5 Ways To Get Your Horse Ready For Summer

Summer can either be fun or hot and miserable. It's your responsibility to make it enjoyable for yourself and your horse. Sunny days can mean more riding and showing, but they can also bring heat exhaustion and pesky flies. Are you and your horse ready for warmer weather? Get prepared!

1. Keep hydrated: That goes for both you and your horse. Make sure to bring a bottle of water to the barn! Remind yourself to drink up.

Furthermore, your horse should have access to clean, fresh water 24/7. You may even want to feed electrolytes in the summer to encourage them to drink more. Dehydration can cause exhaustion, reduced performance, and muscle issues.

2. Fly control: There are some great products on the market to reduce fly issues. Some of these include fly masks, sheets, and leg wraps. You can also spray or wipe fly repellent onto your horse. And yet another option, traps and fly predators work to decrease population sizes around the barn and in manure piles.

Flies can make your horse uncomfortable and cause them to misbehave during riding sessions. They will also repeatedly stomp their hooves, which can lead to cracks. And lastly, wounds can be infected from flies.

3. Bath time: Get your horse use to the hose and water, so that they can enjoy a nice, cool bath. Not only will your dirty horse look great after a good wash, but the cool water can soothe a sweaty horse. Summer is the perfect time of year for cleaning them up!

4. Deworming: Have your vet run a fecal on your horse to do an egg count. This will give you the proper resources to deworm them accordingly. It's good to stay on a rotation schedule with your dewormers.

5. Fitness levels: Your horse may have packed on a hay belly over winter. Use the month or two leading up to summer to get them ready for the heat. A fit horse will survive much better when temperatures soar.

Remember to start slowly and gradually increase their work load!

You and your horse will be enjoying summer in no time! With a little prep work, you both can beat the heat and stay happy. Check out: Stunning Horse Photos To Get You Thinking About Summer to get in the mood!