My poor black horse is so hot!

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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Not that I'm moaning about the weather but bless him he's the worst colour, it's 23 degrees here, had to give him a hose down this afternoon as he was sweaty just standing in the field. He's going to get clipped underneath next week xx
 
The amigo bug rug has a silvery finish which seems to kept them quite cool underneath - maybe worth posting a thread to see what other peoples experiences are?
 
Smudge99 - just seen that derby house have 7'3" fly rugs - not sure if they're UV reflective though. It's so tricky though cause unless they're really roomy they just pinch everywhere :-(
 
i have a problem on the other end of the scale - my mainly white skewbald has such pink fine skin he keeps getting sunburn (in the most uncomfortable looking places!!).

The black horse at our yard wears a pessoa UV fly rug in the glaring sun.
 
I bring in on hot sunny days. I also hose down yard in front of stable as seems to cool things down. Luckily I have a window at the back of stable so can have front and back open for any breeze. My boy loves coming in and is queuing up at the gate to do so. Saves on fly rugs, (did try that once, shredded first time worn). He loves to come in and have a snooze.

Jane
 
I have a black horse too and they really do suffer. Im finding he is sweating up when I bring him in (they are in at night) but suprisingly up to now hes been fine whilst out.
I usually use a premier equine bug rug mainly for the heat and it does work, he does still get warm on his shoulders where it is lined but he is much happier with it on.
 
Mine is shedding his winter coat like nobodies business thanks to all this heat!!! Hurrah! Goodbye endless curry combing and a face full of fluff! :D

As for getting hot - he is a bit dim, but i'm sure he knows where the trees are for shade :)
 
Well at least you've got blacks and don't have to suffer sunburn. Applying suncream every few hours is tedious... I have to do this 'til Sept at least...

Flyrugs are amazing these days... good luck woth that by the way... thought I'd share my pain...
 
I have a black horse with pink nose, so I have both problems! I clip him all year, which seems to keep him more comfortable. He is an Irish Cob, so really hairy and hot otherwise.
 
i am lucky in that i dont have a black horse, i have a skewbald who adores the sunshine...only problem is preventing his nose from burning, and his bum (he moults to the skin there!!).
I do reccommend the uv reflective rugs tho, or bringing in if its feasible, there are 2 black horses at my yard both are sweating just in field and we have loads of shelter. They are both in rugs now to help keep them a bit cooler.
 
Supertrooper said:
Not that I'm moaning about the weather but bless him he's the worst colour, it's 23 degrees here, had to give him a hose down this afternoon as he was sweaty just standing in the field. He's going to get clipped underneath next week xx
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My lovely black horse Rommy used to suffer with the heat in the summer and I was forever hosing him down. I used to love his coat, it was so fine. His tail had slivers of liver chestnut in it, I used to wash it in henna shampoo to bring the strands out as they were so nice :)
 
Supertrooper said:
Katieaston - thanks, will have a look at that. Would you say they come up roomy?
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I use the derby house one one my black girl. Would say they are more roomy this year as they have elastic on the neck straps so there not as tight. Also think they've made the tummy strap bigger as they seem looser on my girl than normal despite having them as tight as possible. Would definitely recommend giving them a shot.
 
Maybe change your turnout to night turn out?
When it gets really hot Obie will be in from 10-5 during the day to get out of flies/glaring sun. He's living out at the moment though :)
 
My dark horse has a Kool coat, he looks like a total pillock in it but it does the job brilliantly, I know they do huge sizes because my friends enormous clydesdale has one! They do come up roomy too. I wouldnt put it on if we had natural shade in the fields but we dont so he literally cooks without it and comes in sweaty.
ETS they do the new airsteam ones now as well which look like they are even better than the older type. Made by weatherbeta BTW
 
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The biggest problem with neck rugs of any type (T/O, fly rugs etc) on a heavy horse is that the necks are always far too skimpy. Fly rugs these days always seem to have attached necks.

Re sunburn prevention, I use Sudocrem or Zinc Oxide. Anything with a high zinc content only needs applying once or twice a week for great protection.
 
elderlycoupleindevon said:
The biggest problem with neck rugs of any type (T/O, fly rugs etc) on a heavy horse is that the necks are always far too skimpy. Fly rugs these days always seem to have attached necks.

Re sunburn prevention, I use Sudocrem or Zinc Oxide. Anything with a high zinc content only needs applying once or twice a week for great protection.
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Not so with the Kool coats! They have huge necks!
 
Will definately look at the Kool coats, thanks. The neck will be a problem as he's massive but if they'll fit a clydesdale! Would you able to find out what size that horse has? He does have trees for shade, he chooses to roast! Perhaps I just worry too much xx
 
He has a 7'3 I think, will double check with owner later. They do them without the neck as well but not sure how beneficial they are without, although I guess it must still help a bit.
 
My last horse was black (well very dark bay) and really suffered. I ended up giving him a hunter clip during the summer which helped a lot.

Re: the Kool Coats, I've got one - they are good but are thin material. Mine got ripped the one time I turned out in it. The neck on it is a good size - used to easily fit my Welsh Cob who had a big neck.
 
itsmylife said:
Have you looked at he big horse shop? they go up to 7 6
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Just bought a summer sheet from them. Really disappointed as the size was very small. Not quite sure what they think a big horse actually is?
No refund as it was on offer. Silly me, should have clicked the link for promotions, although I wasn't after a promotion, simply a summer sheet that fitted my big lad.
After a replacement size and paying for 3 lots of postage to and fro, am stuck with a useless sheet.
Went back to order another Kool Coat airstream. Very roomy and beautifully cool. I love them.
 
For everybody that have horses with pink skin near their eyes and muzzle flymasks with lony noses really help! I find that my horses tended to pull masks off with ears on but if you get the ones without the ears they were fine. If their field mates pull them off try spraying parts of the mask with puppy chew spray tastes nasty and hopefully the other horses wont try and grab it just dont spray near the eye area.
 
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