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“If you saw a heat wave,
would you wave back?” – Steven Wright
For all of the fun that the summer sun brings, hot weather
poses a big challenge to the horse (and its owner). Simply
stated, horses really aren’t hot weather creatures, and working
them in the heat of the day risks some real dangers.
When it comes to handling high temperatures, the biggest problem
for horses is their geometry. The horse’s body is big and
wide, and doesn’t dissipate heat well. There’s very little
body surface, relative to the size of their body, from which
they can get rid of heat. So, the organs inside the body stay
hot even while the body surface tries to radiate heat as fast
as it can. People take the added step of covering up the body
surface with a saddle and pad – or worse, forget to take off
their ever-present blankets – which further reduces the area
from which body heat can be lost.
The only other way that horses can try to cool off is to perspire
(sweat). As the water in sweat evaporates, it cools the horse,
slightly. But sweat also causes the horse to lose body water
and body salts (electrolytes), so, while it’s an effective
means of cooling, over time, excessive sweating can have some
bad consequences for the horse in terms of dehydrations, and,
in severe cases, weird abnormalities associated with electrolyte
loss.
With it being fairly well accepted that an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure, the best thing to do is to avoid
riding your horse in the heat entirely. If the temperature
is pushing up into the 90s, ride early in the morning, or
late in the evening, and don’t put your horse at risk. Keep
him in a stall, and, ideally, put a fan in the stall to keep
the air moving (but make sure he can’t reach the cord – electrocution
is no fun, either). If your horse is in pasture, make sure
that there’s cover, or shade, so that he can get out of the
sun.
During the day, make sure that your horse has free access
to fresh water. Check the water temperature, too – I’ve seen
situations where pipes bringing water to automatic systems
got hot, and the water in the bowl was too hot for the horse
to drink. If there are multiple horses in a pasture, put out
several water sources, so no one gets left out.
For horses that are resting, or not exercising excessively
in the heat, electrolyte supplementation generally isn’t needed.
Horse feed contains lots of salts, and, assuming that the
horse is eating normally, and the feed is good, there shouldn’t
be any need for supplemental salts. Giving a scoop of electrolytes
in the feed - or a tube of paste in the mouth - isn’t harmful,
but it’s not really doing much, either. If you’re so inclined,
you can make your own electrolyte mix by combining equal parts
of iodized salt and “Lite” salt, and save a bunch of money
in the process. A tablespoon a day should be more than enough.
If you are riding your horse in the heat, take some simple
steps to make sure that he stays as cool as possible:
-
Always allow your horse to drink
while he’s exercising. There’s an old myth out there that
says horses shouldn’t drink while their working, but that
myth is not only wrong, it’s dangerous.
-
Make concerted efforts to cool
your horse down, particularly if exercise is going to
be prolonged (endurance, eventing, etc.). Water is your
horse’s best friend when it comes to cooling. Hose baths,
followed by scraping – which helps the water evaporate
– are wonderful. Sponging the horse with a cold, wet sponge
can help, too.
-
Remove insulating materials,
such as saddles, blankets, or pads.
-
Consider clipping your horse
if he’s got a heavy coat – it’ll help him evaporate water
more easily.
-
Pink skinned horses can sunburn
– consider using heavy blocking ointments, such as zinc
oxide, on pink muzzles.
Heat stroke can happen in horses, and,
if it does, it’s an emergency that should require immediate
veterinary care. Watch for signs such as increased breathing
rate, or panting (normally, horses, breath 4 – 16 times per
minute), increased heart rate, profuse sweating, or worse,
no sweating at all, elevated body temperature (above 102 degrees
F), or depression.
Fortunately, most people seem to be pretty sensible when it
comes to riding and exercising horses when it’s hot outside.
Once a year, it seems that I’m treating a horse for problems
caused by owners who were careless with their horses in the
heat. Be careful, because what you might think is a perfect,
warm day for a long ride can be torture for your good friend.
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