Hot Weather management tips

[jnb]

Recent posts have made me think about this, I don't think people realise the danger to their horses in the direct sun with no means to escape from it.

How do you manage your horses in the heat? Night time turnout, shelter, shade?

I'll start.

I am lucky enough to rent a yard with the most amazing 2 sided Yorkshire board 30ft x 15ft shelter shaded on one side by a tree - rubber mats and a good shavings bed in it.
So my cob who has 24/7 turnout brings himself in around 9.30 am in the heat and sleeps either flat out, curled up or standing till teatime with occasional grazing, hay, poo or water breaks!
The flies don't seem to bother him, he is very chunky and no fly rug goes anywhere near him plus he's a hot horse so he'd sweat in one! I use Phaser fly spray morning and night and udder cream if needed on his tummy and in his ears. He doesn't use a fly mask.

I sponge him down between back legs and under his chin when it's really hot or hose him down. I ride very early (6-7am) if at all in hot weather as I suffered heat stroke myself at a young age and I feel really ill in the heat myself.

He has a dessert spoon of salt in each meal (am and pm) and I use electrolytes instead in extreme heat or if he's worked in it. Wet feeds of soaked hay cobs although he's a very good drinker. He has 3 of the enormous Tub Trugs of water which are changed at least every other day in extreme heat and on average he will drink up to half of each one (so 1.5 of them) a day if it's very hot.

What does everyone else do or am I biased by my own extreme dislike of the heat?

 

[meleeka]

I have purposely kept trees in my fields for this very reason. There’s one tree in particular that’s in a spot where there’s always a breeze (I’m near the sea). Mine will be having haynets hung under the tree and will be fine. They also have (wooden) stables that they can go in if they choose. They have a small auto trough which means there’s a good circulation of fresh cold water, so no worries there.

I seem to have a weird internal thermostat and it rarely feels uncomfortably hot to me. I’m just thinking it’s nice to have some sun.

 

[Horseysheepy]

I've set up my paddocks so they all have a couple of large oak trees to congregate under. My hot Native mare enjoys a blast with the hose whilst I'm doing evening waters. The others aren't so bothered by heat as much as her.

 

[Marnie]

I have a dilemma at the moment, my two usually come in during the day and out at night with my little Welsh pony muzzled (thinline muzzle) when out and given a small amount of soaked hay during the day. My stables get pretty warm so I don't want to leave them in all day over the next 2 days. I have a small area that has shade but also has a reasonable amount of grass and I would not want to put the pony on there without her muzzle but I don't really want to leave her muzzled 24/7 even if just for Friday through to Saturday. Thursday I can bring them in during the morning when the stables will be cooler and then put them out around lunchtime into the shaded area so pony can have some muzzle free time but I can't do that on Friday. I am sure that I will come to a solution, but it is tough!

 

[Highmileagecob]

We have good shade and shelter belts on all sides of the field, yet the herd prefers to stand smack in the middle of the field! I can only assume they are comfortable there.

 

[Winters100]

Honestly I would not worry about it too much. Horses manage just fine. Obviously they need access to shade and water, but I do not do anything special, and I ride at normal times even if it is hot.

 

[ester]

We don’t really have much shade for most of the day and the wooden stables are like ovens so they stay out in their fly rugs and get hosed down if needed. They are normally to be found asleep with their heads over the water trough which is in the middle of the field (definitely no shade).

 

[southerncomfort]

Today I'm not doing anything differently as, although it's very warm their is light cloud cover so its quite pleasant actually. I went for a hack at 9.45am and got back around 11.30am and for a black pony he coped just fine. He was a bit sweaty around the girth so I washed off the sweaty bit and turned him out and he seems perfectly happy.

I'm not sure about Friday as I have a lesson booked for 12.30! However, it looks it'll be cloudy until after his lesson with a decent breeze so I think we'll be OK if we don't ask him to work too hard.

He'll be stabled in the afternoon though as once the sun comes out it's going to be roasting hot.

ETA my hot weather tip would be live on a hill like me. Their is always a nice breeze!

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Mine doesn't come in in the summer apart from to ride. Summer to him is for living out and he will stress and yell the yard down and make himself really hot so he stays out. His last field he had no shelter but he was fine.

