How to protect your horse against summer heat?

In this month of July the heat is at its height. In the middle of the day the temperature exceeds 30 ° C, the sun knocks without mercy. Our companion does not escape this heat wave and can suffer from these difficult conditions, which can go as far as to cause serious problems. Let's see how to improve his living and working conditions so that he spends the warm season in the greatest comfort.

Our horse has wet sides while he does not move, he has his head down, looking down. No, he is not sick. He is hot!

So what can we do to improve these living conditions in hot weather?

Living conditions

The water

Is it necessary to specify, the horse must never run out of water. An equine must always have clean and fresh water at will, and this is even more important to ensure in the hot season.

Normally, a horse drinks 15 to 60 liters a day, depending on its size, work, living conditions, diet, etc. In high temperatures, this consumption can go up to double!

Access to water must be easy and permanent for the horse. Water can be offered in an automatic watering trough, in a tank or via a natural water point. In all cases it is necessary to constantly watch for its purity and freshness. Monitoring of water quality and possible drying of natural points, cleaning and frequent refilling of bins and water troughs are essential.

In a large tank or a natural water point, the horse can play with water; scraping in it will spit the belly and flanks to cool off. If the water is shallow some will even go to bed and roll in it.

For horses living in groups, it must be ensured that the dominant ones do not block access to water for the rest of the group. In this case, do not hesitate to multiply the water points.

food

Although relatively regular over the year, the horse's diet can be adapted according to the season.

In summer you can take care to bring the ration in several meals. The more the ration is divided, the more the horse can quietly digest small amounts of food, thus getting closer to the natural diet of the horse. A large ration at one time will force the horse to spend a lot of energy to ingest and digest it, giving it a "hot shot".

If the hay is dusty it can be wet before distribution. Do not give it to the ground, promoting ingestion and inhalation of dust and dirt. You can screw a rack into the shelter or make or recycle a large box of wood or resistant plastic serving as a manger.

Warming concentrates can also be avoided, depending on the intensity of the horse's activity. Fat can be added to the concentrate diet to compensate for losses due to perspiration.

Sweating causes a significant loss of minerals, so it is necessary, especially in summer, to ensure the permanent presence of a salt stone available to horses.

Working horses can use rehydration solutions to compensate for the significant loss of minerals in sweat.

Housing

The housing conditions of the horse greatly influence its comfort during the rising temperatures.

In boxing or stabling, the horse is enclosed in a small, relatively confined space. The temperature between these 4 walls can increase dramatically when the sun hits it and the air becomes stuffy.

However, it is possible to limit the heat inside by opening the door wide and closing the access with a chain. Ideally you have to have an opening in the wall in front of the door to create a draft. In hot weather, it is advisable to take the horse out when boxing up to avoid breathing straw dust.

The horse living in paddock must have a space arranged so that it will have throughout the day a shadow point where to shelter from the sun. The ideal remains the presence of trees high enough and provided to give a large shaded space. The leaves, in addition to protecting the sun's rays, provide a significant freshness.

Without natural shelter in the paddock, it is necessary to build an artificial shelter, avoiding the materials accumulating the heat (metal, sheets, etc). Be careful of the orientation and the size of the shelter, it must provide a sufficient shade area throughout the day. Its size and opening must be adapted to the number of equines using it.

Thermoregulation of the horse

To promote the evacuation of heat from his body the horse sweats. Nevertheless, certain elements can favor or limit this transpiration.

In summer, many people protect their horses by wearing insect blankets. Suspicion, because these greatly limit the thermoregulation capacity of the horse, especially since they are often very closed, covering almost the entire body of the horse.

Long hairs also keep the horse warm. In summer, they will limit the evacuation of perspiration, especially for the working horse. A shorn horse will therefore be more "cool". Cushing horses will find real comfort.

An overweight horse will suffer more heat, the fat layer creating thermal insulation. Likewise, "heavy" or very muscular horses will be more sensitive to high temperatures than thinner, dry horses because they will produce more heat during an effort.

Work the horse in the summer

The hot season does not prevent a horse from working normally; but this only under certain conditions. The goal is to limit the feeling of discomfort due to extreme heat, and this for the horse as for the rider for that matter.

Avoiding the hottest hours is obvious. No riding between 11h and 15h is the minimum. Depending on the exhibition of the workspace you will enjoy the relative freshness early in the morning or late afternoon and early evening.

The "covered" areas on the horse's body should be kept to a minimum; a carpet of minimum size, a saddle light, no cover or covers, open protections, etc. will facilitate evacuation of perspiration.

In case of heat wave, we will not hesitate to wet the horse in the shower just before going up. Stop the work when it has completely dried.

It is also necessary to adapt the content of its working session as well as its progress. Avoid big jumps or gallop sessions, shorten the duration of sessions and often provide breaks.

If your workspace is in full sun, do not hesitate to work outside, you will find shaded spaces and a less stifling air.

Conclusion

So we see that there are many techniques to bring maximum comfort to his horse in very hot weather.

In general, the most important thing is to remain observant and listen to your companion. It will be possible to quickly identify any change in attitude and external sign of heat discomfort and remedy it before it causes any serious problem.

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