I have been following this in the news 
How do you care for your horses when it is 115 degrees for a week? Are water and electrolytes enough? Hugs to those living under these conditions.
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Waterāfresh and with electrolytes, Iāve also done a ābuffetā of water buckets with things like gatorade, molasses, elytes, etc to encourage drinking. 4 tbsp salt in their grain ration. Go out to hose horses off every 2-3 hours. Misters in sheds, if feasible. Mine live out 24/7 so weāve erected a bunch of shade cloth, they seem to appreciate that. Buy ice by the 20lb bag and add to water and in sheds. Keep fingers crossed and closely monitor vital signs.
Thus far mine are all doing well, but it is definitely very stressful.
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I never did anything special. I live in S. Florida so my horse was used to the muggy heat. I just never rode after 8:30 am or before 6:30-7pm neither one of us would have enjoyed it .
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While not 115 we have already had a few 100 and 99 degree days with a heat index well into the 100s+ with humidity. Just make sure they have plenty of fresh clean water right by the shelter. They seem unfazed .
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I canāt speak to super muggy heat as a general ruleāIām in Northern CA, so mostly just plain hot, although 110 at 40% humidity does suck, though I suspect not as much as 90 at 80%. If my field had more natural shade I would probably be less proactive, but with only one tree, open-sided shelter, and a west-facing field, it gets pretty nasty on the 105+ degree days. Thankfully it cools down okay overnight but it was still 91 at 8AM yesterday.
Mine were born and raised in the desert. They do very well in the heat. I provide shade and plenty of water. I only supplement electrolytes if they have been sweating. Most of them donāt need them. They tolerate the heat much better than I do. I wait til the sun is waning to ride, but other than that, nothing special.
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I recently visited the lava caves in northern California, and if I were boarding horses anymore, Iād think hard about digging a cave. They were so cool in the terrible heat wave.
Wouldnāt do for riding, but would do for just keeping them comfortable.
Another SoCal resident. My horse lived outside 24/7 in the desert for a year or so, with summer temps being 100+ most days. We just made sure there was constant access to cool water and put out a salt lick as they were just on free-choice hay, no grain. My mare never had any problems with the heat, but she was young, healthy, and used to the heat.
Once she was not out 24/7 (and closer), I made sure she had a fan, misters, added electrolytes to her meals, made her flavored slushies/popsicles, and generally fussed over her. There was no real change in her condition though she liked all the pampering.
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Not 115 here but in southern Middle Tennessee the dew points have been in low 70ās with real temps in the low 90ās that equals bucking miserable far as Iām concerned.
I have 42ā drum fans on industrial timers aimed at the horses. They run in/out 24/7 and have mostly put themselves on night grazing. The 29 yr old Walking Horse tolerates daytime grazing better than the 27+ Dutch Warmblood.
I add about 1/2 cup of water to their supplements & TC SR. at feeding time. They have white salt next to their water stations, one of which is under the overhang and stays cool during the day. They have free choice hay in the barn 24/7.
I will cold hose them down on the worst days, in their pulse areas and their nether areas. Most of the time I donāt need to halter for them that, they just come up to the water hose.
So-far-so-good.
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Weāre under excessive heat warnings right now, but honestly we donāt do much different. We fill waters about twice as often as usual, but thatās good because our horses are drinking. No extra electrolytes or anything. My gelding eats a smidge less in the summers, but he keeps weight on well so we just watch him.
We have a mare and baby this year, and we were a little concerned about the baby because she hadnāt lost her baby fluff. However, we went after her with a curry comb for a few days and then she finally shed that coat, now sheās slick and unbothered.
Since I work a corporate job with corporate hours and am not competing right now, I am only riding before 7AM on the weekends. Even the evenings are too hot right now. Most of my cutter & cow horse trainer friends are starting at 2-3AM to be done before lunch.
Fans and shade, offer plenty of water, refreshing it often so itās cool (but not ice cold). When mine sweat, I rinse and scrape, then put them under the fans. I bought high quality sealed motor fans that move a ton more air than the ābox fansā sold in big box stores. Best buy ever!
