Turn Out in Extreme Heat

[Halfhalt08]

Does anyone leave their horses in if it gets too hot outside? If so, what temperature/heat index must it reach for you to do so? Thanks!

[JumpWithPanache]

I try to have mine brought back in if the heat is above 90 or 85 with a high humidity. Would like to switch to nightime turnout only, but struggling with keeping grass intake to a minimum. So I've stuck to turning out in the late morning and bringing back in early afternoon or when the temps get too high.

[ChocoMare]

Mine stay out. They find shade and stand there sharing tail swishing. In the evening, I'll give them a good shower/scraping, along with e-lytes in their dinner.

[katarine]

mine live out, period. 5 horses here now, 2 stalls. do the math :)

They have thick woods for shade, as well as lone trees for shade. Keep the water freshened and let it run over every night, to cool it off. E lytes in their feed if someone looks frazzled. Even my anhydrotic guy is doing ok on this routine, though he gets Let Em Sweat to keep him clicking along.

[Yakmaniac]

Mine have 24/7 turnout with 24/7 access to their stalls and fans. They come in mid-day for a break in the stalls. I've also been keeping an extra water tub in the middle of the barn to keep it cooler. Its hot but they are managing!

[JB]

My 3 are out. Even when we had 100*+ temps for days in a row a couple of Summers ago (and the NC humidity to go with it :dead:) they were out. They wander around, standing under trees, or stand out in the sun eating grass - in other words, nothing much different from what they do if it's 80*.

That said, mine don't have any health issues that would necessitate providing them a cooler/breezier alternative.

[BuddyRoo]

When I lived in TX and it was regularly in the triple digits with no shade trees, we'd keep them in during the day with fans and misters and turn out at night.

Here in MI, while there certainly are some hot humid days, neither of my horses seem particularly bothered, though they do stand and sweat sometimes. An otherwise healthy horse can acclimate to the heat.

[Lori T]

I currently have 7 horses, 5 stalls. Hopefully 2 of the rescues are leaving soon! But even with my 5 in with fans on them, it is still hot! I am having to hose them off at breakfast and at dinner. At least the 2 outside have trees and a canopy for shelter, but I don't like them out in the storms. We have been having a heatwave of 100 plus days, so really no one is cool no matter where they are. I was excited to walk out this morning at 6 am to 77 degrees after a rain last night..it has been 85 at that time for the last week!

[luvmywalkers]

I used to be worried about the babies, the "golden oldies", the ones with health issues. No more :D

They all handle it just fine. My oldest mare (32) comes in around noon for a meal, but as soon as she's done, she wants to go out in the field again.

[WorthTheWait95]

It's dangerously hot where I am right now. We have a 110 degree heat index and you can barely breathe outside. It was 95 at 6 am this morning and the low tonight is going to be 89 degrees :eek:. We switched all of ours to night turn out back in May but with how hot it is we're only turning them out for a few hours each night and then putting them back in their stalls with their fans. It's just too hot and they're miserable outside, after a few hours they all stand at their gates wanting to get in. Even with their fans we're having to hose horses throughout the day to keep them from getting too hot.

[Shadow14]

My guy is out 24/7 for a few months but goes into the trees or shelter in the heat. I located the shelter in the trees and have a heavily insulted ceiling to keep some of the heat off him. I too find it cool standing in the shelter under the trees.:)

[MunchkinsMom]

Mine have 24/7 turnout with 24/7 access to their stalls and fans. They come in mid-day for a break in the stalls. I've also been keeping an extra water tub in the middle of the barn to keep it cooler. Its hot but they are managing!

I have the same setup, and 6 water buckets kept full in the barn.

Going out this afternoon to get new fans, and see if I can perhaps put two fans per stall, and I want to put patio misters over the barn entrance.

[suzyq]

Mine are out 24/7 here in hot, hot Houston. They have free access to their stalls, but I don't have power so no fans in there. My barn is relatively cool, I have insulation in the roof and it's very open. But...they prefer to be outside under a shade tree. That's where I'd be too :) I would think a barn with more than one or two horses in it would get very hot just from the extra body heat.

[greysandbays]

My horses live outdoors. Heat index was 99 here yesterday, which maybe isn't so bad -- except that barely two weeks ago, my horses all had their WINTER turnout blankets on because it was cold and rainy (just a few degrees from being snow).

They all could have had shade less than fifty feet away, but they all stood out in the sun and sweated.

