How hot is too hot to ride?
Horses have a higher natural body temperature than humans. Horses have hair. Horses heat up faster while exercising than humans do. So if you’re hot, your horse is definitely hot. So when do you decide it’s too hot for pony time in the saddle?
How much does the humidity factor in? I am so glad I don’t live in the Houston part of Texas.
My solution to riding on hot days is to ride early or ride late. For a few years when I had an anhidrotic horse, the solution was ride at midnight. I didn’t bother riding yesterday, but Tuesday I got on at 7:30pm and this evening I’m thinking I might not get on until 7:45 or 8pm. When it’s 100 degrees F at 6pm there’s just no way. That’s dangerous, in my mind, for me and my horse, to try to ride in that kind of heat.
I know I already told you this but I seriously love that hat! The heat has been brutal up here this week too. Tucker’s energy is just zapped, even waiting until the evening when it’s cooler.
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Eli gets so pokey I need a spur. & thanks!
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Love that hat! And I’ll only ride when it’s 80’s or around that. Once it hits 90+ here it’s typically so humid everyone is miserable. If my horse is sweating a ton, I won’t ride. No sense in making them go through torture and making them work in such awful heat! I definitely wouldn’t want to!
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Humidity makes it so much worse!
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I will still ride in that heat, but I keep it easy. Lots of walk breaks and a short ride.
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LOTS of walking!
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We still rode yesterday despite the killer humidity, but like Lauren said, we took lots of walk breaks. I left the ring regularly to do a couple walk laps so Beastly could catch her breathe and take a break. That being said, there have been days where I showed up and all I did was give the pony a nice cool bath to alleviate some of the heat stress.
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Oh, dang, an indoor must be like an oven!
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Yeah it’s kinda a blessing and a curse- it’s nice to be out of the sun, but then we lose the breeze
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We’re real weenies here in VA. If it is over 80, it isn’t likely to happen. We aren’t working towards showing this year, so there are lotsss of days off during the summer.
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Lots of days off here, too, but I will take 92F and low humidity as a break from the heat here!
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I’ve been riding around 6:30-7 and even my “Gonna Die In the Heat” horse has been ok. Granted, I also don’t ride for very long, just long enough to get something accomplished. He’s going to have to show in the heat sometimes so I want him to be at least a little reasonably acclimated.
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Good point about acclimation, especially if you’re showing–you don’t get to pick when you ride then.
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The horses and I are pretty acclimated to the heat, but I still ride early in the morning when it’s cooler. Luckily, they’re both excellent at sweating!
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The mornings here are nice, too. Before 9am, anyway, lol
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You are rocking that hat, shades, and scarf. You look like a mooovie stah!
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I am ready for my close up 😛
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I am a wimp about heat (and humidity) so if I step outside and feel suffocated, there is no riding. When I worked as a barn manager for a summer camp, we always said if the heat + humidity percentage was above 100, the kids couldn’t ride. That worked well in MN but probably not in the south.
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I am a total weenie about heat, too, and especially sun.
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eh my mare is from the desert and doesn’t particularly care about heat, or even humidity for that matter. but when it’s stupid hot out i try to be strategic with our energy. it’s either easy trail riding (like last night!), or very purposeful schooling with me on my best behavior to avoid any unnecessary challenges
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Arabs do have some advantages!
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I live 30ish miles north of Houston… I ride around 8am. The past couple of weeks it has been too hot to ride in the evening. Luckily, my horse handles the heat well, but he still gets walk/shade breaks and a nice shower after a ride!
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Fortunately my horse handles heat well, too. There was zero breeze this morning & he was a champ about it. But still, October looks awesome right about now!
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I know, it does!!
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Humidity SUCKS. But my horse usually does pretty well in the heat — I do sometimes keep my ride shorter if it’s hot out.
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Humidity is the WORST.
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