This week has been more than hot. It’s been miserable enough to be a human with access to air conditioning. It’s hard to imagine how the horses feel, dealing with mid-90s temperatures and high humidity when all they have is a run in shed for shade.
When is it too hot to ride? For me, it was this week! I know it’s hot when I whistle for the horses to come up for meals and they stare at me from the shed and tell me it’s not worth the walk up the hill.
When it’s hot like this, I do my best to keep the horses hydrated. They get fresh water every day, I add salt to their food and I hose them down when I can. One thing that I read recently is that getting them wet isn’t enough: you have to scrape the water off to accelerate evaporation. I guess I’ve been doing it wrong all these years!
Zelda could care less about getting a cool bath. She tolerates it, but there’s no enjoyment. Freedom? He loves getting hosed down and he particularly likes drinking from the hose. He makes it look like so much fun that I feel like turning the hose on myself.