How do people deal with heat and humidity!!?? Ugh.

[Calvincrowe]

Let me start off by saying this might be a bit self-pitying and vent-y. This is the PNW people, the west side: cool, misty, green. Um…not for the last three weeks! It is hot, dry, humid and did I mention hot?! We are not used to these Virginia-like conditions.:no::lol: The highs have been in the 90s for 5 days, humidity this morning is 74% with a temp of 72 at 7am. No relief in sight–seriously, they predict 88-100 for the next 7 days, which would leave us with no rain for better than a month. Our town just declared a Stage 2 Water Emergency–restrictions going in place. Pastures are crispy, ground is dust. Granted, our local hay growers are beside themselves with joy, having gotten a fantastic crop this year.

Now, whine fest over: how do you deal with this? I have a wee farmette, two horses, chickens, bunny–the whole dealio. What works to keep everyone cool (ish) and comfy? I cannot irrigate pasture, so that’s out, but anything that makes life easier here would be great.

Okay, one more minor whine: I have two weeks of shows back to back starting Wednesday. Ugh. Ways to keep cool there would be appreciated too. I show jumpers, and our schedule says we show first thing in the AM (yay!) and I have a stall gate for pony, fan, cooler full of water for me.

I feel cooler just having written this. Well, not really, but the power of positive thoughts, right?! Maybe it’s the fan and AC in the house after cleaning stalls.:winkgrin:

[purplnurpl]

shut down shop. lol

the horses have to come in and everyone is under fans. with a huge fan blowing right down the barn isle.
Our bunny usually is moved in doors. However she has been doing well with frozen coke bottles. We have a few in the freezer and we swap them out during the day for her.

All last week it didn’t get below 80* at night. The humidity was up there. This morning it felt sooo cool! was 72* at 6am and the humidity was finally down.

I’m a sweater. I walk outside and I’m immediately drenched. When I’m home I have to take a good 3 showers a day and I go through several sets of clothes.

I have to have the horses ridden by 10am. Or wait until midnight and ride under the lights.

I will not show. period. I can’t handle being soaked at shows.

[Zu_Zu]

Do the ‘minimal’ and wait it out !

Do the ‘minimal’ and wait it out !

Frequent breaks and water water water everywhere even on your head ! :lol::winkgrin:

[TheJenners]

I rode yesterday in the middle of day, such a bad idea. Not very long and mostly lateral work at the walk to begin (he hates this, so we do lots). But still…

After I cooled him off, hosed, etc, I parked him in the barn in the shade where it’s at least 10 degrees cooler, then lay down on the concrete floor to leach off some of my own body heat. The earth will steal your heat, hence why first aid teaches us to put blankets under people if we only have one, so I used the same concept to cool down.

So if you start feeling ick, find a place to lay down.

[Calvincrowe]

What do you do with the frozen bottles–are they for drinking or so bun can lay beside them.

Fan going in barn tonight, as they boys just gently sweat but do not want to be left outside. They have lots of shade during the day and seem quite happy with it all. I"m sure my barn swallows will appreciate a breeze too.

To make it the show worse, I wear an eventing vest. My own personal sauna. Too bad it doesn’t actually promote weight loss.

[Calvincrowe]

Jenners-- I skipped my 1:30 lesson yesterday, but will ride at 10 today. My eventing vest is a special addition that I wear like a hot hair shirt on days like this. At the show, we’ll have shade and cold drinks. I will make sure to bring a clean small towel to soak in cold water to put on the back of my neck. I get terrible headaches when I ride in the heat–and yes, I’m fully hydrated (pale pee!). It’s just me.

[ReSomething]

We stay in. At all the barns I’ve been at there have been fans set up, one per stall, and then a monster fan at the head of the barn aisle. Some barns do night turnout and then everybody is in under the fans during the day. I am off to work at 7:30 so I don’t often do stalls before I go to work, what I do is wait till about dusk and go out and start to clean and get feed ready and what not. DH is out most of the day and also showers at least two times and runs through two to three sets of underwear and socks but tries to reuse the pants, otherwise we’d be doing laundry every darn day.

THIS is why the Saddlebred people have their shows start at 7PM on Friday night.

[vineyridge]

If you have to work in these conditions, clothing is the answer. I live where it is always hot and humid, and here are the clothes that I have found to work.
Pure cotton, no denim, light colors and no knits. Loosely fitting so your sweat has a chance to evaporate . Big hats, and a wet bandana tied around your neck.

My favorite summer work clothes are white/natural painters overalls that do not touch the body anywhere and a large, loose fitting woven cotton shirt in white. I also have a large number of white pants, but prefer the painter’s overalls. I remember the layers of clothes that cotton chopping gangs used to wear when I was growing up. I also remember the clothing that East Indians and Malaysian/Indonesians commonly wear.

I haven’t tried many technical fabrics, but prefer natural fibers to manufactured ones for environmental reasons.

Learn from what other people in the world have done to deal with heat and humidity.

Do your physical activity between 6:30 am and 9 am, and betwen 6pm and 9 pm.

