This educational article is brought to you by Standlee Hay Company, the Official Forage of the USEA.
After just a mile of riding, your horse creates enough warmth to boil 2 whole gallons of water. While a horse’s body can usually regulate their temperature, the hot summer months make this more difficult. High temperatures, high humidity, lack of air movement, poor ventilation, and dehydration all increase the dangers of a serious heat-related problem known as heat stress.
Most horses adapt to summer weather if given time to adjust gradually. However, some horses will be more susceptible to heat stress than others. Performance horses such as Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and endurance and other performance horses will be influenced by heat stress during their training and competition.
Environmental factors can also play a role in how susceptible your horse is to heat stress. Horses stabled in badly ventilated barns will produce a lot of heat during digestion, making them more prone to heat stress. Additionally, any horse that doesn’t have access to salt and electrolytes will be at a greater risk.
Your forage can also contribute to heat stress in your horse. Certain feeds create more heat when digested than others. During hot conditions, it’s important to include highly digestible fiber sources such as beet pulp to decrease the thermal load of digestion. Standlee Premium Western Forage offers a variety of excellent quality forage products, which provide increased digestibility. Click here to learn more.
Great Britain got off to a flying start topping both the team and individual leaderboards today, after the thrilling opening dressage phase of eventing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Versailles (FRA) during which multiple records were smashed.
Following dressage at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Team USA sits in sixth place overall. The competition was tough, the atmosphere was electric, and the test challenging, but all-in-all each rider was full of nothing but praise for their equine partners and a positive outlook going into cross-country tomorrow.
Until this past May, qualifying for the USEA American Eventing Championships presented by Nutrena Feeds let alone actually making plans to compete, seemed like a far-off dream. Going into this show season the AEC was a goal I had set in the back of my mind but maybe only said out loud a few times.
The Millbrook Horse Trials kicked off on July 25 with lower level dressage at Riga Meadow Equestrian Center at Coole Park in Millbrook, New York. There are more than 400 total entries competing at Millbrook, from Beginner Novice to Advanced level. Today the upper level horses cantered down the centerline, while the lower levels headed out on cross-country.