Feelin' hot, hot, hot!

Ugh. My fellow Kansans, the heat is here.

Yesterday was awful. We worked on the outdoor arena all morning (yay! Its coming along!) and then mowed the lawn and bathed horses in the afternoon.

The heat is a trial that we all have to go through. We lug around our sunscreen, fans, cool drinks, beach umbrellas, and all sorts of things to help keep us cooler and protected from the sun. Have you ever thought what life would be like without those things? If you had to work outdoors, in the heat, without any aids? You would still tolerate it better than your horse.

I recently read an article by Teresa Pitman entitled "When the rider is hot, the horse is a lot hotter". The article says that a horse that is being exercised moderately in hot weather can dangerously overheat within 17 minutes. That is 7 to 10 times faster than humans.

Another interesting fact that it stated was that people tend to work their horses in the morning or evening hours when its cooler and then go to an event that is held during the heat of the day. The article recommended building the horse's tolerance to the heat by working in the heat of the day in small doses, getting the horse used to it before riding in a competition.

Finally, the last thing was that you shouldn't use a cooler or sheet on a sweating horse. The best way to cool a horse is to soak it in cool water, scrape the excess away, and then soak again, repeating this until the horse is cool. The most important part is to scrape the extra water away because the heat from the horse will heat any water that is trapped in it's coat to the same temp as the horse.

You can find the entire article here at http://atguelph.uoguelph.ca/

Remember to make sure that your horse always has clean, cool, fresh water and plenty of it. Provide a mineral block to replace lost salts, etc. Ride smart and have fun!