Two horses and a hose
Posted by Bill on Aug 16 2007 at 09:39 am | Tagged as: Horse Health, Horse Lifestyle
According to our thermometer, we hit 104 degrees yesterday, in the shade. Everything is dying or dead. The trees are giving up and dropping their leaves, our lawn makes a crunching sound as we walk over it and our horses are draining the water bucket at a record pace. It’s hot and everything outside is miserable. I feel bad for our horses because they’re black and they stand out in the sun for a good portion of the day. I mentioned a few days ago that Moonshine has a patch of sunburn on her nose (thanks to the those who suggested in that thread that we apply waterproof baby sunscreen, SPF50). Despite the plentiful shade in our pasture, they still hang out in the sun. So I grabbed the hose and decided to spray them down for some temporary relief. One thing I’ve learned about horses in general is that they don’t like “spraying” sounds, sudden movements, cold water on their what-nots and in general, things they haven’t pre-approved. I started with Mikki’s ex-show horse, Valentine, since he’s had more experience with things like cold showers. I let them smell the hose first, carefully turned it on so it sprayed a little and let them explore it with their mouths and nostrils. It’s the horse-way. Valentine loved it and began taking a drink from the hose (see picture). In fact he took a 10 minute drink from the hose, during which time I got a good soaking myself. I then gently sprayed his back, neck and undercarriage. He loved it! Moonshine stood nearby, wary. She was curious about the squirty thing, curious enough I was able to bring the hose to her mouth. She took a drink and I rubbed her neck and told her how pretty she was, in an effort to relax her. I tried to spray her down but even on a gentle spray setting, she didn’t really like it.
So for the past few days this has been our routine. Around noon when we see the horses coming to the barn for a drink, we head out to fill up their water bucket and spray them down to cool them off. And since it’s watermelon harvest time, we bring them some chunks of watermelon as a treat.
Have you been doing anything special to get through the heat wave?
Hi, I have also been living in the 100 degree’s and my horse Crackers has been really hot too. I have been hoseing him down everyday and boy does he love it. I turns around so that his butt is up against the hose and just loves that.
Fear not, soon fall will be here and our lovely horse’s will be cool and full of piss and vinegar.
We hose our horses down as well. All four seem to like it well enough.
The other day, our son decided to see what they would do if he put the sprinkler in the pasture. His horse, properly named Bandit, walked right up to it, stood in the spray, and then rolled around where the hose was spraying. He then got up, grabed the hose and tried to walk away with it, sprinkler and all.
Silly horse.
For a while, I volunteered at the Phoenix ZOO in the area that uses horses to teach kids how to be good stewards of the animals. One of the things I saw was that they had placed several of these sprinklers around the corral, and they would turn them all on, and the horses would run around like they had their heads cut off, but then after a few minutes, they would calm down and enjoy the cool water, and some of them even would play in the direct flow of the water. They used this type of sprinkler head: www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/781/585293.JPG (NOT EXACT) I also saw that they would throw a beach ball in the corral, and they would actually kick the ball around and it appeared from the human perspective that they were having fun.
Something to Ponder.
I also am in the Middle TN area where it has been 100 or greater the past several days. I try to lure my horse into the shade by throwing hay under the trees. Otherwise, he is out in the(what was once) pasture. I also braid his mane to keep it from getting too sweaty underneath and trapping the heat. Last year I hosed him down, then he’d roll in the dirt and he got a nasty fungal infection over his entire body, so I am not hosing this year unless I can hold him near some grass to roll in or graze until he dries off. Also, I learned that if you have a horse that is overheated you should hose, scrape (with a sweat scraper) hose, scrape, etc. otherwise the water stays on like a layer of insulation and doesn’t do as much good. I put a fan in the run in shed but although I like being in the breeze, he avoids it unless I force him to stand in front of it. I sometimes make a 2 gallon slurpy for him with a few handfuls of bran, a little molasses, some apple juice or a handful of sweet feed. We hang out in the shade while he gulps it down and I sip my lemonade.