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Summertime tips for your Horse!

Summertime is fun time, whether you’re headed to the nearest trailhead or across the country to a major show venue. But just as your equine activities go into high gear, so do the challenges that come with the season. As the weather turns from warm to hot, keep in mind that stress from exercise, exposure to other horses, insect activity and parasites all reach their peak during this season. To keep your horse healthy and comfortable, Dr. Robert Stenbom, DVM, Senior Equine Professional Services Veterinarian at Boehringer Ingelheim, offers these tips as temperatures rise.

Keep your horse hydrated and cool

It’s important in the heat of the summer to have a cool water source available to bathe horses post-exercise and use fans to keep air moving over them to help lose body heat. This is particularly important for horses who are non-sweaters.

Provide shade and ventilation

Whether they are at home in a barn, traveling, at a show or lounging in a pasture, horses should have access to shade. Good ventilation in trailers will help keep horses comfortable in the event you are held up in traffic on a hot day. At the show grounds, check for good ventilation in stalls. Fans can be helpful where ventilation is lacking. Consider an awning to shade horses tied to trailers at one-day shows.

A pre-season wellness exam with your veterinarian that includes vaccinating with an updated, comprehensive vaccine should be part of your routine, but a midsummer check-in gives you an opportunity to review your horse’s needs in light of travel plans, and it will help as a prevention for infections and parasites that might want to ruin your horse health!