Can anyone tell me why

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FairyLights

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people are competing in this weather? :confused:
Its TOO HOT. and the flies
very early morning riding is ok, but to travel a horse and compete it at showing/jumping/endurance etc seems so so wrong and unkind,
 
If they are properly prepared and fit to do the job required why not, the hard ground needs to be taken into account but if we only went out when the weather suited when would we compete. Last season was almost written off as the ground was so wet, the winter seemed never ending, it is great to be able to ride in the sunshine, my horses are more than happy to be exercised each morning then spend the day in their stables relaxing, going out overnight when it is cool.

I took one to xc school on Monday early pm, he did not get pushed but worked hard, was washed off, traveled home arriving back cool and relaxed, he will be out at the weekend competing, he is well prepared and will be more than able to cope with a bit of warmth.
 
TOO HOT for you maybe

I am not out competing but hack most days in the middle of the day, today was out from 11.30 till 2 but not sure why me riding at that time of day would worry someone else
 
Some horses cope better than others. Reg did a lesson on the first day of very hot weather, and barely broke a sweat despite it being a 40 minute, hard work session...
 
I took my horse to a ride on one of the hottest days of the year last year, she came home with a lower heartrate, and less dehydrated than when she left the venue. Might I add she did 50 miles, at good speeds. It really is a case of horses for courses, and knowing how they react. Also management plays a huge part!
 
We did our pc camp in the only week of this weather we had last year, the horses all worked for at least 3 hours a day including flat work, sj and xc. Not one horse had an issue they only had sweat marks under the saddle and girth as you would expect for any horse working as they did that week. We had one rider that didn't finish the week due to heat stress but every one else was fine.
 
A friend of mine had a thesis topic on the effectiveness of embryo transfer in Argentina through the summer. I analysed the data for her (as it's my job, in another area). It was really interesting to see that the success rate of the transfers was low when the summer temperature increased but then got higher as the mares acclimatised to the heat. This to me says that horses can be 'productive' (either in reproduction or perhaps competition) if they are properly acclimatised to the conditions.
 
People ride when its much hotter than this abroad. It feels hot to us because our weather is mainly cool. Some countries winters are this temperature; like dubai, and the have the lovely dubai polo club.
30 is not hot.
 
My horse is coping fine!! He is no less forward than normal and noire sweaty than normal either.
I feed him electrolytes and cool him down so really don't see the problem
 
3 rounds of SJ on Saturday. One seriously sweaty rider & horse had sweat around girth/saddle area & a little at base of neck. I wouldn't say it was a major issue?
 
I do think that it depends on the horse, we travelled two different youngsters at the weekend one for 21/2 hours, one for nearly an hour and a half.The one who travelled longest came off the wagon as cool as a cucumber,the other poor soul was drenched.
 
this is warm, not hot.
26 degrees is winter in the Middle East, as someone said earlier.
In the summer, we would ride in temperatures of 40, adjust the work-load accordingly and have a longer cool down period. The horses coped perfectly well.

That said, my ISH doesn't cope as well on warm days.
 
I had a lesson at 1pm the other day - we perhaps took more walk breaks than normal but they were for my benefit more than horse and he is a fairly big boned ISHxKWPN. My Arab is positively basking in the heat - he hates winter!
 
I'm eventing this Saturday and my only worry was the ground (and they have dealt with that so I'm happy to go!). It has been a good week since this warmer weather started, and so I have been making the most of it and gently acclimatising the pony to the warmer weather by riding at hotter times of the day/increasing the work load in the heat, and she's dealt with it brilliantly. Took her xc schooling on Tuesday and she was more alert than she ever has been!
On the day of competition, as long as you keep yourself and the horse hydrated and as cool as possible (wash off then scrape excess water off ASAP), it shouldn't be a problem. I also started giving her electrolytes at the beginning of the week, so that should help.
If a bit of common sense is applied, I can't see what the problem is :rolleyes:
 
SO THE POOR HORSES AND PONIES HAVE TO SUFFER BECAUSE OF MAN'S [AND WOMAN'S] DESIRES..................................................
 
Its curious you seem able to ignore the actual facts. Might I say in endurance horses have to see a vet at regular points on the ride, if they didn't feel they were fit to continue, they wouldn't allow it to continue. If I thought there was any risk to my horse, I simply wouldn't do it, but they cope a damn sight better than most people.
 
It was mans desire to domesticate the horse, I'm sure most horses would happily live at least a semi feral life! so you could carry that on to say the horse is suffering by being ridden, kept in a stable, left out in a field, having shoes nailed to its feet, having a bit in it's mouth, being clipped, being rugged . . . the list is endless.

I hazard a guess you do at least one of those things to a horse/pony

Crazy
 
Bigrob34 said:
30C is not too hot. 30C is not a heat wave. 30C is a British Summer!
Click to expand...

tbf its not a Scottish summer, it's been warmer up here this summer,more days on the trot, than it has been for years.

saying that I agree, if you're prepared then fit horses should be fine-they manage in every other country thats hotter than ours. fgs with so many events cancelled last year, why would you cancel because the weather is nice? (taking the ground into consideration, obviously)
 
Horsesforever1 said:
SO THE POOR HORSES AND PONIES HAVE TO SUFFER BECAUSE OF MAN'S [AND WOMAN'S] DESIRES..................................................
Click to expand...

this is an unfair comment because as a horse person you should know that if a horse decideds they don't want to do something there is no way on heaven and earth you are going to get them to do it....plus i know kitty for one enjoys her work and never seems any less enthusiastic about it in this weather.

also how do you think horses have survived throughout history in the wild....they didn't think "mmm its over 20 degrees today, perhaps i won't try and escape that predator thats about to kill and me/my offspring/herd"

the horses in dubai all look happy enough at 40 degrees.....
 
catroo said:
It was mans desire to domesticate the horse, I'm sure most horses would happily live at least a semi feral life! so you could carry that on to say the horse is suffering by being ridden, kept in a stable, left out in a field, having shoes nailed to its feet, having a bit in it's mouth, being clipped, being rugged . . . the list is endless.

I hazard a guess you do at least one of those things to a horse/pony

Crazy
Click to expand...

amen
 
Coming from someone in Cyprus - where its about 35 degrees during the day - I lunged my boy this morning, it was 30 degrees and he still found it in him to gallop and buck his way like a loon around the lunge pen :rollseyes:
We have a couple of gypsy cobs on the yard that were imported from Ireland last winter and they're coping perfectly fine with their first summer over here.
Horses, like most animals - humans included - adapt with environment.
 
Horsesforever are you being serious? I'm not competing at the moment but it has nothing to do with weather. My horses are still working and not having issues. It's actually cool compared to other parts of the world.

Terri
 
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