Well it’s summer.  Beautiful, warm breezes, long summer days, fun at the beach or mountains, just hanging out with your friends.  No more winter hair, blankets, frozen buckets, trying to keep warm as you chop the frozen manure, Ah Summer.  We’ve moved from the seasons of ice and snow, through the season of mud, into the season of bugs and sweat.  Horse people see the seasons of the year a little different from non-horse people.

As you’re sitting there enjoying a beer, frozen daiquiri, pina colada, sweet tea (southern thing) or soda (pop), don’t forget your four-legged party goer.

A horses body is made of  60-70% water, and it depletes fast in the summer.  Make sure that they have plenty of CLEAN water.  Yes a horse will drink anything to stay alive, but they will drink more if the water is clean.  The more the better.  It keeps the internal organs functioning properly, it keeps the food stuffs moving through the digestive system more smoothly, and it keeps their overall condition in better shape.

Monitor how much your horse is drinking in the stall.  In the pasture it is harder, especially if you have automatic waters.  If you are in doubt if he is properly hydrated pinch (pull) the skin on his neck.  If he’s hydrated it will go right back into place, if he’s not, it will stay puckered up.  The longer it takes the more dehydrated he is.  Make sure he has salt to replenish what he loses in sweating.  Make sure he is sweating.  If a horse stops sweating you’ve got big problems.  This will cause over heating.  I don’t recommend products.  There may be many good products on the market.  I know people who have had success with 1-AC.  I’ve had acupuncture done on my horses and put them on potassium chloride (1/2 teaspoon) which I’ve purchased at Lowes.  My vet recommended it years ago.  It comes in rock form and you pound it with a hammer until it’s like salt crystals. It’s used in water filtration systems.  I’ve always had success with both acupuncture and potassium chloride.  This is where the old saying “Go pound salt” must come from.  Hate the job, love the outcome.  I also put a teaspoon of MoorMan’s Minerals in their food in the morning.

Remember that when the level of humidity is higher than the air temperature a horse cannot cool itself.  If you decide to hose him down, remember to scrape the excess water off.  If you leave cool water on a hot horse the horses body temperature will heat the water and then you have hot water on a hot horse.  If you scrape the water off and just leave a wet horse the breeze will blow across the horse’s skin and cool it.

A very wise horseman years ago told me if you won’t drink it, don’t expect your horse to drink it.

Bottoms Up!