[BramblewoodAcres]

greysandbays,
Mine do the same thing! They have the option of two run-ins or an acre of nice shady woods (nicely cleared, no weeds/brambles/deadfall, whatever) and they choose to stand in the middle of the field in the hot sun and bake. It's their choice. I provide nice, cool water in their tanks every day and the three of them are drinking about half of a 70 gallon tank daily. Water intake is good! Electrolytes in the evening, free choice salt, plenty of fly spray morning and night and bug masks to reduce to stress of biting bugs. A cool shower in the evening to get the day sweat off and cool them down. That's about all I can do and none of them seem to be suffering or sick. Other than being hot, they are fine.

[BeastieSlave]

It's been over or around 100 degrees more days than not this last week and the humidity has put the heat index up around 110. My guys are all out in it. I have sprinklers going in the pastures and the girls are all smart enough to take advantage of them. The guys aren't :rolleyes:
The mares will graze in the sprinklers when they want to cool down and I hose down the guys who need it in the late afternoons/evenings. That's probably more than they need, but it makes me feel better :lol:

[Cielo Azure]

Does anyone leave their horses in if it gets too hot outside? If so, what temperature/heat index must it reach for you to do so? Thanks!

With drafts in the South, if they don't come in, 75% of them will get scratches and 20% of those will get it bad. 25% do ok.

I have 9 in during the day, and three out (with shade). The three weanlings COULD be out except they get so uncomfortable.

I have a fan per stall and a 4 foot fan in the center aisle.

Half come in when it is 85 degrees out. The other half are in as soon as it hits 78 degrees. Cold blooded horses aren't built for extreme heat -you will have scratches, stocking up in the hocks/fetlocks in a lot of horses (not all but a lot).

Yep. I am out there from 7:30 to 11:00 or noon cleaning stalls and bringing in and another hour at least in the evening turning out and grooming.

[Risk-Averse Rider]

After reading all these weather reports, I understand now why June (until yesterday!) has been so great in Arizona. Y'all have had all the heat!

I turn the boys out in the arena early in the morning (with 3 water buckets) and let The Princess out to wander around in the pens & the big L-shaped area that goes along 2 sides of our back yard. The boys have shade until around 9ish, and she has the option of shade all the time.

When it hits 90, I bring them in so that they all have shade. Often, I find The Princess, in all her furry Cushing's glory, standing out in the sun.

My mare motel has misters, but when I turn them on, the horses spook and run out to stand in the sun. :lol:

So the misters almost never get turned on.

It's a dry heat, you know....

[cloudyandcallie]

Mine sunburns over 50% of his portly body, so he is in from late may to sept. under plural fans. But when my mare was alive, even though she was bay, she too was inside under fans. Too hot this year so far, with lots of rain and very humid, so make sure you add salt or electrolytes too.

He goes out at night and is in by 10am. From Sept to late May, he stays out 24/7 except for storms.

[veebug22]

I turn mine out at night in the summer. Sometimes they are out 24/7, but only if they have access to shade. Anything over 85 or 90 has me monitoring very closely.

[kellyb]

Our boarding barn does night turnout to avoid heat, sun bleaching and worst of all, nasty bugs.

However...the barn is a sauna during the day. My pony is always breaking a full sweat in his stall.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't!!

[Sugarbrook]

I have a 6 stall barn. The chosen few live in. All the broodmares and babies and some of the oldsters live out. We have 70 acres, and lots of shade trees. Funny, in the worst heat, a few of my ponies choose to stay outside in their paddock, in the hot sun, when they could be in the stall with the fans blowing cool on them
Or how about the broodmares and foals out in the middle of their pasture, in the HOT SUN, instead of under those nice shade trees. Go figure!!

[Simbalism]

The farm where I keep my horse does both full care(these horses are currently on night turnout-in during the day with fans), and pasture board. There are nice run in sheds in each of the fields with windows that open to catch a breeze. They have auto waterers in the fields instead of troughs and the water stays clean and cool. My mare has a fly mask and sheet(she's on pasture board). She seems fine and I have only had her really sweaty once so far this summer when we had a 99 degree day. Most of the time she is out in the pasture grazing.

[Arizona DQ]

After reading all these weather reports, I understand now why June (until yesterday!) has been so great in Arizona. Y'all have had all the heat!
It's a dry heat, you know....

In southern Arizona (Sierra Vista area), our horses are outside 24/7. They have shade and plenty of fresh water. Even when the monsoons start (we are have a 40% chance of rain this afternoon), they stay out and are just fine.