Help Your Horse Beat The Heat
With our summer temperatures reaching record highs with the humidity, I have had many people asking me how they can help their horses cope with the heat.
Diet:
Watch the overall feed protein levels in your horse's feed, especially with the new rich hay coming in.
Your horse should have access to free choice minerals, including Izmine and Natural Trace Mineral loose salt. As your horse sweats out minerals, it will need to replace them. Horses have a difficult time getting salt off of salt blocks they were designed for cattle with rough tongues. Horses will be able to get the salt they need when given loose salt.
A good basic vitamin/mineral supplement is a good idea, such as Dynamite or Dynamite Plus this will help your horse replace anything losy through sweating.
A probiotic is also a good idea in hot weather to help your horses digestion. Some horses, especially ones that compete, have difficulty with loose stool from the heat and general competition stress. A probiotic will help keep your horse's gut flora at a functioning level.
An electrolyte such as DynaSpark will also help your horse replace any vitamins etc. that they lose through sweat. If you choose to feed your electrolytes in your horse's water, you should provide your horse with two water buckets one with electrolytes and one without.
Your horse should have access to good water. Try to avoid putting water in black rubber buckets. Horses normally drink an average of 8-10 gallons of water per day. In hot weather, horses can lose 11-13 quarts of sweat, so many horse's may drink 12-15 gallons of water in warmer weather. Apple cider vinegar in the water tanks will help keep the algae away. Environment:
Make sure your horse has access to shade or shelter. If you have the type of horse who stands in the sun all the time because of flies in the shade or other horses chasing them out of the shelter, you may have to force them into the shade via a stall on extremely hot days to give them a rest from the sun.
During Exercise & Showing:
Horses can acclimate naturally if the temperatures rise gradually. However, if the temperatures spike suddenly, give your horse 2-3 days to acclimate. Try to work your horse in the morning before the heat/humidity comes in.
Always warm up your horse. Many people think that just because the temperatures are warm, their horse's muscles don't need time to warm up. This is not true give your horse's body time to adjust to the heat. Tone down your exercise regime condition your horse slowly. Do work at the walk for 4-5 days or if you are doing trot/canter work make sure you use interval training (work, rest, work, rest). Warm down your horse after working by walking your horse for a bit so your horse's muscles can get rid of lactic acid. Then cool your horse down by standing your horse in a shady/cool area, standing your horse in front of a fan, or wash your horse down with cool water.
Contrary to what some people believe, studies show no bad effects when cooling a hot horse off with cold water. In experimental studies we did, we found that if you poured 55' water from a hose on top of a horse, it comes off the bottom of the horse at 75'. A tremendous amount of heat can be transferred in the water. (Dr. Kohn). There is a proper procedure for hosing off your horse. Do not just spray water on your horse and then let your horse stand without scraping the water off soon afterwards. If you leave the layer of water to sit on your horse, it acts a bit like a blanket as the water absorbs the heat from the horse's body and then just sits on the horse. Hosing your horse off only works if the water can evaporate so the procedure should be to hose your horse off, scrape the water off immediately, and repeat several times. Hosing your horse's legs, neck and belly off will help your horse cool off faster as those areas have major veins close to the surface of the skin.
When at a show, try to stay off your horse as much as possible and keep your horse untacked whenever you are not riding. Keep your warm-ups short. Stand your horse in the shade or in a breeze, not in the trailer. Make sure your horse has access to plenty of water. Keeping a bucket of ice water and some old towels handy to cool you and your horse off between classes is nice adding some lemon/mint/citronella essentials oils to the water can be refreshing.
Warning Signs (What to Watch Out For):
• Darker urine
• No sweating or excessive sweating
• Horse seems stiff and/or uncoordinated
• Elevated respiration (norm is 4-16 breaths/min)
• Elevated pulse in an inactive horse or a pulse that doesn't drop after several minutes
• A temperature elevated over 103'F
• Irregular heart beat
• A depressed or lethargic attitude
• Dehydration Do the skin pinch test (pinch the skin on your horse's neck. If it snaps back your horse is ok. If it collapses slowly, your horse is probably dehydrated)
Mild Heat Stress
• 30 to 40 breaths per minute, heart rate of 50-60bpm, temperature of 102-103'F
• Sweat & small veins over your horse's body
• Reluctance to work/seems lethargic and uninterested
• Gums are darker pink than usual
Solution: Cool your horse out
Moderate Heat Stress
• 40 to 50 breaths per minute, heart rate of 61-80bpm, temperature of 103-105'F
• Sweat dripping on horse's neck & between hind legs, bulging veins
• Uncoordinated
• Gums a dark pink or maroon
Solution: Cool your horse out & monitor vital signs
Severe Heat Stress
• More than 50 breaths per minute, a temperature higher than 105'F, heart rate over 80bpm
• Dripping sweat all over & bulging veins over your horse's body
• Dark purple/red gums
• Horse seems uncoordinated/oblivious
Solution: Cool your horse out, monitor vital signs and CALL YOUR VET. Horse is at risk of heat exhaustion.
Heat Index Guidelines:
Approx Heat Index = Temp F + Humidity % (ie. 85 F and 50% humidity =135)
Below 120: Ride as usual.
120-150: W-T-C is O.K. but keep trot and canter at a minimum.
150-180: Very light ride only, just to stretch muscles.
Above 180: Do not ride.
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