 

[dorsetladette]

Ours are out with access to shade natural shade on 3 sides and a large shelter positioned under the trees so its always cool and the flies don't get in there. The black cob spends most of his day in the shelter (as do the sheep) while the others come and go. We have an old bath as a water trough and that is topped up twice a day and cleaned out about once a week. The black cob wears a fly mask but the rest don't really need them. Black cob also gets a shower on very hot days and is fly sprayed twice daily.

We have a very well shaded paddock, a paddock with a shelter in and a small paddock with shade only in the morning. The small paddock is usually used for either riding or as extra grazing off of the other 2 paddocks. There isn't really anyway of reconfiguring the fencing so we work with what we have.

 

[Birker2020]

Recent posts have made me think about this, I don't think people realise the danger to their horses in the direct sun with no means to escape from it.

Can I just say that I realise that this comment is in relation to something I posted on the forum earlier about my horse being too hot in his rug and destroying it and it got misconstrued and because I mentioned that there was no shade in my paddock people assumed he was thrown out in the blazing sun during the day without shade. I'd like to reiterate that this isn't the case and he's been out at night for the past two months at least and in during the day - his stable is right next to a half opened side of a barn so plenty of ventilation and shade.

But in reality a lot of people have paddocks that are open and have no shade, this is the norm on a lot of livery yards where horses are individually turned out into strip style grazing and there can only be one hedge line. It prompted me to thinking about previous yards I've been on, its been the same there too. Personally I've never known horses get heatstroke, none of the horses I've ever known or friends horses I've ever known.

One of the best ways of cooling them down in my opinion is to put the hose on them and give them a nice shower. I then leave my horse in the shade until he's dry and then fly rug and turn out.

If I were in a position where I was able to ride Lari then I would keep schooling down to a minimum and hack out instead - we have a lot of leafy lanes by us where the trees grow overhead so a lot of shade.

Mine is the "well if I'm too hot to ride my horse certainly will be" approach.

 

[Sir barnaby]

Our stables get very hot and even if in for a short time they get a sweat on, so mine will stay out as they both move about as the sun moves and at some point will be out of the sun they have full troughs of cold water so can drink freely. We are lucky as we don’t get troubled by too Many flies so I give them a quick spray of phaser as I don’t like leaving them in fly rugs all day I’m sure they will be ok

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Mine come in for a bit in summer but I have good shade on the hard standing after about midday so they often stand on that if they want shade. Mine seem to cope with the heat ok.

 

[Peglo]

I live far enough north it never gets over mid 20 degrees and always has a breeze on those days so never feels over 20 degrees. We live near the coast too so get that sea air. I’ve definitely taken this for granted after reading this post. We’ve never had to worry about over heating but I wouldn’t ride if I felt too warm.

 

[milliepops]

the home herd have plenty of trees and other shady places to choose if they want to. i smear some suncream on pink noses when i remember and that's about it.

The 2 at the yard have a fairly exposed field and the flies get savage so they are in during the day. the stables get warm when it's super hot but lesser of 2 evils so we just make do. Previously Ive always been on yards with lovely cool stables so its a bit of a come down! they seem happy enough to munch their haynets and snooze.

I hate fly rugs, they just seem hot and staticky and pull back and eventually something always gets underneath them to start biting i do own a few (mainly inherited from other people) but haven't put one on a horse since the last stinging insect incident!

 

[Shilasdair]

I worked with horses for a few decades- and have never heard of a horse expiring from extreme temperatures (hot or cold) as long as they have water, salt and sufficient food.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I worked with horses for a few decades- and have never heard of a horse expiring from extreme temperatures (hot or cold) as long as they have water, salt and sufficient food.

A horse died of heat stroke on a lorry at Somerford when the owner left it there on a baking hot day to ride another horse round the farm ride.

It happens.

Not a good way to go, either .

 

[Shilasdair]

A horse died of heat stroke on a lorry at Somerford when the owner left it there on a baking hot day to ride another horse round the farm ride.

It happens.

Not a good way to go, either .

You have to be a special level of stupid not to realise that a lorry will heat up on a hot day... how do you know such people?

