Horses in hotter climates - what does well?

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Spange

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Hey. so we're hoping to move to the south of france next year. I've heard the flies out there are quite bad, so wondered if any sort of horse coped better with it being hotter etc....

Would andalucians or lusos for example or is it just to do with how they're managed?? i'd quite like a traditional cob (or something a bit weight carrying and sane for OH to ride) wondered if having a full mane type would be of beneift.

just musing really!

thanks for any comments.
 
In South Africa most people had thoroughbreds and they coped extremely well with the heat. Also, you could pick them up really cheap off the racing yards. In Johannesburg the climate is hot, wet summers (average around 28 degrees) and very cold, dry winters (it regularly got down to -6 on our farm in winter).
A lady down the road from where I went to Uni bred Dutch warmbloods and they absolutely thrived - the climate was hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters (temperature averaging around 30 in summer and 11 in winter).
If you look at most hot climates, the horses tend to be finer and thinner skinned. A cob might find things a bit warm.
 
Meant to add that grazing was always a huge problem all year round - getting enough of it that is. We would supplement all grazing with bales of hay and horses on livery frequently fed three times a day.
Most livery yards bring their horses in during the heat of the day in summer.
 
Just moved to the south of France! The summer are hot, but not as hot as you would get in southern Spain or Greece. The main thing is to adjust your thinking to a hot country, e.g. in the summer you have to ride very early in the morning or late in the evening, give the horses shelter so they can escape the flies and allow them to aclimatise gradually (autumn is the best time to make the move). There are some horrific flies about but there are products that work against them, plenty of people keep all types of horses round here.
 
Hi, I can only give my opinion on what I have experienced, am no expert on the subject by any means but am living in a desert state at the mo with sumer temps topping 50 degrees and am riding thoroughbreds, all of whom seem more than happy coping with the heat.

Of course no one rides in the heat of the day but still, it's roasting even at night time, there is little let up in the summer months. We have flies with fangs too!

None of them lost much in the way of condition in the heat but then they all have fans and sun shades in their stables whihc makes a huge difference to them.

The locals all ride Marwari horses but I don't think that would be much use to you in France and in any case, not sure they are the nicest breed in the world. Can't say i've ever seen one outside of India.

Good luck in France.
 
We've imported lots of cobs to Italy, and they're fine. Just have to use your common sense as regards to the weather. We've kept the full manes as helps with flies, rain etc. Not sure how the horse flies are in the south of france but here they are awful :(

A friend of mine has some french merens, they are generally very quiet and sturdy, seem to cope well in the heat (she has them out doing 4 hour treks in the summer) and they are very handsome to boot. They remind me of little fresians :)
 
I lived in Cyprus and spain and some horses do cope better than others so if your horse is prone to sweet itch then hotter climates are not for them, but with good management I have know cobs abroad cope fine.
 
F had sweet itch in the UK and it disappeared when we arrived in France. The vet and a couple of horsey people around said that sweet itch doesn't exist in the south of France and countries further south because the mite that causes it doesn't live in those climates. Not sure if that's correct though.
 
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