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  • From: Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>
  • To: MSAR <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] Dealing with the heat
  • Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:18:52 -0700 (PDT)

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: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:56:54 +0000
From: no name name none <blindrodie@hotmail.com>
Subject: [MSAR] Dealing with heat.
To: Mounted Search and Rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
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Karen said, "Dealing with the heat."

Hydration, hydration, hydration- both you and your horse. If you are thirsty, it's too late!

Just the tip of the iceberg yes, but a great place to start...

Jim

---->>>>
 
 
EXCELLENT!  ok, here is what we have done.  On the road, we pack the paste tubes that carry electrolytes in them, Cant have too many and right now, I am having a heck of a time even getting any.  The pasters are great because you do the horse individually and YOU know you got the stuff in them.
 
There are packets you can get to add to water.  Just leaving a bucket full will not cut it, horses can and do turn their noses up at the stuff and then many times to if you leave the water unattended, it gets spilled and wasted doing nothing for you other than eating your pocket book and of course the equine goes to suffer.  But if your horse is used to gettign the "flavoured water" then you can get in the habit of give it and go.  You can do the water troughs, but id you do not watch to see who is getting water either by pinching or visibly seeing them you cannot efficientl;y monitor the water intake for that individual.  Horses can drink upwards of 20 gallons of water a day and depending on their size.  And by all means keep the troughs as clean as possible,  Mosquito larve can occur in about 14 days.
 
We have salt licks.  One white brine to white we will put out in the pasture.  And one mineral up at the barn and both are free access.  The mineral often has copper in it so if you are raising sheep with your horses, you cannot put the mineral block out, but the white brine is safe for them.  There are cattle licks if you have cows with your equines too.

Ideally we like having a good supply of the pasters though.  Just wish getting them at this time of year was not so difficult becasue EVERYONE is using them too!  Supply and demand and so you have to what your stock and it is easy to get caught empty handed.
 
Checking for hydration... get familiar with the pinch!  To check your own pinch the skin on the top of your hand to see how resilient it is.  If it instantly goes back your good to go.  If not, your needing to take care of yourself.  Magic potion. WATER....You see all kinds of bottled water there these days.  And Gator aid is one of the all time greats.  Gator aAid will work on horses as well if you cannot find th eother equine products.  As you said, thirst is a good indicator, but the hydration is in the skin.
 
To check your horse, pinch him in the triagle of the neck.  If your leaving a wrinkle, you got an issue. Get that horse all the water he will take and if he will not take in water, try some salt to get him licking his chops.  Ask your vetrinarian for more details on this so he can help  you front up on what to look for.  When pinching, you dont have to squeeze hard just enough to lift the skin in a small fold and to see how quickly it returns flat.  YOu can kind of roll the pinch and if it slides nice, your pretty go to go.
 
What I am going through in the beastly heat we have right now is that with this killer humidity I am pinching and checking onthe critters about every 4 hours  Some animals here need more watchinng, especially the old thin mare.  We have discovered with her as she gets hay in the evening at night she is losing hyrdrating, but during the day in the heat and in the sun on grass she is holding.  The fat mare is out there getting lazy while my trim mares and stallion are holding very nicely.
 
Worming helps too.  Keeping up to date on a regular program is a great benefit.  There are many wormers on the market, finding the ones that fit your needs sometimes can be tricky.  Getting a fecal check can tell you exactly what to warm for.  Dont expect all horses in the herd to have the same worm issue.  Keeping the pens clean, keeping your pastures properly mowed not only takes care of some weeds too, but dragging them helps disperse the manure and by all means get rid of the manure and not have a pile up near your barns helps.  Dumping manure in wetlands is not proper. Spreading it with a manure spreader is good as is incorperating it to the ground by other conveyances.  Composting the manure is good, but you have to keep at it, you absolutely CANNOT let that manure pile sit without turning it or adding the proper materials to get it to heat and you sure do not need a manure pile heating up near your barns.  Re-sand or put fresh dirt in your loafing sheds from time to time.  We try to do it minimum once a year, but 6 moinths is better.  You haul the old out and bring in fresh.  Just a few at home suggestions that will help in daily routine.
 
Sponging the horses or giving them baths helps cool them and rinces the salt off their skins that they have sweated.  If your horse is not able to sweat, then you got an issue.
 
On the train, I like to take a canteen just with water for the horse and carry a sponge.  Endurance riders do this and can cool their horses a bit.  ANd speakign of endurance riding, that is an excellent place to learn all about hydration and what to do if you dont already.  There is more to it than what I have here.. but like you said, thats  part of the tip of the iceburg.  Hotbloods cool more efficently than as do cold or warm bloods, but all depends too on naturally the conditioning.  Soft flabby horses   Oh and then there are those PR's. 
 
So ok, what about them?  Pulse and respiration, anyone!?
Just some of my 2c!
   Karen
 



  • [MSAR] Dealing with the heat, Karen Nesbitt, 06/22/2009

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