Surviving Summer

Like many horsemen, I am happy to put Independence Day behind me…Saturday morning I took a big sigh of relief as I stepped into the barnyard and saw everyone munching their hay contentedly. I didn’t realize how tense and stressed I had been in the days leading up to the 4th until that moment.

For me it is a crapshoot….to sedate or not to sedate? I find that for the most part, everyone is chill during the explosions and bright flashes of lights, but my first year at our new farm was very different, when it seemed that my new neighbor’s way of welcoming us to the neighborhood was to shoot off fireworks…. directly over my barn. At the time I had a different Thoroughbred, a lovely Kitten’s Joy mare (with a sad story of a bad heart who I eventually sent back to where I adopted her from,) and Blossom, my first donkey. I thought both would be dead by morning, they were so panicked. Of course, all of my neighbors denied shooting off the fireworks when I asked them, in preparation of New Years Eve later that year, to please and kindly, do not shoot fireworks at my barn (unfortunately, I do not live in an equestrian neighborhood, despite being surrounded by dozens of horse farms within a mile radius, including an Olympian dressage rider and a standardbred training center….lucky me, I picked one of the few roads to move to that was not horse friendly.) It got better after that inaugural Independence Day, until a new neighbor moved in next door two years ago and had a party on the 3rd and set off fireworks right out front for a good 30 minutes. He doesn’t comprehend what it means to be a good neighbor and to at least let me know of his explosive plans so I can prepare…hence the tension I feel leading up to the 4th! This year, between the 4th falling on the weekend and rain being predicted, I didn’t know what to expect.

Thanks to my neighbors who like to target practice, my crew is pretty nonchalant when it comes to gunfire and things going boom (I do live in the lightning capital of the world after all) but there is just something about the flashing lights and cascades of mortars dropping from the air that is unsettling to most horses. Therefore, I have taken the “Better Safe Than Sorry” route and at 8:30, everyone gets their sleepy juice, fans are on and radio blasting, and they doze for the next 90 minutes or so. I just wish I could give myself some of that stuff and calm my nerves!

Unfortunately, we still have a few months of this wicked heat to contend with, depending upon where you live. I tell my horses every day that tomorrow will be the day we resume riding…and then the next morning, I clean stalls and do barn chores, and think, hey, maybe tomorrow I will ride, while I try and recoup my energy. The older I get, the harder time I have dealing with the heat and I cannot wait until fall! I am jealous of one of my daughters and her husband, who are enjoying picking raspberries and running races in their hometown in Connecticut! They are living and I feel I am just surviving.

I have also been dealing with bronchitis and asthma, so I am still working on my blog about an exciting topic that my cousin alerted me to….thanks to Rob, I learned about a Secret Horsemen’s Society! I can’t wait to tell you about it in the next blog.

In the meantime, enjoy these blog repeats of dealing with the heat. The first link will take you to a blog from last year about the changes in cooling out horses after exercise. Were you aware of the most recent studies that debunk the hose and scraping theory? It is pretty interesting, and I included this study in my book:

And here are tips for you and your horse to survive the heat:

Here in Florida, I began a new routine this summer and it works well. Everyone is out by 7am. They get rinsed off and come in by 1:00 for a wet mash and to doze and munch hay under the fans until 4:00 or so. If it isn’t storming, they go back outside until they are ready to come inside for dinner, which is anywhere between 6 and 7. Both horses and donkeys seem to like this schedule, and I don’t have to worry about them getting caught in a storm that suddenly pops up. How do you handle the heat? Please comment on my Facebook page!

Don’t forget to hug your horse!

Lori