I trace clipped my IR/Cushings boy who maintains a mid-winter coat length even after shedding out a horseās worth of hair this spring. That makes him so much more comfortable. But reality is, we can only do so much. The biggest thing I monitor is water intake. Soupy beet pulp is always on the menu but it gets a bit soupier in hot weather (made and kept indoors so it doesnāt ferment in the heat!). Salt also increases that intake.
Horses come inside under fans at 7 AM and donāt return outside until 7 PM. Fill water 3-4x daily.
I also have paint horses, so regardless, we try to keep them inside in the summer anyway to prevent skin cancer/sun damage. But this heat is next level. I know multiple horses who have stopped sweating this year; my farrier has taken to bringing his portacool on appointments.
We donāt get terribly high temps here, but the humidity is often at least 70% if not more. So even at 75 or 80 degrees, humidity like that makes you feel like you need gills to breath. I tend to not ride much if the combined total of the temp/humidity is above 150 and it gets close to that most days in the summer/early fall.
My horse is heat sensitive as well so he gets full body clipped, is on OneAC, Apple-a-day electrolytes, and gets an occasional Guinness on a very miserable day. When we ride he gets a shower after to help cool down and sometimes a shower if its just hot out. Fans in the stall and a huge fan that circulates through the aisle way too. We have trees for shade in our pastures as well as run ins if they want to get a break from the sun. I am also heat/sun sensitive as well so we tend to do more riding in the indoor, and later in the day once the mid day heat starts to subside. Trails in the woods are good too, also usually later in the day.
Iām in the middle of Texas under that unrelenting high pressure system and this summer has felt like the ninth circle of hell - to me. The horses, OTOH, seem to be fine. I have lots of trees in the pasture and we generally have a fairly decent breeze out of the south, so they are not really in any discomfort. My barn faces south and opens to the north, but they donāt use it during the day and stay out under the trees. I will turn the stall fans on in the evenings when they come up to eat, but turn them off again once supper is done. The breeze makes them unnecessary.
They appear to be grazing normally, but have a favorite napping spot under a tree that they visit often. Iām keeping up with water demands and checking troughs several times a day, but the good news with high pressure systems is that the humidity is not as bad and the horses are not staying drenched in sweat. I know they are sweating some, but it dries quickly and they just have salt residue that I rinse off in the evenings.
And, we have no flies. Bonus of the drought.
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How do people tell if the horses are NOT fine, though?
Someone mentioned above a horse that was not sweating anymore. That would be a sign.
But they canāt really tell you how they feel, so how do you tell?
I donāt know if I learned this and have forgotten, or if I never learned about this.
How I judge how one of my horses feels is by such things as, are they interested in their food (do they clean their bowl?), are they drinking as much as usual, do they seem bright-eyed and interested in life, if a talker ā are they talking as usual, are they moving as well as usual, how does their manure look (appearance and quantity), if I see them urinate ā how does the stream appear as to color and quantity, do I see sufficient wet spots in stall or paddock, what are their TPRs (temperature, pulse, respiration), are they standing around with head lowered looking miserable, do they eagerly accept a treat or carrot piece?
Supposed to be able to check for dehydration by looking for skin tenting on the neck ā pick up a fold of skin, let it go, does it snap right back or not.
My guy gets fecal water syndrome flareups. Unlike many horses with FWS flaring up in the winter, the heat stress seems to be our trigger. Other than that, youād probably never know.
Respiration increase and sweating. Signs of discomfort. Agitation or lethargy. Kind of the same as in humans. If your horse is panting thatās a bad sign! When the PNW hit 116 two years ago, I lost two chickens to the heat (in hindsight they should have come into our cool(er) insulated garage, as fans werenāt enough for them) and if itās forecast over 100, Iāll get misters for the horses. Mine have an overhang to stay under, and enormous oaks, but theyāll stand in the sun even over 100! Or up under the overhang, which faces west so is extra hot in the evening.
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I have one horse who will sweat more than the other 2. Just like people?
How you can tell is that the horse will be showing signs of distress( sweating or not) as far as heavy blowing or just looking uncomfortable. Mine stand out in the blazing midday heat/ humidity happily eating grass and I go out to check them and I am drenched in sweat.
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same here in North Texas, flies are gone
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