They might not have it much worse farther north than DC (with the exception of the areas of the fires). This morning, the AQI sensors closest to me in MD range from 277-370 (very unhealthy to hazardous). My son has an outdoor job, is young enough to think nothing can happen to him, and his boss doesn’t seem to give a crap about the well-being of his employees.
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I’m on the eastern shore of Maryland. The smoke has been on/off bad here for quite a number of days now. We’ve had the haze from western Canada for weeks, but last week we started getting the ground level smoke from eastern Canada.
I rode lightly over the weekend, but haven’t ridden since (mostly due to lack of time).
I think the air quality is affecting both my family and my animals.
My son was up in the middle of the night sick and congested.
Both my husband and I feel congested and have scratchy throats.
For the past couple days, the horses have seem more quiet than usual. Nothing specifically wrong, but they aren’t diving into their feed with quite as much gusto. My donkey and my yearling were both slow to clean up their feed last night, but were fine physically when I checked them out. My alpha mare has been letting the yearling come in to eat first, when usually no one dares to try to go before the alpha mare. I’ve heard them coughing slightly more than usual, but it’s hard to say if that’s from the smoke or the fact that it’s been dry and dusty. Ironically the horse with low grade breathing problems is doing the best out of all of them. 
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Updating:
I rode very briefly in my indoor - maybe 1/2h W/T.
Horse coughed a couple times, so I quit, choosing Careful & Conservative over Braving It.
Sky to the East may be a bit hazy, or I may be seeing what I’m looking for
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This is the same chart my vet’s office circulated. We’ve ridden lightly in the indoor the last two early mornings with the AQI ranging from 135-160. Once it gets above that, we stop.
That 51-100 range verbiage
Health concerns rise for horses who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
That’s saying all horses are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
Not that concerns rise for the subset of all horses who happen to be unusually sensitive to pollution.
Am I reading that correctly?
It’s vague, but no. According to my vet, that means to limit to walk ONLY for those horses who have respiratory issues (we have one with a recent upper airway surgery, and another with heaves).
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Gotcha, so the next sentence is identifying some of those horses, ie those with heaves.
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I heard that on CBC this morning and I’m not surprised at all! Sounds like TO is still getting hit hard, Ottawa is rated good today, so racing tonight, though we’re supposed to get hit with more smoke tomorrow. At least our horses got out for a jog today. My DD said it was “entertaining”, especially the 2YO, who forgot she’s a good girl.
If I found this on this thread, I apologize. There is a site: AirNow.gov where you can type in your zip code and get the air quality assessment for your specific area.
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This site is great–I’ve been checking it all day, for my locale and also the regional map.
Your son is out working under those conditions? Jesus.
I felt like crap when I unwisely went outside to run for even a short period of time (I stopped).
The website airnow.gov someone shared is so helpful, but depressing to think we all might have to check that every morning, along with the weather.
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There are also Purple Air Sensors that show real time air quality. Google them and click on maps. They tend to show a higher AQI, but are really helpful because monitors are not located in all areas.
Thanks for the link.
Sigh… Local Yokels are putting on their First Ever horse show this weekend.
Today was the Youth Show - 4H kids mostly.
Fri-Sun is the extravaganza of 160+ classes for all. Starting at 10A & into the night.
I doubt anyone has paid the least attention to Air Quality. Or will for the rest of the weekend.
I’m going to spectate tomorrow & hang with a friend.
If I hear horses coughing I’ll go home.
Because this crowd largely ignores things like Safety.
Kids of all ages warmup sans helmets.
So what’s a little hazy air gonna mean to them?
Nothing 
I heard on the local news that being out in the air in my area for 15 minutes is equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes. 
Someone on FB suggested I should have my horses in the barn with an air purifier running. 
I don’t know about y’all, but my barn is not airtight (on purpose) and I definitely don’t own a barn-sized air purifier.
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It’s important to keep the horses quiet. Tearing around in pasture when the air quality is bad can damage their lungs.
Having been through this twice, I find it’s best to be extra cautious.
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Anyone else having beautiful weather while this is happening?
Yankee Pony has been getting lots of grooming, mane and tail conditioning, and hand grazing.
Hilarious!
To my mind, horses coughing means you’ve already, likely, done damage??
I wouldn’t. But that’s me
Ugh, well I guess the person meant well–people don’t always understand barn design (just like some people get upset when horses are out in the cold).
How are all the human barn workers coping? Mercifully, the AQI in my area is now back to safe levels. I was surprised during the worst of it to see landscapers and pool companies still out and working, since that’s not really “essential” for a day or two.
LOL at this point I’ve heard:
- 15 min outside = 1 cigarette
- 1 hr outside = 1 cigarette
- and now, 15 min outside = 1/2 pack of cigarettes
I guess they could all have been true at different times! Regardless of what the number is, I know I don’t want any part of it. Things are looking a bit better here this morning. Now if we could just get some rain… has it been very dry over there too, @Texarkana? My dentist and farrier who both come from near Winchester, VA, were horrified at how crispy my grass is because theirs isn’t like that. The dentist asked, “What happened to your grass!?”
Sadly, that doesn’t surprise me. This is their busy season and, sorry to generalize, but I doubt that many of the people making the decisions at those companies care if their entry-level workers suffer health consequences, potentially years later. I’ve been feeling awful for all the landscapers, construction workers, etc the past few days! Least likely to get replaced by AI…most likely to suffer from climate change.
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Yesterday he told me that one of the 60 year old smokers on the job said “we really shouldn’t be out in these conditions” and the boss said “yeah, I feel sorry for you guys” and that was the extent of anyone worrying about it. They’re not getting health insurance, either. Luckily, conditions are much better today and we’re back in the “moderate” range.
