Does not do well in heat/humidity?

[seahorse]

Country, my black yearling gelding is not doing well in our heat/ humidity. Even when he stands under the shade trees or shelter he breaths hard. He does well in the mornings and late evening but the rest of the day he does not look comfortable. The overweight pony he is with and even our black horse are perfectly fine. When the weather was cooler he used to be really spunky and spirited. Now, he only runs if the pony leaves him or to come to dinner. for the past few days I have been getting him wet in the heat of the day to help him cool. He has plenty of fresh water, eats well, and likes his mineral block. He is kept in a pen with shelter and let out with pony in our yard with shade trees during the heat of the day. I have had him since October so I would have thought he would be used to our climate by now?

Could something be wrong with him?

Any ideas to help keep him cool?

I don't think getting him wet every day would be good for him. (might mildew or rain rot?)

His hair has grown since I clipped him last, how often should I clip him? I think it has been a little over a month since I clipped him last.

I just don't like to see him uncomfortable.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Leeana]

Hmmm, try this. Keep him in during the day in a stall with a fan on him, turn him out to his paddock at night when its cooler out. Is this the cross country colt from Belinda? If i remember correctly, he is black, so he is going to naturally attrack heat/sunlight. Doing this will also keep him from sunbleaching

.

Just what i would do

 

[whitney]

Don't know if this is feasible for you but maybe rig up a drip irrigation line (use the sprayer emitters) on the top rail of your fence on a timer.

 

[sundancer]

You may want to see if he is sweats. We have a mini that can't sweat, so we have to be careful during the hot and humid weather with her. She usually stays in during the heat of the day. We wet her down and have a fan on her. When we show her she has a cooler we bring that we soak down and have her wear to keep her temp down near normal.

We started out the same way with her, she would go out and breath hard, not play like everyone else. When the vet came out and after a series of tests etc we discovered her sweat glands just dont allow her to sweat!

So we give her suppliments for it and are just very careful during warm weather. Thank goodness here in Maine we only get a few months of warm temps and only a few days of hot sticky weather

Julie

 

[seahorse]

Hmmm, try this. Keep him in during the day in a stall with a fan on him, turn him out to his paddock at night when its cooler out. Is this the cross country colt from Belinda? If i remember correctly, he is black, so he is going to naturally attrack heat/sunlight. Doing this will also keep him from sunbleaching

.

Just what i would do

I wish I had a spot that would work to put a fan, but he does not have a stall, but a 20'x20' pen with a shelter. For some reason this pen seems to be the hottest area on the place, that is why I let him out in the heat of the day. He used to be in a nice shady pen but we moved the mama goats and kids into it about a week ago. He will go back to his old pen as soon as big brother has time to work on our fence where the goats were. There is not a workable spot for a fan in that pen either.

Yes, he is the cross country colt.

He is really black right now but he is starting to sunburn again.

 

[seahorse]

Don't know if this is feasible for you but maybe rig up a drip irrigation line (use the sprayer emitters) on the top rail of your fence on a timer.

Sounds like a good idea, except that Country hates getting rained on and baths. (I have to tie him to give him one or he runs away) I would think he would like the water because it makes him cool, but no, he really does not like spraying water. (though he loves going to the pond)

You may want to see if he is sweats. We have a mini that can't sweat, so we have to be careful during the hot and humid weather with her. She usually stays in during the heat of the day. We wet her down and have a fan on her. When we show her she has a cooler we bring that we soak down and have her wear to keep her temp down near normal.

We started out the same way with her, she would go out and breath hard, not play like everyone else. When the vet came out and after a series of tests etc we discovered her sweat glands just dont allow her to sweat!

So we give her suppliments for it and are just very careful during warm weather. Thank goodness here in Maine we only get a few months of warm temps and only a few days of hot sticky weather

Julie

It is a good thing you do live in Main. Seems like It's ALWAYS humid and sticky here! (except for a few rare days of the year)

Fortunately, he does sweat. Although not very much compared to our other horses.

Thanks for all the prompt responses!

 

[Hosscrazy]

Do you have an electric outlet anywhere near his pen or can you run an extention cord to his area? If so, I would definitely set up a fan for him. Misters are also great ideas - but if he hates that, you could at least get a small wading pool (kids size) from Walmart and set that up for him.

Liz R.

 

[mini1]

When I worked in the service department of an auto dealership and the weather got unbearable for the technicians in the shop, the management put out misting fans. Get a large fan and take a garden hose and wire to the front of the fan cage following the circle of the fan. Put a plug on the end of the hose and poke small holes in the garden hose all the way around the fan. Turn on the hose and turn on the fan, a mist will come out of the hose and the fan blows it. You don't get a soaking that way but standing in front of it is very cool. It gets you wet, cools you off and blows you dry all at the same time.

If there is anyway to get a fan to him, I would.

Kelly

 

[terrid]

Have you had him checked for heaves. We have a horse with it and he breaths real hard, when the humidity gets bad he's miserable. He's even gone off his feed for days and will only eat hay. When we first noticed, he was breathing like someone with infazema (sp).

 

[Marty]

All good ideas to consider and I do think you have a problem too. I would have a vet involved also and schedule the appointment around the time of day you mentioned when he is breathing so hard.

Any chance you can move the pen back into the shade?