on on earth

[Charlene]

we are in the 90's here with matching humidity. it is downright oppressive, it only gets down in the upper 70's at night and the humidity stays very high.

i have tried fans in the barn and hanging on the fence and they do absolutely no good. i hung misters on the fence and the horses won't go near them. all i can do is hose them off on the days when i am home and i do that several times a day.

but, the days i am at work, i worry so much about them. i wish i could bring them all INSIDE where it's air conditioned!

does anybody do anything in particular to keep their horses cool?

i'm going to get one of those heavy duty hard plastic kiddie pools and fill it with water. i don't know if the mini boys will stand in it to cool off, when i had llamas they used one.

my biggie stands at the stock tank, sticks his WHOLE FACE down into the water and splashes it back on his chest to cool off. he will almost drain the stock tank in a day! i have to keep a separate tank of water in a fenced off corner that has an opening HE can't fit through but the mini boys can.

i'm almost ready for winter!!! OH!

 

[MyBarakah]

Hi! I feel your pain! I know exactly what you are saying! It's SO HUMIND here in NE and it's just gross! And summer hasn't officially started yet either!

But too keep my guys cool, I have fans also. I also try to keep my barn as dark as possible during the day, which does seem to help. I do have everyone body clipped, or at least partially. It does help to keep thier neck & under thier belly clipped where the major veins in thier body are.

That's about all you can do!

 

[Marty]

Charlene I do a lot to keep them cool besides rinsing them off.

First anyone left with hair gets shaved but with a #8 so when they go out they don't get so badly sunburned and at night won't chill when the temp drops.

My barn is insuallted which does help tremendously. I use some box fans but I also have a large industrial fan in the isleway. It tends to get hot so I do not run it when I am not there. I'm paranoid of fires. As long as the air is moving, that helps a lot and also reduces flies. I have very few flies in the barn.

I freeze milk jugs with water and they go in the water troff so that they melt slowly

For the inside stall water buckets I use little 12 ounce plastic bottles, same thing only smaller

and YES we have the blue plastic kiddie pools and nobody falls down in them; again, they get 3 or 4 milk jugs to float

I do soak beet pulp in full strengh Gatorade for the really hot muggy days

 

[Sue_C.]

I do soak beet pulp in full strengh Gatorade for the really hot muggy days

I do this for them at the shows now too, to encourage them to get more fluid into them, I make it very slurpy.

Great idea, that frozen jug idea...I will run with that one Marty.

 

[Charlene]

yeah, marty, i do the frozen milk jugs and my stock tank is even in the shade but when it's in the 90's, they melt quickly.

i have only ever had ONE horse that would stand in front of a fan. the fan in the barn moves the air around but the horses still sweat even when they stand inside.

as for clipping, my horses are all shed out, there isn't a single winter hair on any of them. would it help to clip necks and bellies??

i'll do whatever i have to do to try to make them more comfortable. at least we're getting some fairly windy days and that helps some.

 

[wildoak]

My stall fans are hung above the horses at an angle, and they will all stand under them during the day. We also have ceiling insulation that drops the temp probably 15-20 degrees from outside, still feels really hot though on those humid days we are having. Electrolytes are a good idea, sloppy beet pulp is good (I like the Gatorade idea with it). I think the most important thing you can do is be sure they all have access to shade during the day. I've had a big mare in the arena lately (due to injury/no place else to keep her) and I"ve really had to watch her during the days, giving her lots of water, sunscreen on her nose and taking her out to graze in the afternoon.

Jan

 

[barnbum]

I'm thankful for the 20 mph breeze we had yesterday....but there's less today and it's still over 90. Tomorrow is supposed to be the worse day before it breaks and I won't be home. RATS! (My classroom will be 95.

)

But I too freeze water in Gatorade bottles and toss them in. Plus at night we have the fans up. One big industrial one that goes all night and one for Jazz because the other doesn't hit his stall as well. I keep the barn shut during the day--except for a small opening for the fillies to sneak in/out. That helps a lot. The pastures have shade most of the day--and run-ins for when it's between times for the shade to show up.

I've tried setting up sprinklers--but no one will go in them. I try several times a year--no luck. I'd leave it up all day if they'd use them.

 

[Magic]

Well, you all are going to hate me then-- our high today is only supposed to be 65.

We've had unseasonably cool weather, and I sure won't complain about it even though I'm still blanketing the body-clipped horses at night, lol! I'm sure it will turn off hot soon enough...

 

[Kim Rule]

It's unseasonably cool here too...but when it is not I turn on the sprinklers!

The horses will go into them and cool off, then they go and roll. It looks like I have 4 mud ponies!! But they are nice and cool. I also do the frozen milk jug trick...then love playing with them! Here in Idaho we have a dry heat...but it gets SO hot!! By August I expect temperatures to be over 100 regularly! OH!

Kim R.

 

[Rebecca]

My girls are miserable in the heat, even when I have the fan on, it's actually cooler outside than in. They stay out during the day, I have a sprinkler out there right now and bottles in the water tub. I leave the door open at night (when it's this hot) so they can go in and out. They have a fan inside.

I'll have to try soaking the beet pulp in Gatorade sometime, great idea.

