>>i would guess sweating, because sweating attracts gnats, right? smelliness attracts gnats. a moist environment attracts gnats.
Because even when not sweating my horse's eyes attract gnats, and their sheathes. Where things are moist and also can be smelly :) Janice<< Actually, if my very novice reading of this article is right, this guy did biopsies of the skin of icelandics and found that some have fewer sweat glands in their skin, which is a great survival mechanism if you live in a really cold place like Iceland since less sweating means better warmth. These are the horses which tend to not sweat alot when ridden on long rides, you'll see them panting rather than deep breathing when they get hot or have been ridden on long rides, and they tend to sweat most heavily in the neck area. The fewer sweat glands means that when they do sweat, it is more concentrated with all the things in sweat, and it is more attractive to insects and also tends to irritate the skin of the horse, so you have 2 issues to deal with when these horses are moved to live in warmer climates where there are more bugs, and the skin stays wetter (humid areas). He goes on to talk about a product "Dinoprost" that when given to a horse makes it sweat. A horse not prone to summer excema would be sweating heavily in 5 minutes(normal concentration of sweat glands) and a horse prone to summer excema would sweat mainly in the neck area in about 20 minutes. He says the application of this Dinoprost is inexpensive and quick way to determine likelihood of developing summer excema before exportation. Ashley
