Constant fan use

[Merlin_the_Mule]

Does always keeping a fan on your horse affect his ability to handle heat when ridden?

I have a well-ventilated bank barn. Very open. One of my boarders wants a fan on her horse constantly even at 70 degrees. She doesn’t want her horse to sweat at all. I have never used fans on my horses that much. I turn them on at about 80 degrees. I am an eventer and will work my horses in the heat because they have event in the heat. So I do use the fans but not as much as this boarder wants. Plus there is often a breeze. It is a really cool barn.

I just wondered if keeping a fan on them constantly would make it harder for them to cope when it is really hot either when ridden in the heat or turned out in it. Horses are turned out at night. I am in Virginia.

[No1]

One theoretical cause of anhidrosis is the over stimulation of sweat glands. So, keeping a horse from sweating unnecessarily isn’t really a bad thing. That said, I don’t turn on fans until it’s in the 80s either.

[SusanO]

Is the boarder going to pay the electric bill? We are having a somewhat cooler summer so far than we usually have. But I still have tons of gnats and the flies are ramping up and I haven’t turned on the fly system yet. I am running the fans for the bugs as well as the temperature. And it has been really humid too and a breeze helps. Both of my guys like to have a breeze. We had some bad storms and I have been without power. Neither wanted to be outside and were noticeably happier when I got power back and their fans came on.

[Lusoluv]

I wouldn’t worry about a horse’s health due to constant fan use. If the horse was on 24/7 turnout, there would always be some sort of breeze. I would be more concerned about the fan’s safety rating and power use. If the fan has an enclosed motor, is not a fire risk and the boarder is willing to pay an electricity surcharge, then I wouldn’t be concerned.

[LCDR]

A typical box fan uses 2.4 KWH per day, running constantly. My electric co-op’s rate has peak (24 cents per KWH) and off-peak hours (6 cents per KWH) , and applying those rates over the day, it costs me 24 cents to run a fan for 24 hours.

Your fan motor’s rating and your electric rates will vary, but do the math for your own situation so you know what to offer to reimburse the barn operator for electricity to keep a fan going for your own horse when the expense is mentioned.

[GraceLikeRain]

I don’t see why it would impact future sweating. Doesn’t seem unreasonable to me both in terms of ask or cost. In a stall mine would love a fan in the 70s if an option.

[SusanO]

I don’t use box fans and math was never my strong point but the 20 inch fans I use (3) pretty much double my power bill down in the barn. Especially when it is beastly hot and the in/out horse gets hers on 24/7. This is not an exact comparison because the fly system is usually running at the same time. I don’t have a huge power bill down there, but I spend a good bit more KWH’s than before fan season. I will have to check my next power bill.

[endlessclimb]

I put my fans on thermostats.

Automatically on at 80 degrees or above, auto off if below. Fans are sealed/enclosed.

[CHT]

It is your barn, you set the rules. I agree with the idea of putting the fans on a thermostat. Is it possible the horse in question has had issues before with its skin, so they don’t want it sweating when they aren’t there to rinse it off right away (such as you would after a ride)?

I could see that it would be harder to acclimate to hot if you are always in air conditioning other than when worked, but a fan doesn’t really cool the air, it just moves it to dry sweat.

[SusanO]

That is the best way to do it. I know people that do the same thing. I hate hot. And today after all the storms it was still in the upper 70’s but the humidity was unbearable. I was sweating doing basically nothing. And the Cushings pony said he was hot too. So if I am hot, they can get a breeze.

[trubandloki]

I have fans on more to keep bugs off the horses and to cool them.

I would not think having a fan on a stalled horse would make them heat intolerant.
I work in an air conditioned building all day but I still do all kinds of things outside in the evening and on weekends.

I find the electric bill for the barn, with over head fans and stall fans running is still way less than the winter barn electric bill with heated buckets and a trough heater.

[tabula_rashah]

IDK about my horses but I’d go for a fan on me 24/7 even in the winter lol

If I had a set up where I could keep fans on for my guys all the time I’d def do it. More to keep the bugs away but also because everything here is so wet feeling the humidity all the time

[LCDR]

My fans are each on separate motion sensors so only run when a horse is in the stall. Mine come and go 24/7 so the fans only run when a horse enters the stall to eat or relax.

I got the idea from a boarding barn where the penny-pinching owner was always complaining about boarders leaving fans on when they took their horses out to groom and ride.

[GraceLikeRain]

Continuously being 24 hours a day?

[LCDR]

I use continuously to mean 24 hours a day. In my case, my fans will come on at night only if a horse moves in front of the sensor. The fan shuts off after 10 minutes when the sensor no longer sees any movement. Through trial and error I have each sensor mounted high up in each stall’s corner, at an angle such that it isn’t affected by motion in the aisle or an adjacent stall.

[SusanO]

That is a really cool solution. It would not change the fan use for my mare - as soon as the sun comes up she retreats to her stall and only leaves for as long as it takes to pee. Finally when it gets dark she ventures outside to eat grass. She does not do bugs at all. Unfortunately the others do not have an in/out setup. Fans can be as much for bug avoidance as for cooling. And they sure make stall cleaning not as miserable when you are in a breeze! I have heard of thermostats but the motion detector is even better.

[Annie10]

I like the motion detector idea too. Can you tell us what you have? Do the fans just plug into the detector,?

[ParadoxFarm]

@trubandloki

I have fans on more to keep bugs off the horses and to cool them.

Yes, this exactly! Mine are on in the 70ºs for sure, because we do get flies in the barn. This seems to help.

[fourfillies]

My electrician was able to put my fan receptacles on a thermostat. It wasn’t expensive and has been a game changer. No need to put on early AM because it’s going to be 85 in the afternoon. I put mine at 80. There are cubes that do the same thing that wouldn’t work for me, based on how my ceiling plugs are configured

[Pepsy]

Hi, A question . those of you with closed motor fans, does the box around the motor get warm or even hot?