 

[MuddyMonster]

I don't really change a lot as we're lucky with our set up in the summer, although it is always windy & freezing in the winter!

Fly spray and fly masks when out as normal.

Fields have plenty of shade (hedgerows on two sides plus trees in field) but if very hot I'll bring in during the day as stables are always cool (freezing in winter ..!). He's mainly out a mix of overnight or 24/7 at the moment so easy to bring in out of sun.

I still ride most of the time as we have direct access to shaded tracks on the farm & woods so still cool early morning or evenings when I ride before or after work. The school would be in direct sun but I can count on one hand how often I've been in these since Spring ??
We just have to double up on fly spray when out hacking.

He gets hosed and washed off after every ride anyway as maintenance this time of year, so he'll just get a longer hose down if needed!

 

[Tiddlypom]

You have to be a special level of stupid not to realise that a lorry will heat up on a hot day... how do you know such people?

Well, I agree about the stupidity, but unfortunately such people walk amongst us.

My neds fortunately have a choice of field shelters to use, and in hot weather they make full use of the shade under the overhang of the north facing one. On a really hot day, I'll hose them off two or three times a day as well.

I have fully lined (walls and roofs) wooden stables with extra height and ventilation so they are ok inside even in a heatwave.

 

[ester]

There was the year it was an issue for cobs at the royal welsh too, at least one died iirc

although I’ve also been in lorries that are a lot cooler than outside when it’s been very hot by virtue of their construction.

 

[Shilasdair]

There was the year it was an issue for cobs at the royal welsh too, at least one died iirc

although I’ve also been in lorries that are a lot cooler than outside when it’s been very hot by virtue of their construction.

But if you think about horses as giant radiators, they heat the space themselves regardless of the construction.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Mine are fortunate to have plenty of shade from trees, 2 out of 3 shelters are cool too, so B very happy to stable herself when she pleases. Being dark, and having lived the 1st 8 yrs of her life on top of Scotland looking out at the Isles, she is very much a heat and fly hater here down south!

The only time I have an issue with trees is during storms and gales, mine are always firmly out then.

 

[scats]

In during the day in a cool barn (not wooden). Our flies are bad so even though I have plenty of shelter in the field by way of trees, the girls get eaten alive in the hot weather if they stay out.

 

[ester]

But if you think about horses as giant radiators, they heat the space themselves regardless of the construction.

yes, the horse was in there too

 

[ester]

My wooden stables on livery were great in the day (horses were out night only) though not so much after they added roof lights. Home ones are unbearable despite facing the prevailing wind - planning would only let us put them that way round.

 

[Fieldlife]

My wooden stables on livery were great in the day (horses were out night only) though not so much after they added roof lights. Home ones are unbearable despite facing the prevailing wind - planning would only let us put them that way round.

Do you have back windows?

 

[ester]

No theres a wall about 1.5ft away from the back - neighbours wall but have vents at the back and addition front windows and mesh all along the top under the eaves. Enough flow through for the whole roof to come off in the storm this year at least!

I don’t think the concrete pad helps.

 

[Hallo2012]

out in the breeze in white rugs-one has a shelter but prefers the tree line, other has some camo netting strung up between bank and trees to create a nicely shaded corner all day.

fans in stables (wooden so do get stuffy but are fortunately shaded by trees so not unbearably so)

hose them down when they come in

bit of salt in feeds

hack after 8pm to avoid flies

but do school as normal at any time so they are acclimatised to it for competing

 

[Sprogladite01]

I'm fortunate in that my setup at home means I can leave a gate to a field open and they can choose whether to be in or out. They have water buckets everywhere as well as in their stables which are left open for them too. Electrolytes in their water, fly masks, gallons of fly spray. My connemara doesn't seem too bothered by the heat but my little welshie has started sweating in this latest heat wave. Trouble is, he's a very, very nervous rescue from Redwings and has clearly had a very traumatic past so everything terrifies him. We apply fly spray with a sponge (took a couple of weeks to convince him the sponge won't kill him), fly mask and if it's really warm sponge him off with cold water. All of which he hates but he's starting to catch on it actually makes him feel better I think!

I also put carrots and parsnips in the freezer to give them something cold to crunch which they both LOVE