Keeping Your Horse Cool During the Summer Heat

With summer upon us, competitions and horse adventures are in full swing.  As many of you experienced it can get hot.  VERY HOT during these outings and at home.  One way to maximize your horse's performance and attitude is to help them keep cool by setting up a fan and misting systems.   Such a system can help cool your horse's stall environment and make them much more comfortable during the days that often approach or exceed triple digits here in California.  
 
To have this ready to go requires some preparation but is well worth it.  I bring this system with me to every competition and am ready to go when needed.  Below I will go over the parts you need to put a system together for your horse whether at home or on the road.  For the purposes of this article I will demonstrate how I set up at a horse show where you are dealing with portable stalls.

The first element is a box fan.  You can purchase a metal devices for holding the box fan or use baling string to hold it in place.

Of course this requires electricity.  Most shows do not provide easy access to outlets so you will need to bring your own by having a light bulb socket adapter.  This screws into a light bulb socket and in the adapter is an electrical outlet.  At the same time you can keep the light bulb in your adapter and have a pull cord allowing you to turn it off at night.

Next is the misting system.  For that you need to attach a hose to the spigot used to supply water to the horses in your barn.  So what I do is bring along a Y connector to the spigot, an extra 50 ft hose and a Mechanical Hose Faucet Timer.  

This timer is great.  It is mechanical so no electricity is needed and works like an egg timer.  You can turn the system on or off during the day.  Late in the afternoon when the heat is great and I have fed my horse, I set the timer to run for a couple of hours and turn off in the evening.  That way my horse benefits from the misting in the later afternoon and early evening but avoids getting wet at night when the cool night weather of California sets in and I don't have to remember to do it.

Finally you need a misting system - it attaches to the the hose and can be secured to the top of the stall with cable ties.  I make sure to run at least one of the misting elements in front of the fan to get the most dispersion.

Mister system hose running up the outside of the stall.

Misting element running in front of box fan.

Misting element along top of stall

Cable ties used to secure the misting system's hose to top rails of portable stall.

There are many places to get this equipment but just as an example I went to the Lowes.com site and priced out everything I think you will need.  It totaled out to $107.80.  Given the need to make your horse as comfortable as possible in order to perform at his or her best in the heat, it is a great way to help your horse keep cool.  The parts and pricing are below.