SUBSCRIBE TODAY Smiley face  Get updates via email! 




We Are Flying Solo

June 27, 2010

Back To Work

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, IT'S HOTTTTTTT.  Weather Underground tells me the heat index is a sticky 93 degrees, but I think they lie.  It's at least 304.   Haha, you can tell that picture is old, Solo has a mane!

Solo has had three luxurious weeks off to let any stress injuries or sore spots heal and to just chill out. He feels good, despite losing a little condition. I got back on him this morning to just trot a few hills and such. We nearly melted into little puddles of humidity-stricken goo, but he moved out n-i-c-e. Breaks are good.  But it's time to go back in training.  As best we can without cooking ourselves.

Just a few summer reminders: keep an eye on respiration, a hot horse can start puffing and descend into heat stress faster than you think. Don't be shy about throwing cool water onto and into your horse immediately; horses coming off Rolex cross country get ice water thrown on them before they even stop moving. The important thing is to SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE. Water just sitting on a horse's skin traps heat and raises the body temperature. And don't forget to hydrate YOU.

Remember to check those little spots you don't normally brush for ticks or fungus: under the jaw, between the front and hind legs, up under the flanks. I found some itchy funk under Solo's jaw the other day, he nearly moaned with pleasure when I scratched all the bits off.

We're trying out some new gear that we'll have reviews for, including a sample of one of our lovely readers' new product, an electrolyte treat. Will it pass the Solo-Food-Snob taste test???

5 comments:

  1. It was soooo hot yesterday. We spent a good 15 minutes just standing in water. Cooling the feet will also lower the body temperature.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You would think that, down here in the armpit of the world, people would be more "heat-wise"...but I have yet to convince my fellow equestrians that scraping the water off actually cools the horse out faster. They all insist that leaving the water on is better (despite all that science and logic mumbo-jumbo that I spew).
    Stay cool!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooo, good extra tip, lh!

    Frizz, I fight the same battle here. The rednecks put water on the horses in the trailers where the poor horses are baking on the way to some 100 degree drunken trail ride. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good call on keeping things cool. I live in FL and it has been ruthless here. I always spray and scrape before and after every ride. After I scrape I park my boy in front of a big fan to further aide in the cooling powers of evaporation. My little haflinger is dreaming of mountain tops and snow and sweating away in this mugggy climate! Gross.

    ReplyDelete