As temperatures soar to record highs across the UK this week, it’s important to keep your horses cool and comfortable. Our four-legged friends can suffer in extreme heat, with the sun increasing instances of heat stress, heatstroke and dehydration.
Here’s some of our top tips to keep your horses comfortable during hot weather.
Bathe your horse
Bathing your horse is a great way to keep them cool when it’s hot outside. Use a shampoo like Naf’s Cooling Wash to clean away the build-up of sweat and dust in your horse’s coat. After rinsing, put a cooler rug on your horse to help it dry without getting too cold.
Keep flies away
When the sun comes out, flies come out. Your horse will be in enough discomfort from the heat – flies are an added annoyance and can pose health risks by biting your horse and infecting their eyes. Keep flies away with fly spray, a fly mask and fly rugs.
Great fly products we recommend include Carr & Day Martin Flygard Extra Strength, Naf Off Deet Power Fly Spray and Shires Fine Mesh Fly Mask.
Keep your horse hydrated
Like humans, horses sweat in hot weather. If they sweat without replenishing water levels in the body, horses can become dehydrated – a dangerous condition every horse owner wants to avoid.
To keep your horses hydrated, make sure there’s plenty of clean water available for them, whether they’re outside or in their stable.
To give your horse an extra boost, use a recovery mash like Saracen’s Re-Covery Mash. This can be added to water, giving it an irresistible banana flavour, to encourage horses to drink more. The feed contains a blend of ’Super-Fibres’ to help with digestion and support optimal fibre intake, plus a source of electrolytes.
Limit exercise
When it’s hot outside, you should keep horse rides to a minimum. If possible, don’t ride your horse at all. If riding is essential, adjust your schedule to ride early in the morning or later in the evening when its cooler.
After exercising your horse, wash them down with cool water to help the body return to a safe temperature.
Provide shade and suncream
Make sure your horse has shade when turned out. You should use a specially designed horse suncream for pink areas on your horse, such as the head and heels, to protect them from sunburn.
If your horse gets sunburnt, remove them from the sun immediately and cool the area with water.
Shop our range of horse care products to keep your four-legged friends cool this summer.