Much of the United States has been blanketed in stifling humidity and record heat this summer.  In our area of the Northeast, we beat last year’s total number of 90 degree days in early July (August is usually the month for hot, and it’s coming in steamy). Our southern and western neighbors are probably thinking double digits would be a welcome cool spell, but it’s tough to take when you’re not used to it (come on up in January and we’ll giggle as you shiver at balmy days in the 20s). Whether you’re in Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, New England or any other area of the country, you and your horses have probably had it with sweating, sweltering and sun burn.  Take heart – you’re not alone. Get smart to ensure you and your horse can be happy with your time together and both of you stay safe.  Here are some ideas to help you keep your cool (and please add your ideas in the comment section below as others will surely welcome your insight and experience).

1. School horses early in the morning. On the East coast, it’s light enough at 5:30 a.m. to ride right now and this is the best time to escape the insects, heat and humidity. It takes too much time to cool down in the evening (hours after sunset) and the bugs are brutal. Some go to the health club early in the morning. Why not use your pre-work time for riding exercise instead and use the club for a shower. If you really want to ride the bike, tackle the stairs or lift weights, take advantage of the air conditioning at lunch or after work.
2. Turn horses out at night and bring them into the barn during the day. Even if you have run-in sheds, they don’t provide enough protection from the bugs and the heat when the weather gets steamy. Well-designed barns are much cooler than sun-drenched pastures.
3. Pull out the fans to keep the air moving for you and your horse when in the stall.
4. Go swimming. Most horses really enjoy a lake, river or deep pond respite and riding a horse through water deep enough to have their feet leave the ground can be a lot of fun. Just be careful as those legs get moving with dangerous velocity and force. Iif you manage to get one of your body parts in the way you’ll probably break bones. Always keep your legs in front of the shoulder and make sure you’re stable and balanced enough to stay aboard.
5. Make sure you and your horse have ample and constant water to stay sufficiently hydrated. In this heat, it’s important to keep drinking water as you work (for you and your horse). No guzzling while you’re working hard – that will cause a belly-ache for both of you and that’s so not good with horses – but make sure you have water available at all times for your horse during rest.  When the heat’s really draining your mount might appreciate a few sips while working. Be very careful how much and how quickly you allow a horse to drink after work, while cooling out. It’s best not to allow more than 10-15 sips every three minutes or so while a horse is still hot and sweaty.
6. Hit the trails. While bugs can be more prevalent in the woods, it’s usually a lot cooler where the trees are tall and thick. If you do this in the early morning, bugs are not a big factor. Consider using hot weather time to do some conditioning work at slow paces that cover steep hills and various sights and challenges to keep your horse’s body fit and supple while offering an alternative to discipline drilling that keeps his mind engaged and interested. Changing the riding environment can also help you learn more about you, your horse and how to come up with ideas together to make training fun for both of you.
7. Give you and your horse a day off from the routine.  Sometimes it’s just too hot to discipline train. If you’re facing an unrelenting heat wave, you can still work on activities that help build rapport and understanding, but don’t require tack. Think about what you can do in the stall or in-hand to improve your human-horse communications skills (both ways). Often, lessons learned on the ground are better remembered and easier to accomplish than what you do under tack. Use this time to develop a bond that includes sympathetic responses.  You may find you make great strides in your next ‘real’ lesson that you hadn’t imagined possible.
8. Make sure your horse has access salt (and ample water – they’ll drink more as they ingest salt) as heat descends. Of course, horses should always have access to free-choice salt, but it’s particularly important in hot conditions.
9. Shorten lesson time and offer more frequent breaks. When the heat’s too much to stay at full performance as usual, back off a bit. Better to ask for one good response and end on a good note than to push the both of you to exhaustion. Give both you and your horse a break on the perfection scale and allow ‘good enough’ to be the end-game.
10. Have the heart to cancel a competition appearance if it’s just too dangerously hot. Finger Lakes was the only East Coast race track that didn’t cancel racing several weeks ago when the heat was just too much to bear. Some scratched (good for them), but others continued to run. After so many horses dropped from heat stroke on Monday, you’d think that would be cause for pause for the card on Tuesday. It wasn’t.  Sometimes you need to make the hard call to pull out and forgo the entry costs and possible win money with an eye toward tomorrow.

If you’re struggling with the heat, your horse probably is too. Slow down the pace, reduce the demands, be thoughtful about providing shelter and relief and use the time to get creative about how you can spend new and interesting time together. You might learn something and your horse will likely thank you for the consideration.

How do you beat the heat with your horse? Have you found fun and inventive activities to keep you both cool as you wait out the sauna? Do you have a great story to tell about how you withdrew from an intended event to come out a winner as a result? Please share your comments, ideas, experiences, opinions and stories below. Thanks.

Alpha mares and fillies can present some interesting challenges where training and handling are concerned. They also become some of the most loyal high achievers you’ll ever encounter if you learn how to reach them. All seem to have heart beyond the norm, smarts and a wilfulness about them that will test your fortitude. Try to dominate these gals without an ear and eye toward their communicated needs, and they’ll give you a schooling you won’t soon forget. In the truly sad cases of dominance and violence, some will give up and yield, but lose the qualities that made them so special in the process. When you give a strong alpha horse the opportunity to choose to respect you the results are awe-inspiring. Below are eleven quick tips for dealing with alphas.

