Horses / Ponies out in the Sun

charlieIRL

What does everyone do in this warm weather with their ponies / horses?

Unfortunately the land i have for my 2 has very little shelter so am currently constructing a portable field shelter. I have them brought in since yesterday morning to keep them out of the sun for the next few days. I'll probably let them out for a few hours tonight but bring them in later on. Loads of water and plenty of hay, is there anything else you can do for them to keep them safe?

isaos

If you have a shelter, even portable, let them free to go in and out: temperature might be worse in the shelter than outside after a while. No panic, horses can deal with heat better than us in most cases. You might want to spray them against flies. As long as they have a constant supply of fresh water they will be fine - remember that hay will make them even more thirsty!

If they are stabled when not in the fields, let them out all night - same thing, it depends of how hot your stables will get?

My horses are lucky as they have access to 2 shelters, they spend most of the day in the coolest one..

isaos

charlieIRL wrote: »

What does everyone do in this warm weather with their ponies / horses?

Unfortunately the land i have for my 2 has very little shelter so am currently constructing a portable field shelter.

Out of curiosity what kind of portable shelter are you building? I would be interested to know as I have often wished I could have something like that in the other fields...

TheFarrier

Make sure they have plenty of water and the grey and chestnut ones get suncream on there faces and pink bits.

Most breed of horse are from hotter climes than Ireland, they can look after themselves

charlieIRL

isaos wrote: »

charlieIRL wrote: »

What does everyone do in this warm weather with their ponies / horses?

Unfortunately the land i have for my 2 has very little shelter so am currently constructing a portable field shelter.

Out of curiosity what kind of portable shelter are you building? I would be interested to know as I have often wished I could have something like that in the other fields...

We have a large digger at home so everything is portable!!

I got 15 foot poles that we use for practice jumps for the 4 corners, 2x1 frame nailed to the top and an old white lorry cover to go over it. Making the shelter the size of the cover to allow for some of it to overlap down the sides. Should be about 15ft squared.

charlieIRL

TheFarrier wrote: »

Make sure they have plenty of water and the grey and chestnut ones get suncream on there faces and pink bits.

Most breed of horse are from hotter climes than Ireland, they can look after themselves

Do you think they would be ok outside in the sun with suncream? I would have thought they would overheat like us.

What kinda suncream? Like what we use or is there horse specific ones? Sorry never heard of it before!!

TheFarrier

charlieIRL wrote: »

Do you think they would be ok outside in the sun with suncream? I would have thought they would overheat like us.

What kinda suncream? Like what we use or is there horse specific ones? Sorry never heard of it before!!

I just use the strongest spf I can find. Grey or chestnut or coloured horses (any with pink skin exposed) can get sunburned. So I just plaster them spf or whatever and let them rock on

isaos

charlieIRL wrote: »

isaos wrote: »

We have a large digger at home so everything is portable!!

I got 15 foot poles that we use for practice jumps for the 4 corners, 2x1 frame nailed to the top and an old white lorry cover to go over it. Making the shelter the size of the cover to allow for some of it to overlap down the sides. Should be about 15ft squared.

That's why I always wanted to adopt a (mini) digger... :D - so now I know that two of my sheds are portable... thank you, neighbours!! (and their digger) - re solar cream, totally agree withe The Farrier

isaos

I found this link on Facebook if anyone is interested:

https://irishponyclub.ie/index.php/2-uncategorised/544-caring-for-your-horse-in-hot-weather