Events running today in the heat!

[Ali27]

I’m 5 minutes away from a venue in the Midlands and can’t believe that they still went ahead with a Team ODE! The rock hard ground and extreme heat would have made me withdraw! Looks like at least half of competitors did withdraw but have lost their money but at least their horses will thank them

 

[JumpTheMoon1]

No concern to the horses safety or welfare.Money comes first.Totally irresponsible of those who did not withdraw.

 

[CMcC]

I organise small, local events. I have to book and pay for the venue months in advance, before any idea what weather conditions will be. Then I advertise and take entries hoping to get enough entries to cover costs and make a small profit (most of which is invested back into equipment for next event).
If the weather looks a bit too hot/cold, wet/dry, windy etc and I cancel because people might not want to travel and or ride in the conditions I have to refund entries and still pay the venue = several £000 loss for me personally. If the venue cancel due to conditions I can refund entries, maybe minus a small admin fee.
if people decide to withdraw because too hot/cold, wet/dry I will turn up even if no one else does, I have entry fees and pay venue. I can then afford to run next event when hopefully conditions will be good.
Please do not be critical of organisers not cancelling, they may incur hundreds or thousands of £ loss if they do. If these people did not take on the risk of running events we would have no where to go out and compete.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Conditions were fine for the event in question. Totally respect people’ choice not to run but the ‘all people who event when it’s hot are horse-abusers’ rhetoric is just nonsense. Run or don’t, depending on your horse and your travel options and let others do the same

 

[Winters100]

Worth remembering that much of Europe rides and competes in similar temperatures for several months. My take is that it is up to owners to know their horses, to have them fit and not overweight, and to know what they are able to do in the given conditions. 2 of mine I would not worry about, they are regularly ridden in higher temperatures and are fine, my old girl I would err on the side of caution and either leave her in the paddock or give light / unridden work. If all competition is going to be cancelled once the temperature reaches 30 degrees then large parts of Europe, and indeed other parts of the world, would not be doing much over summer.

 

[ycbm]

No concern to the horses safety or welfare.Money comes first.Totally irresponsible of those who did not withdraw.

You're a gem JtM, such a valuable asset to the forum. Are you sure there isn't another one somewhere you'd prefer to make your invaluable contributions to?
.

 

[RachelFerd]

I went to area festival dressage today. After a warm up and test at 12.30 today my horse hadn't turned a hair - no sweat bar the normal dampness around his girth area. I was dripping, not him. He travelled home fine too.

 

[Snowfilly]

No concern to the horses safety or welfare.Money comes first.Totally irresponsible of those who did not withdraw.

Ridiculous. Plenty of horses are quite capable of performing in this heat; what do you think most of Europe do for their competitions in the summer?

My old Arab wouldn’t even have noticed it was warm during this recent heatwave and would have quite happily gone jumping in it. Travel early, leave late and have plenty of water to hand, and most fit and well adapted horses will be fine - everything’s had time to get used to being worked in this heat if people have been sensible.

And I caught the current ones standing directly in the centre of the field at 1.00 yesterday, all sunbathing in the direct heat despite shade on all four sides and boxes being open.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I was supposed to fence judge a hunter trial in Rackham on Sunday but that was cancelled, so a lot of places did cancel events.

 

[Ambers Echo]

That's exactly how it should be - assess the conditions locally and make the call. In my view events should really only cancel if conditions exeed safety limits as set out in risk assessments/ BE or FEI guidelines etc. If conditions are within the evidence based safety limits then it becomes the personal responsibility of the riders to do their own assessments of conditions and make their own decisions.

 

[Lurfy]

What is the expected temperature at the venue in question today?

 

[Ambers Echo]

It was an event that ran yesterday. Max temp at the hottest part of the day was 31 degrees according to both the met office and my car thermometer. Low humidity, reasonable breeze.

 

[Lurfy]

Thanks Amber's Echo. The event would go ahead here in Australia, but I understand high temperatures are not usual in the UK so people and horses are not used to them. I have been quite shocked to read on this forum about wildfires and equine evacuations due to fires. Whether to rug and flymask in fire risk areas, these are very unusual for the UK. I am so sorry you are all experiencing this. If I never smell fire again I will be a happy person, but sadly they are part of life here.

 

[Ambers Echo]

They are more usual than they used to be! It's been very hot on and off all summer. My sister worked in Marysville and was there and lost friends in the fires. So we are sadly familiar with the devastation caused by wildfires and it's really scary to think that this is now an issue for our damp and rainy little island too.

