Four Tips to Help Your Horse Beat the Summer Heat

From providing water and electrolytes to monitoring the temperatures and riding accordingly, remember these top tips.
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Four Tips to Help Your Horse Beat the Summer Heat
Especially during the busy summer travel and show season, it’s important to make sure your horse is not becoming overheated, stays sufficiently hydrated, and remains comfortable, even when temperatures soar. | Photo: iStock
Heat and humidity place an added burden on horses during training, competition, and transportation. Especially during the busy summer travel and show season, it’s important to make sure your horse is not becoming overheated, stays sufficiently hydrated, and remains comfortable, even when temperatures soar.

“Horses are better equipped to work in cold weather than in the heat,” said Katie Young, PhD, equine nutritionist and manager equine technical services for Purina Animal Nutrition. “They build up a tremendous amount of body heat as a result of fiber digestion and muscle exertion, plus insulation from their haircoats and body fat, and hot, humid weather can make heat dissipation extremely difficult.”

Young and Karen Davison, PhD, equine nutritionist and sales support manager, shared the following tips for horse owners to help ensure a healthy summer season.

1. Head off heat stress.

A horse’s main cooling mechanism is evaporation of sweat from the skin surface. Increased humidity reduces this evaporation, decreasing the horse’s ability to cool down. Under extreme heat, especially with high humidity, the body’s cooling mechanisms might not work well enough to dissipate the heat generated. This can lead to heat stress, which is hard on the body and can impair performance

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