Horse sweats and nose bleed

Question
Hi we have a 17 year old thorobred who my daughter does jumping with, he has never been know to sweat after a work out or even when it was 80 degrees in the summer at a show. A few weeks after she finished his workout he sweated up, It actually did not start until he was standing still and having his cooler put on, we then clipped him thinking the indoor arena was too hot, the next week he did the same thing but this time got a nose bleed from his right nostrel. The vet did a workup and it seems everything is fine so we gave him two weeks off and started bringing him back as long as she only works him for 1/2 hour everything seems fine but as soon as its 45 minutes he will sweat once he is finished and get a small bleed,,, any ideas?

Answer
Hi Barb,  The short answer is that your horse's body is telling you that it is too old to do the kind of work you want it to do.  Nasal bleeds are an obvious sign that physically, it cannot take the strain of this highly athletic activity.

From what you describe he's heading towards a risk of serious injury or worse.  If he were mine, I would put him into semi retirement and use him for non tiring trail rides etc and let him enjoy his well deserved retirement.

Cheers