 

[sunleychops]

Think half the problem came from BE posting that ridiculous thing on facebook about the dry bulb temperature thing, showing a thermometer in the shade, on the wrong setting.

 

[SibeliusMB]

My yard canceled their unaffiliated SJ comp this weekend, but that was probably the right call given that there aren't any public hosepipes or shade available to help cool the horses. Events that have the right infrastructure ought to have had no issues with the heat. As others have said, it's about knowing your horse and managing it properly. Back in the States we ran events, shows, and even hunted in some of these temps, granted everyone was acclimated and knew hot weather protocols.

 

[humblepie]

Very much up to individuals as to the locality, the facilities, their horse, their traveling etc. I withdrew from something on one of the lesser hot days as my horse gets hot travelling and his stable is quite hot to go back to. No reports of any racehorses finishing with heat affects over the weekend although of course racecourses have well established practices and facilities for cooling.

 

[Fieldlife]

Very much up to individuals as to the locality, the facilities, their horse, their traveling etc. I withdrew from something on one of the lesser hot days as my horse gets hot travelling and his stable is quite hot to go back to. No reports of any racehorses finishing with heat affects over the weekend although of course racecourses have well established practices and facilities for cooling.

Absolutely, as an example

I boxed to a 2.30pm lesson on a good surface on Sunday. Horse and I are fairly fit, and now reasonably acclimatised to heat. It was about 31c, with some sun, some cloud and some breeze. But pretty hot!!

I have 3 fans in my lorry. Horse gets hose before travelling, and travels with all windows open. (I am lucky my horse area doesn’t heat up in sun, and has lots of windows).

I carry a large portable shower, and three large water containers. (These combined with fans, and the ability to soak cooler rug in a bucket of water, mean I have precautions if broke down / got stuck in closed motorway etc. etc.).

Horse has salt and additional electrolytes daily.

On arriving, I park in shade. Unload horse, offer a bucket of water with some recovery mash in it. Horse drinks / slurps / blows bubbles (has about a 2/3 of a bucket).

I spray horse all over until wet (except saddle area), dry and excess off saddle area. Tack up, and hose back of my neck / hair / head / arms and re-hose horse.

Ride (being mindful of heat, and more breaks etc.). Horse coped fine.

Back to more hosing, more recovery mash and drinks about another 2/3rds of a bucket.

Soak a mesh cooler and put on horse.

Travel wet horse home with the fans on.

Horse arrives home absolutely fine, I don’t hose again, as he is absolutely fine. He doesn’t drink much on getting home, as I think he’s already well hydrated.

But I have had horses that heat themselves up just travelling that I would not consider taking out in heat etc. Totally depends on circumstances, and what precautions can take. If the back of my lorry heated up (like parked cars do), I wouldnt travel over 27 degrees as think be horrible!

 

[Tiddlypom]

If only more individuals were more responsible about whether it is wise to travel and compete their horses in adverse weather conditions.

Most posters on here who have competed during the heatwave have carefully weighed up the pros/cons based on their own horses/transport. Too many others will have seen that events are still running so will take their horse anyway, no matter how ill prepared they are.

I no longer compete, but I wouldn't have got past the 'would my horse be safe stranded in her trailer for an hour at the side of the road in case of breakdown' tickbox. My vehicle and my trailer are both in good order and serviced, and I have equine rescue cover, but stuff still happens.

We were ferrying cold drinks last night to a young couple whose car had broken down in the lane near our house in 30°c temps. They had managed to push the car to under the shade of an oak tree while they awaited rescue.

 

[Fieldlife]

If only more individuals were more responsible about whether it is wise to travel and compete their horses in adverse weather conditions.
I no longer compete, but I wouldn't have got past the 'would my horse be safe stranded in her trailer for an hour at the side of the road in case of breakdown' tickbox. My vehicle and my trailer are both in good order and serviced, and I have equine rescue cover, but stuff still happens.

I am guessing a trailer is like a tin can, and heats up massively whilst stood stationary maybe different to a large high roof lorry? (My lorry stays cool and shaded stationary, unless I have ramp down and am in direct sun coming in on ramp side).

As I think powerful battery fans, and a bucket and wet cooler rug, and enough water to use hand pressure shower to keep horse wet for 3 hours, would be sufficient mitigation for me. But I know nothing about trailers!

