Come At Me, Bro

The extreme weather just keeps coming. After extreme cold, snow, wind and rain last year, we have had some extreme heat so far this summer. I don’t really mind the heat. In fact, I like it. I will take 100 over -45 any day. Summer is supposed to be about being in shorts and a tank top and sweating your butt off.

Unfortunately, the horses don’t feel the same way. Hwin has managed to stay the coolest.

Probably because she moves the least! She has barely broken a sweat. The others haven’t fared as well. Since we are such a small facility I am able to work around the weather to an extent. The boarders are a round a lot too and help out where they can which is awesome.

I have been getting up at 5am and going directly out to the barn before eating breakfast. That way I can get the horses out close to two hours early and am able to finish chores before the heat really kicks in.

As everyone starts to get sweaty I bring them into the barn, and let the outdoor horses into their sheds. Since I don’t allow box fans in the stalls, (fire hazard! Among other reasons) one boarder brought an industrial fan to at least get air flow in the aisle. The way my barn is situated, if there is any kind of breeze it blows right directly through and is almost like a wind tunnel at times. For some reason, it seems the only days there isn’t any wind are the really hot days.

At around 4pm as temperatures cool I let everybody back out for dinner, and they stay out until about 8pm. In this way we were able to beat the heat during the worst of it, stay relatively comfortable, and still have long turn out.

Now I know what to do during extreme heat along with extreme cold, extreme winds, and extreme precipitation. Thank you, Mother Nature, for giving me this crash course. Can you tell that I am trying to make the best of it? The only thing I haven’t dealt with is drought. Now when it doesn’t rain until next year, you will know who to blame!