condition - it develops over time, beginning with acute laminitis.

And recent research on tying up has brought a lot of new insight into the condition. Google "exertional rhabdomyolysis" for more up-to-date info.

And....a horse can lose a lot of blood before it dies from bleeding out. I had a horse sever an artery once, and the vet, and subsequently the surgeons who operated to repair the artery, assured me she was nowhere near in danger of that, though the way the blood pumped out of that injury was pretty dramatic!

Of course the horse could have a heart attack....that's not uncommon, and would be very believable under extreme exertion. Allows you to have the MC find the horse already dead, and not have to euthanize him/her.

Founder is the lay term for laminitis, which can be peracute to chronic.

And yeah, a big puddle on the floor is nothing to a several hundred lb hooved animal. I've watched some calves bleed after castration.

Actually, something irked me about founder vs laminitis so I looked it up. We are both right. They can be exchanged or founder (to sink below. In this case the bone from the walls of the hoof, driving through the sole) can result from laminitis (inflammation and unzipping of the laminae or layer that holds the bone to the wall)

Founder can still be acute in extreme circumstances and laminitis can be chronic, often leading to nasty deformity.