[RedmondDressage]

Ugh I’m dying in this hell too I don’t know if it’s the weather or some kind of bug but I’ve felt terrible ever since it got hot. I was supposed to ride this morning but missed my window so I’m hanging out in the master bedroom, which is the coolest place in the house. (On a side note, if my SO ever tries to cut down the dense overgrown jungle of bushes on this side of the house there will be hell to pay :lol:)

The horses look fairly miserable, although the upside of our WA greenery is that they have nice spots of shade all day long. My old guy is the smartest - he uses the water trough to splash around and drench himself and let’s me spray him down right in the paddock. The others have clearly not figured out how nice it feels and run away.

What I’m most worried about is the 4th next week. I cannot believe they haven’t banned fireworks. Everything is just tinder waiting to go up. It makes absolutely no sense to me

[HorsesinHaiti]

From Haiti, my personal approach:

I really try to save any horse work for mornings, so I’m only riding on weekends now. I wear light cotton or silk skirts for airflow, with cotton slips/ undergarments, and changes as needed. You can do most barn work in a skirt, really. Anything to cool and dry ‘down under’ and avoid prickly heat.

Light natural fiber tops, loose cut. My ideal is a light linen dress that needs no slip and hangs from my shoulders straight down, with just enough scoop neck so that I can recycle all the air next to my body by leaning forward when I’m by a breeze or a floor fan :lol: Hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

There are covered square sponge like things you can wet down and then put in your freezer, then stick in your helmet while you ride. They are wonderful if your/ a helmet will allow that extra volume between it and your head. Thinner is better for safety reasons.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

In the South, we perspire, we don’t sweat.
And ride in early morning or just before dark. And if you have the money, in a covered arena. We’re going to try solar for an indoor. The South is just the opposite of the North as winter is good for us, but summer is so bad now. Call it climate change or whatever, the summers are hotter now and are miserable. Even with all the rain. At least we are not in a drought as much of the country is.

[TheJenners]

[QUOTE=Calvincrowe;8207272]
I get terrible headaches when I ride in the heat–and yes, I’m fully hydrated (pale pee!). It’s just me.[/QUOTE]

Neat trick…try Midol. It was my go-to for horse shows when I lived in Alabama :dead:.

I remember living there, drinking water and Gatorade all day long and still not peeing until 7pm and it being the color of coffee. Sooo not good. Two days ago I went for a run before it got too hot, then did normal stuff, drank a gallon of water and a liter of cold green tea and still hard dark pee. Global warming is not kind to us. Water will be the new gold.

[hoopoe]

the most important aspect of cooling horses is air movement

outside or inside air movement is key when cooling. If you sponge off, make sure the horse is either outside in shady breeze or under a fan. Even hand walking in the shade is better

without air movement, the water simply picks up and holds body heat

[horsepoor]

[QUOTE=RedmondDressage;8207284]

What I’m most worried about is the 4th next week. I cannot believe they haven’t banned fireworks. Everything is just tinder waiting to go up. It makes absolutely no sense to me [/QUOTE]

There are a lot of us in this state, I think, that are feeling this way. I live in an area that is treed and brushy and on a hillside, homes scattered all over – lots of fuel to burn and it won’t take much to start it. I have just a 2 horse trailer and 3 horses here so thinking I might move one off site “just in case” this week. It is scary.

The humidity hasn’t been too bad here – and I’m one that is super sensitive. Today and tomorrow promise to be fairly sticky, but then it will be hot and dry again…I’m trying to get most barn work done in the morning, horses out, then back in under fans in the hot part of the day. I wish I could do night turnout but these guys can’t be out that long. I still have grass, but it is waning fast. Our house is staying cool but I’m getting tired of being a shut in – my allergies have kept me in for a week now and I’m getting tired of it!

This has cured me of complaining of the rainy springs here, that’s for sure. I just looked at the long range forecast (hot and dry…) and about cried. If it weren’t for the horses, I’d pack us all up and go to the coast.

[ladyj79]

From Mid-Atlantic, to Florida, to Texas, I found the solution was “move to Belgium”

[Abbie.S]

Complain. Hose horses off during day and stick them under fans. Complain some more. Drink large quantities of water. Complain more. Prepare ice bath in pasture water trough. Move on to bitching, instead of complaining.

Basically, do as little as possible, and hope for a cold front.

[pluvinel]

If it is really hot, I just hose the horse and drench him with cool water before I get on…helps the cooling with the added evaporation. We don’t a lot of strenuous stuff.

[Jazzy_s_mom]

I rode on friday, it was 91. I was soaked in sweat just grooming. My mare was comfortable though. I think we worry a bit too much about them when they aren’t being worked. Fresh clean water and shade and they are usually fine. I felt horrible for my trainer who was riding horses and teaching all day. It was just miserable.
It was so muggy saturday that although cooler, I didn’t ride in the morning when I was at the barn. Went for a nice trail ride with a friend and her two horses around 8pm last night and it was so nice.
Amazon sells a mister kit that is a little over $10. My sister in law bought two and ran them on the overhead beams on her deck…so awesome. Just a nice fine cool mist that is really refreshing.

[anon38350891]

I’m a firm believer that if you hose your horse, you have to scrape thoroughly or hot water is trapped next to the skin and all cooling is inhibited. You can check this by putting your fingers up against the skin and letting them sit there for a few seconds to see how hot that water has become and how fast.

[Callista17]

I have a horrible problem with heat. It makes me very sick and I feel like I get heat exhaustion to the point I can’t cool down and start vomiting. I’m definitely following this thread. I have mentioned it to my Dr, but he just says “don’t do anything”. With horses at home, its impossible!