In a message dated 5/3/04 2:07:50 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
JUDYK89@xxxxxxx writes:
Judy:
Since I live in the Yuma desert I felt I would be a good person
to respond :).
/////Do you ride/condition in high
temps? Do you have a temperature cut off?
I basically ride all year round. In the hot summer months, I
ride in the morning or evening, out of the direct sun. I usually use my
comfort level as the gauge. If it is too hot for me to be in the direct
sun, it is probably too hot for my horses. I do lots of sponging
during the summer and make sure they have access to water as much as
possible. I am lucky in that my riding area is a network of main
irrigation canals so I generally have water available wherever I go. I
do slow down according to the temperature and how much conditioning my
horse's have had in the summer. On the bright side, no where I go to
compete is hotter then here :)
I ride all summer long in FL. I try to stay out of the direct sun - but
we can't excape the humidity. I even trot and gallop during the summer
but it's for a shorter distance than I would do it when it is cooler
(and less humid). Bottom line if you are going to ride in the heat you
have to train in it. The first time your horse seem extremes in
weather should not be at a ride. I also slow down, but cranking up a
long hill in deep sand in 95 degrees and 70% humidty is pretty good
conditioning in it's own right. On long rides (say 20 to 25 miles) I
will carry electrolytes and give them somewhere in the middle. On
shorter rides I don't. My horses have access to free choice salt
24/7/365.25. In the really hot days of the Gulf coast summers they also
get added lite salt.
/////If you go to a ride, at what
point do you say, it's too hot, not good for the horse?
I just slow down accordingly. Even my heavier QH has no
problems with the heat as he acclimated to it. Use good judgment and
slow down accordingly and you should have no problems.
I don't generally electrolyte on training rides unless I get
upward in the mileage. However, I do provide electrolytes at home in
their feed. They have free access to trace minerals and loose salt at
all times and do consume more in the summer.
Lee
".......and God sought to bestow upon man a supreme mark of his
blessing. God created the horse. The horse could run faster than the
deer, jump higher than the goat, and endure longer than the wolf. Man,
being encompassed by elements that sought to destroy him, would have
been a slave, had the horse not made him king."
As Lee says use your own good judgement - you know your horse better
than anyone. Start show and short in the heat and work up.
Truman
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
