Keeping your horse cool in 8 steps!
Now that it’s officially summer - here are 8 steps to ensure your horse keeps cool within the warm sunshine:
SHADE – It is important to provide any horse with significant turn out time with access to a shelter especially elders or foals as they are more likely to struggle with regulating their body temperature. Shelter is somewhere that a horse can go to get out of direct sunlight and can be man-made, such as a field shelter, or natural, such as a large tree.
WATER – Keeping your horse hydrated should be your number one priority. Your horse needs consistent access to clean water at all times of the day. You can also soak their feeds to ensure they are getting enough fluid even if they are not drinking enough from a bucket or trough.
HOSING – A quick, cold hose can be a great way to lower your horse’s temperature. If your horse is not so keen on a scary cold hose, using a bucket of water and a sponge can also cool your horse down effectively.
MISTING – Creating a ‘mist’ for your horse could be a fun DIY this summer. Poking several holes in a garden hose and attaching to a shelter or fence to create a cooling mist is another way to help your horse cool down when you perhaps don’t have time to stand to hose them. Make sure the hose is secure and safely out of reach of your horse or in a place that it cannot get tangled in your horses legs.
VENTILATION – If your horse spends time in the stable during the warmer months, ensuring that your stable is appropriately ventilated will help to keep your horse cool and safe. You can consider installing top doors to the rear of the stable.
CLIPPING – If you have a particularly thick coated horse, he may find himself a little bit too warm during the summer months, especially horses and ponies with thick feathers. Clipping his coat and or feathers are great ways to help keep him cool.
PLAN YOUR RIDE! – On warmer weeks, plan your exercise around the temperature. Make sure to plan to do less intense exercises or even to avoid riding during peak temperatures in the middle of the day. It is best to ride early in the morning or late in the evening, especially any intense training sessions.
ELECTROLYTES – Electrolytes balance and maintain fluid within a horses cells, they are lost through a horses sweat, breath and waste. It is recommended that you include electrolytes into your horses daily feed but also, make sure to replenish your horses electrolytes after a specifically sweaty ride. A salt lick is also a good way to replace vital nutrients and also encourage a horse to drink more water.