Beat the Summer Heat
Published by GHC • May 3rd, 2009 • Category: Horse Adviceby Stargazer, age 12
For many of us, summer break is just around the corner. Excitement is in the air for rest, vacations, and for us horse people, more time to spend at the barn. But if the summer is hot where you are, you may have to take some safety precautions to make sure you and your horse can have a safe, enjoyable summer.
For You
- Make sure you drink plenty of water. Not drinking enough water in the hot summer months can result in dizziness, headaches, fainting, and much more. You don’t want to have dehydration getting in the way of riding, do you? Drink at least eight glasses of water a day to ensure you don’t get dehydrated.
- Wear lots of sunscreen. Not protecting your skin can result in skin cancer later on in life, plus burns can be painful. Choose a high SPF sunscreen, and make sure you reapply.
For Your Horse
Make sure your horse gets plenty of water. Just like you, horses can become dehydrated. Make sure your horse has a good supply of fresh, clean water and check his trough often to make sure he is drinking. If you find that your horse is not drinking enough, you can give her a salt block and/or mix electrolytes in with her feed. Both of these will encourage your horse to drink.
Make sure your horse doesn’t get overheated. Remember, in hot weather, horses may not be able to go as long and hard as they usually can. If your horse gets too hot, it can affect her health. Give your horse frequent walk breaks, and be sure to cool her out carefully. If your horse is really overheated, sometimes it is best to just take off her tack and immediately hose her down.
Try your best to keep flies away from your horse. Summer is fly season, and you don’t want your horse to be uncomfortable. Make sure you keep your horse’s stall and pasture clean to help keep the fly population down. For the flies that remain, hang up fly traps, and provide your horse protection from them. Use fly spray, fly masks, fly sheets, roll on fly protection, or whatever else you can think of that will help protect your horse from the little pests.
Summer is the time to have fun with your horse, but you need to make sure you and your horse are safe and comfortable before you go out and have fun. Be smart and protect yourself and your horse, and you can beat the summer heat and get on with having fun.
Great blog,Stargazer! Very helpful!:)
I have just one thing to add: When you hose down your horse be sure to start at the legs gradually working your way up the horse’s chest. Hold the water on the legs and chest for a while to insure cool down. After a few minutes you can slowly move on the rest of the body. NEVER dump cold water on a horses back; they could very likely go into shock! Thats why it’s so importend to slowly work your way with the water.
Again, WONDERFUL writing Stargazer! The way you stick words together! It’s cool!:)
♞I’maCowgirl
We went through this in camp; we had to see whether a horse was dehydrated or not. All the kids drank Gatorade to stay hydrated. I know what you mean; my riding instructor had skin cancer, and it was really bad. :(
Great idvice. I’ll be sure to use it when I go to 4-H camp this year! As for my horse, those are also great tps. Yesterday, I saw a picture of a horse on the internet who had been mistreated and had had his face burnt by the sun> :-< I felt really sorry for him. He is currently up for adoption, though.
~EC
Champion blog! Another neat little trick i’ve learned is to wet a bandanna and tie it around your neck! it really cools you off! Summer funs a comin!
~HF
oh and yes make sure your horse has plenty of water but not too much all at once it could cramp their stomach! =0)
~HF
Great Tips Stargazer…..I will use the human tips but I cant use the horse tips because I have no horse….I have a dog but no horse….I dont mind because my bff has a horse and I’m looking after her while my bff goes on holidays!
Eastern Cowgirl, another thing you can do is put sunscreen on your horse’s face. I forgot to mention this in my blog.
Very helpful, great job!
Thanks for the great summer advice! Lots of kids get so lost in the excitement of summer that they forget these kind of things. I’ll never forget when I came across this painted mare in a field, and both of her two water troughs were bone dry. Summer care is important, thanks Stargazer!