1. Choose your battles very carefully. You can’t back down with alphas if you want to gain their respect, but plan on hours of combat if you pick the wrong activity. Better to spend some time watching and listening to the horse prior to training to gain some insight on their nature, needs and passions prior to deciding on a training approach.
2. Make sure you can be fearless or get the help of another who can. These equines are used to calling the shots, but usually relish the opportunity to find a leader they can respect. They’ll test you to see if they can intimidate you or if you will hold your ground. Fold and you’ll spend weeks gaining back ground.
3. Don’t get combative. Alphas rarely tolerate violence or unreasonable requests and will ratchet up the stakes if you challenge them. Most already recognize their weight and strength advantage and respond in kind if you pick a fight.
4. Build rapport and respect on the ground prior to trying to teach lessons under saddle. It’s a lot easier to communicate with any horse, especially alphas, when you can both see the full range of communications tools. Lessons implemented prior to getting in the saddle will be remembered once you put your foot in the stirrup.
5. Don’t be in a hurry. It’s better to skip the lesson than rush a plan. You’ll wind up getting frustrated, encouraging a possible stand-off and missing your meeting. Or, if you give up prior to finishing the request, you’ll pay for it the next day.
6. Be firm, but fair. When you do decide to tackle an issue, make sure you’re clear about what you’re asking and then proceed until you get the response you set out for. Alphas can be very kind until you ask them to do something they don’t want to do (for some this can be something as simple as standing still). It’s a big mistake to start a training direction and give up when an alpha objects. You’ll wind up teaching her to train you as a subordinate and will never gain the respect or bond afforded only to perceived peers and embraced leaders.
7. Make your alpha feel special. It’s OK to spoil an alpha once in a while so long as you’re not teaching her bad behavior in the process. These horses are smart and will show you what makes them extra happy (it’s rarely a click or a treat) if you pay attention. It might be as simple as calling her over for an extra rub in her favorite spot or letting her jump after a well done flat lesson (it depends on the horse – it’s up to you to figure out what gives them great pleasure). Most alphas will try extra hard to please if you acknowledge their effort with a reward.
8. Vary the routine. Alphas are easily bored and if you spend too much time drilling a point when they’ve already done what you requested, they’ll protest. As quick learners, alphas expect to get on to something new and exciting once they think they’ve mastered a task. Mix it up enough to keep them interested and engaged.
9. Pick one issue to tackle in a day. Consider it a great day if you chose the right lesson and are able to end on a good note. Sometimes it’s a five minute success; other days it may be hours before you accomplish that simple task request she’s decided to turn into a call for war. Regardless, particularly with young horses, don’t be tempted to finish the week’s plan for training because you seem to be having a good day. It’s better to end quickly on a good note than risk ruining a day of great rapport.
10. Learn to read your horse. Alphas are extremely telling if you pay attention. Come to recognize when she’s having a bad day and be ready to change or cancel training plans if you can. Watch her when you’re working with her to pick up on when she’s getting irritated or when she’s feeling proud about an accomplishment. There’s a difference between being insistent and pushing too hard and/or failing to recognize an effort when she needs to be congratulated.
11. Have fun. Alphas are some of the most rewarding horses you’ll ever work with. When they finally find a leader they choose to respect (and they’ll give you some physical and ego bruises to show for it getting there), they can be the most dedicated, trusting, loyal, eager pleaser equines you’ll ever encounter. Once you’re able to get past the bravado by demonstrating you are a worthy leader, they’ll repay you with 110% effort toward performance requests, a love for training few horses exhibit, a determination to take care of you at all costs and a sweet and gracious temperament you never imagined possible.

Seven tips for making winter weather a great time to get horsey

There’s so much to do at the farm on any given day, but when footing or blustery conditions cause us to choose to stay out of the saddle, there’s still an opportunity to spend time with horse scents and activities that allow us to connect with our companions (and get excited about the coming of spring). As you start to get frustrated about the weather and grumpy because you can’t seem to figure out how to replace the spiritual energy that comes from the equine connection, here are some ideas to get your mind right and your time well spent:

