Dealing with August Heat & Humidity

How do your animals handle the intense heat and humidity of summer? Yes, normally August is hot hot hot and we should all be used to it by now, however this year we have had such crazy weather patterns here in the northeast. Between the weeks of rain in June and July, and this very high percentage sticky humidity with highs in the low 90’s…it has gotten unbearable at times!

I live in CT and currently have two dogs and three horses.  While we keep the dogs mostly in our house which is air conditioned, we also have a little kiddie pool out in the yard that they like to ‘dip’ in occasionally to cool off.  We keep our walks and car rides to a minimum and the trips to the lake to swim frequent, and there is always a full bowl of nice cold water for them to drink. Our dogs seem to not mind the heat under these circumstances, so summer is just another month for them.

As for the horses….it seems to be a different story lately. My horses usually spend all day outside grazing in the fields and then are in stalls overnight with hay. The stalls each have a fan for them overnight, so they stay nice and cool even when humid 24 hours of the day. I have friends that switch it up in the summer and turn their horses out during the nighttime and keep them in during the day while it is this hot….however, I live down the road from my horses and am a bit leery about them being out at night without any supervision…just in case!

Outside, they have a nice big run-in shed out in the field that was built ‘into the ground’ sort of speak, so it stays nice and cool. There is also a fan running all day in there to keep the air moving and the bugs out.  While the rest of the year, they are normally out in the field 90% of the daytime and in the run-in shed 10% of the daytime, I am finding that over the last few weeks of this hot/humid/sticky weather, they are spending just the opposite. That would be 90% IN the run-in shed and only 10% out in the field grazing! They hole themselves up in the nice cool shelter standing in front of the breeze from the fans, run out and eat some hay or graze for about 15 minutes, then run back into the run in shed!  Even they are ready for some rain and cool weather to show up!

They have a HUGE water trough right outside the run in that I keep filled with clean cold water for them to drink to keep them hydrated, and we fly spray like crazy this time of year to keep the bugs away….even though it doesn’t always work……and they each wear a fly mask as well. Beyond the fans and cool run-in shelter, we also do ‘hose-downs’ or baths during the hot day to keep them cool and comfortable.  Other than packing them up and moving to a cooler/drier climate every summer, this is the best I have thought of so far………  I am trying to make them as comfortable as possible.

Does anyone have any other great suggestions for how they deal with the heat and humidity of summer with their pets they would like to share? I am sure there are many things people do that work that I haven’t even thought of.

Until then…..bring on the Fall!!!

 Lady & Pony Video Clip

Opening Day of the Back Paddock

At my barn I have two paddocks for my horses to stay in. One is used all year round. It’s nice, it has a lean too for weather protection and I can see them easily from the house to make sure that they aren’t getting into any kind of mischief. I also have a back paddock which is just electric fencing. It’s not as nice as the other paddock. There are rocks and a slight ditch that if they weren’t being careful they could slip and get hurt. I don’t let them out there in the winter due to there being a bigger risk for trouble.

At the beginning of spring, I make my way to that paddock in the back and make sure that the fencing is still up to par and that it’s completely horse proof. My horses like to come over and watch to see what I am up to. They look at me with wondering eyes that say “whatcha doin?” They know what it is that I am doing and they are itching to get their hooves over there, they want to run!

So, I’m all done, done with getting the branches and sticks off the fence. Check to make sure the charge is good so that they don’t go running into the neighbor’s yard, go and get my camera and get ready to open the flood gate.

I get over to the part of the fence that has the two boards keeping the horses from getting into the back paddock and they know what’s about to happen. I lift up the top board and the pony tries to jump the bottom one but being the pony, he has no luck. I get the bottom one off, move out of the way, and “their off!” They bound and leap and kick and buck. They were in heaven! Both of them would run back and forth from the main paddock to the back. Back and forth, back and forth they would go. Only stopping to make sure that a strange noise they heard, which was just the neighbor’s dog, was not going to be joining them. I get my camera out and take as many pictures as I could. It was a sight that had to be captured.

Eventually they stop and eat the grass. The excitement is over. The leaves have settled and the thunder has been brought to a halt. It’s time to go back down from heaven and back to earth. Seeing them being as happy as ever made my day. They make me happy and that’s what I want for them!