What do the Horses Do in the Dog Days of Summer?

Are you curious about how the horses are handling these ridiculously hot summer days? Here's what we do to keep the herd cool in the summer.

Turn Out at Night

When the days turn scorching hot, it's just too much for the horses to be out during the day. Even with shade available, horses will not always take advantage of it. I guess the best grass is just out in the blazing sun! So to keep them out of the sun, we flip the schedule and turn them out in the pasture at night when the temperatures are at their coolest. As soon as the sun drops behind the trees, we turn them out for the night, and bring them in for breakfast in the morning.

Fans in Their Stalls

While they are in the barn during the day, we have set up each stall with its own industrial strength fan. These babies can blow! We aim the air so that each horse can eat in breezy luxury. We often find them napping in front of their fans!

Lots of Clean Water

In addition to keeping clean, cool water in their stalls, we double check their outdoor water each day. The warm summer sun promotes algae growth in the stock tanks, so we keep barley bags in the water to inhibit algae growth and clean the tanks as needed.

Vinegar Water for Horse Flies

Starting in August, the nasty horseflies come out. Horseflies are impervious to regular fly spray. Surprisingly, they really do not like a very simple home remedy not many people seem to know about. Vinegar water! We make a spray out of 50% vinegar and 50% water and spray the horses before they go out for the night.