Let us know what you think! Our horses live out, but come into stall for care, feeding or cool down with fans and misters . We do have a bigger Shelter far out back that they seem to not enjoy at all or use so we’re going to try to make an area where they can have a little mini track where they can get to a smaller shelter behind the barn to get out of the elements, get some shade and eat some hay, but still have access to walk out to the main pasture with the bamboo and the huge water trough So yesterday, one side of the shelter was removed so that it’s now open to that area which you can see on the film and hear me talking about. We’re considering taking the walls down on one of the back stall so they can go under there as well where there’s fans and misters and have more of an in out option For safety reasons, I don’t want them to be able to go in the stall because we have multiple horses and they can get in there and get trapped and fight That would be the reason for removing one of the walls, but that does limit our ability to have four stalls. We would actually have three only. So taking it one step at a time. Do you guys see any pros or cons? We do get these massive storms and for the next six months, considering the storms and lightning, it would make it safer for us to put out Hay too because we can go through the barn into that small shelter to leave Hay instead of having to go far out in the back pasture so I really like that idea too. The downside is less movement for the horses, but perhaps more ability to stand under fans on their own. The great thing is that anything we take down we can put back up. It’s all minor work. (fb)

We often see jokes about the poor decisions, horses make. Usually it involves some sort of injury or someway they have gotten themselves stuck in a situation. So that’s not what I’m talking about here today. We’ve had a few horses that tend to run thin that’s because they make decisions to do something other than eat. We have a few that really don’t tolerate the heat and they don’t sweat. One in particular loses weight as the heat cranks up in Florida turns into a hot oven. Today I left him in the stall after his breakfast with the fans on the stall open to the field that contains his soft fresh green alfalfa. He knows it’s there all the horses know it’s there. So today he had the choice to go eat Hay or to stay in the stall . He stayed in the stall all day and ate no hay. One of the reasons I like to turn the horses out it’s because they all have previous injuries and some extent arthritis from mild to moderate. If they’re in stallls all day that becomes progressively worse. Like us they need to move and can’t be just standing still all day every day . But things heat up they really have no desire to leave the stall. There’s plenty of shady places on the property and today is a breezy day, but yet the stalls are the coolest place to be so that was their choice. So it has to be a mix of getting them out to move versus standing in a stall, which is their preference under the fan six months of the year. We had one horse Booker who is adopted out now up north. He had a hard time with the heat, but yet he would stand and stay in the sun until he was completely overheated. He just either couldn’t figure out how or why to go stand in the shade. Every day you have to go out and find him and put him somewhere where that’s his only option. Shade. So when you get a horse that’s new to you, you might not understand its preferences or why or the decisions thatthe horse makes even if they might seem to be poor decisions. It’s up to us to figure out how we can help them best. With some of our horses, the answer is for them to live up north. That would be a hard pill to swallow if it’s your personal horse and often when you see people on forums that are moving to Florida and bringing their horse and they’re asking for suggestions, you’ll see so many saying please don’t bring your horse down here it’s too hot. There’s a lot of truth in that. The heat the hurricanes. I think parts of Texas are similar, Louisiana between the heat and the hurricanes and the bugs and all this crazy humidity. It’s pretty miserable for humans and horses. Anyway, just some food for thought if your horse is struggling in the heat right now it’s only May and it’s only going to get worse so it’s a great time to start to think about a plan. As a rescue, we face a different set of problems than perhaps the average person but perhaps more like a boarding barn where we have multiple horses that come in that go out when they’re in rehab they might need a small space gradually going to a larger space gradually going to a big pasture. Who gets along with who, is everybody on the same diet, can they eat the same hay as their pasture mates? It gets complicated quick. This picture is of cash, the giraffe. He’s the one that will stand in the stall all day and not go out and eat if given the choice. He doesn’t sweat and really struggles with the heat and the bugs. He leaves next week for New Jersey to his new home. This picture of him is as baby in Pennsylvania where he grew up. He came here as a two-year-old with a fractured sesamoid and some serious behavioral issues from poor/rough handling (fb)