 

[Muddy unicorn]

We had to take our horse to referral vet on a 30+ day a couple of years ago. I was worried about how he’d cope but he got off the trailer cool and calm. Our trailer’s silver with roof vent and extra windows and was surprisingly cool

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

The actual competing part (bar issues with hard ground) I think is the lesser issue. A dressage test or a jumping round could be done and dusted including warm up in 30 mins. But for me it's the travelling. God forbid you have a breakdown and are stuck with no shade, no breeze and a finite amount of water. I'm not really competition driven so I suppose could be different for others but it just wouldn't be worth it for me.

I volunteer for my riding club and am on the committee and have seen first hand how hard organisers do try to make conditions as comfortable as possible. We managed to bring forward the last time by an hour at the weekend by cutting breaks etc.

 

[ihatework]

I am guessing a trailer is like a tin can, and heats up massively whilst stood stationary maybe different to a large high roof lorry? (My lorry stays cool and shaded stationary, unless I have ramp down and am in direct sun coming in on ramp side).

As I think powerful battery fans, and a bucket and wet cooler rug, and enough water to use hand pressure shower to keep horse wet for 3 hours, would be sufficient mitigation for me. But I know nothing about trailers!

I would have thought trailers acted as tin cans, and quite probably some do.

I found out (quite by chance) that my Bateson performs amazingly in heat. The white shell seems to reflect so well that it’s cooler inside than out.

I took a big young horse to do a class in an outside ring at Barbury in a heatwave a few years ago. If you don’t know Barbury there is literally no shade anywhere. He was on early and I was fully expecting him to compete and leave. But he was perfectly content (and cool) to stand on the trailer whilst I watched a bit. Friends 4* horse however was sweating in the stables there!

Since then, that Bateson isn’t going anywhere!

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

I would have thought trailers acted as tin cans, and quite probably some do.

I found out (quite by chance) that my Bateson performs amazingly in heat. The white shell seems to reflect so well that it’s cooler inside than out.

I took a big young horse to do a class in an outside ring at Barbury in a heatwave a few years ago. If you don’t know Barbury there is literally no shade anywhere. He was on early and I was fully expecting him to compete and leave. But he was perfectly content (and cool) to stand on the trailer whilst I watched a bit. Friends 4* horse however was sweating in the stables there!

Since then, that Bateson isn’t going anywhere!

I think I was at Barbury that year. Christ on a cracker it was hot and as you say literally not a speck of shade. I *had* to go into the shops just for the shade of course

 

[dorsetladette]

Quite a few events were cancelled around here. If not then they put out a warning not to take your dog. But a large dog show took place on an events field close to us. Marquees everywhere and dogs been shown in them. It got to 35 degrees at one point on Saturday. I dread to think the temperatures inside those tents.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I am guessing a trailer is like a tin can, and heats up massively whilst stood stationary maybe different to a large high roof lorry? (My lorry stays cool and shaded stationary, unless I have ramp down and am in direct sun coming in on ramp side).

Yes, it's a very common model of trailer (Ifor 510 Classic), and while practically perfect in every other way it lacks thermal insulation in the roof area. It's got good through ventilation for when it is moving, but not so much when static.

That said, we could probably bodge up some 12v powered fans inside it to run off a leisure battery, which would help to some degree, but it does get hot inside when stood in full sun.

 

[Annagain]

I wasn't due to be doing anything this weekend but if I was, I wouldn't have gone. I suspect the horse would be fine but I would have been a sweaty, red, probably pukey, possibly fainty mess.

We went to watch the cricket with some friends on Saturday. Our seats were in blazing sun for the whole 7 hours. Luckily for the women's game it wasn't full so we could pick some seats in the shade but we had to be in our seats for the men's game as it was busier and even though that started at 6 it was still well over 30 degrees. Just sitting still was quite an ordeal for me, I could never have ridden or done anything more strenuous.

 

[Michen]

Yes, it's a very common model of trailer (Ifor 510 Classic), and while practically perfect in every other way it lacks thermal insulation in the roof area. It's got good through ventilation for when it is moving, but not so much when static.

That said, we could probably bodge up some 12v powered fans inside it to run off a leisure battery, which would help to some degree, but it does get hot inside when stood in full sun.

What colour is yours? Mine was parked in full sun throughout the event and stayed cooler inside than outside so even if we’d been static in traffic we would have been ok!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Silver .

 

[Michen]

Silver .

Weird because so is mine so I don’t understand how yours heats up and mine doesn’t!