 

[Miniv]

We have various kinds of fans for the barn. A big one on a stand - the kind that has a head that swings back and forth.......a couple of box fans........and some little ones that can be tied to the bars of the stalls.

Haven't had to bring them out yet this year, though.

Oh, and for our baby pasture, we have a little kiddie wading pool.......and Larry will sometimes run the hose out and put a sprinkler on for them. Some like it, some don't.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

does anybody do anything in particular to keep their horses cool?

Yes- I live in Washington! I am so disgusted with the weather here it isn't even funny. It's JUNE. I'm supposed to be able to DRIVE and TRAIN for all these big shows finally. NOT! Last Tuesday we had an all-day monsoon rain (cold, of course) that turned the pastures into one big lake and soaked through even my best waterproof blankets until Pyro was shivering. He was the only one dumb enough to stand out in it, even Kody--the original storm pony--stayed in his stall. Wednesday it improved slightly in that it didn't pour but it also never got above the low 50's and again, the horses were hiding in their stalls and needing two blankets for the damp chill. Thursday it poured again. Friday it poured all morning then finally broke long enough to drive in the evening but was still cold. Damp cold. Oh my Lord, I'm so tired of damp cold! I want to move to Arizona! I think if I even mentioned the possibility the boys would be sitting in the truck cab beeping the horn and going "Come on Mom!" with the heater on full blast. Rubbin' their hooves together and shivering. :Cold-Scared

I know I shouldn't complain but- oh heck, yes I should! Even in the depths of summer I don't wish for this. I love the cold crisp of winter but this wet chill is going to be the death of me. Or Pyro. Or someone!

Okay, back on topic now. I promise!

i have only ever had ONE horse that would stand in front of a fan. the fan in the barn moves the air around but the horses still sweat even when they stand inside.

Sweating is good, it means they're succeeding in cooling themselves. If they WEREN'T sweating in weather like that I would worry! Put fans where the horses have no choice but to stand under them and maybe braid at least their forelocks so it doesn't blow the hair painfully into their eyes. I'll sometimes braid the mane a bit to get it off their necks but that's only if you don't have any flies. Otherwise they need it too much for bug protection.

as for clipping, my horses are all shed out, there isn't a single winter hair on any of them. would it help to clip necks and bellies??

YES! I love a naturally shed-out horse but I'm always amazed by how much hair the minis still have even when they look slick. Do at least a underarm/chest/inside of hind leg clip or preferable some version of a full trace clip (look here for ideas- I like the Chaser clip myself with the addition of the inside of the hind legs and maybe flank) so that they can ventilate along all the major veins and dump some heat. Remember I do CDE's so while it doesn't get hot here dumping heat is still important. Kody sweats like crazy in the spring until I trace clip, is fine with a low trace but still overheats eventually (like a person with an unzipped winter coat on), and once I go at least halfway up each side I won't catch him sweating again until the temp hits 90's and not even then if he's completely clipped. Make sure you do the underside of the jaw area even on a partial clip- there are lots of large veins there and it does help.

Could you also put some of those freezable bandana's around their necks? Or maybe tie them to a halter behind their ears?

Leia

 

[muffntuf]

What flavor gatorade? Or do the pellets in their grain get it good enough? I have never used a sweat replacement product, this is my first summer heavy showing. And we have been cool, but we are starting to see the temps head up and expect a very hot July and August. So am wondering.

Also - on the really hot days when I am home - I hose horses off. Show horses are in the barn with fans on them.

I know I had a yearling filly get heat stressed at Congress last year - so am all ears!

 

[billiethekid40]

I found that keeping the barn dark, opening windows and keeping fans on work great. However when I was using the woody pet type bedding and was damping it down to keep the dust down I found the barn was soooo much cooler when the bedding was damp so I started to spray the bedding and walls down once or twice a day during the hottest times of the summer. The woody pet holds the moisture well and it stays so nice and cool, Billie was a lot cooler just having the cool bedding under his hooves- and he loved to stretch out on it as well. I also mist the bedding and walls with fly spray- nothing crankier than a hot horse covered with flies! But having the cool bug free stall was a blessing for the little guy.

He also would not stand under the sprinkler or to be hosed off- in fact I found that hosing him on sunny days made him hotter- his dark coloring attracts the heat of the sun and that water gets HOT on his body long before he ever gets any cooling effect from evaporation! So those with dark colored horses should keep that in mind when hosing them down on hot sunny days.

I also feed soupy beet pulp, and since it goes rancid sooooo fast in the heat I throw a frozen pop bottle in the feed bin with it since Billie is a slow eater. And of course frozen bottles in the water buckets help too, and putting hay and water in shady areas.

All that said, my little guy LOVES the heat! I've had to wake him a couple of times worried he would overheat while sunbathing! Nothing makes him happier than a good snooze in the hot sun. Weird little guy LOL But after his hot sun siestas he does like to chill off in his cool stall for a bit before stretching out to catch some more rays.

 

[HGFarm]

Wow, we get really high temps here, but we have no or very low humidity (we whine if it gets up to 25%) We just make sure everyone has big shade roofs here, and I have a couple of shade trees as well, and we usually have a bit of a breeze. This doesnt stop them from running and playing when it's 110 out though(

) but we dont have the problems here of the stifling muggy heat you guys get! Wow, never thought about having to try to keep them cooled down like this!