1. Spend quiet time with your horse. Even if it’s simply watching them enjoy time in the paddock and/or observing how they spend time with other equines, hanging out in the stall or catching up on grooming or handling activities that you may have neglected a bit in active months, you can use this time to learn and bond.
2. If you don’t already have one, buy a calendar or planner that records and tracks all care and issues with your horse. Include records and schedules for vaccinations, the blacksmith, worming, medical surprises and results, mare cycles and findings if you’re breeding, training schedules or objectives – whatever is important for you and your horse to ensure continued health, happiness and success.
3. Start a journal. Really watch your horse and strive to learn from him. You might be amazed at how seemingly little observations can reveal patterns and teach you more about you and your horse.  Horses are great teachers when we let ourselves see what they try to say. There’s also a great opportunity to grow in quietness. Winter provides a time to watch, reflect and connect.
4. Go through all your tack, brushes, equipment, supplies and tools.  Clean it, check it, fix it, discard it and replace or repair the damaged. Think about creating a good first aid kit and having it handy (see http://horsesenseandcents.com/blog/2009/09/page/2/ for some ideas to include).
5. Devote extra time to giving your horse attention he enjoys. This is a great time to learn what he really likes and grow in your knowledge by watching how he responds to you as a result. Use this time to try to better understand how horses communicate and find ways you can develop a language your equine can more easily understand.
6. Explore new ideas for learning more about horses. This could include forum participation, books, conversations with trainers, finding blogs that appeal to you, going to equine conferences or demonstrations or even really listening to what your horse is trying to tell you.
7. Get ready for spring!  Share all your plans and excitement about the coming season with your horse and you may be surprised how quickly he absorbs your enthusiasm.

Some mares are more obvious than others, but if you’re trying to get a clear read on cycling for breeding, it helps to get to know your mare so you can time ultrasounds and/or better schedule live breeding to save money in this challenging economy.

1. If you’re seeing pink snow in the paddocks, at least one of your mares is likely already cycling.
2. Mares often begin to mimic the herd with their rhythms. If you can catch a heat with one mare, it’s likely that others on the property are close in their cycle, particularly as the season progresses.
3. If you don’t have stallions on the property, often a gelding is sufficient to tease a mare (and with some, anything on four legs). The easiest and safest way is to leave the gelding in a stall and bring the mare to him on the lead. If she winks and squats, she’s probably in heat.
4. Get to know your mare. Some are more obvious than others, but all tend to follow patterns. We have one mare who will tease heartily but when she’s really getting ready to ovulate, she stops and winks just about every stride on the way out to the paddocks with no horses in sight.
5. Keep copious records of your mare’s heat dates and follicle sizes/tone (if you’re using ultrasounds) you have them to see patterns. These will change as the season gets later, but helps for next heats and future years.
6. Get a good reproductive vet on board to help you learn, spot issues and provide the best assistance for your mare that’s possible.

Wednesday Quick Tips

1. Never leave a horse without water in the cold months (or any other time, for that matter). Colic is very prevalent during the winter and this can often be traced to poor access and/or subsequent gulping of water when finally provided. Make sure ice has not blocked access and all horses have ample water always in stalls and/or pastures.
2. Provide shelter. While this can be more important in the summer (bugs and baking sun), it’s critical you provide the option to get out of pelting snow and ice, driving winds and harsh elements. Run-in sheds are OK for most (although it’s best to bring horses into a barn when the weather is severe), but you must make sure all herd members have access (with multiple shelters of adequate size where a number of horses share space). Watch the herd as it’s not uncommon for a single horse to deny access to the rest of the residents.
3. Watch the ice. Horses are usually pretty careful and aware of footing conditions in areas they are familiar with, but don’t expect your equine to stay on his feet as you lead him over frozen water or to be smart about staying sedate if you turn him loose in a glazed-over paddock when he’s fresh. Broken legs usually mean death for a horse.
4. Monitor weight. Horses can drop pounds very quickly as the temperatures plummet. Winter coats can hide ribs as they begin to show. Keep an eye on the horse’s topline, hips and use your hands to feel what’s going on under that thick coat. Adjust feed immediately as you start to see weight loss. Winter’s a tough time to put weight on a horse so you don’t want to be managing the issues that come with a thin horse during these challenging months.
5. Help your horse prepare for the elements. If you’re going to be turning your horse out during the winter months, be kind and let him grow a coat (and don’t clip the poor thing). Blankets (and clipping) may save you grooming time, but interfere with a horse’s natural protection mechanism (hair growth), hurts the horse when wet and can get tangled around legs, necks and other body parts. Older horses and those who do not grow a good winter coat may need some extra protection (and make sure it’s a waterproof blanket with good leg straps to hold it in place that you take off regularly to ensure no rubs, leaks, sores, etc.), but most will do better if you allow their natural coat to protect them.
6. Careful with shoes. If you’re planning on your horse being outside during the winter, whether for riding or turn-out, most shoes are a bad idea. Snow balls up in the hoof effectively putting the horse on stilts, the metal impedes natural traction and most shoes add risk to your’s and your horse’s safety.
7. Increase hay portions and regularity. Horses are designed to be eating about sixteen hours a day. This roughage is especially important in the winter months. Sometimes increasing grain will actually cause a horse to lose weight (depending on what you are feeding and your horse). Instead, seek out a decent quality first cutting timothy hay or orchard grass that you can feed your horse all day long (assuming you don’t have an obese horse). This will help keep him healthier and happier during the tough winter months.

1. Make sure your foal is ready – just because the calendar says it’s time doesn’t mean the mind is prepared. Know your baby well enough to recognize when he is independent enough to be able to handle separation.
2. If you’re nursing mare is in foal (again), sometimes you need to step up the timeline to keep her healthy. Make sure you spend ample time with the foal from the onset to prepare him for an early separation. Pairing him with foals that are more independent and using them to help encourage behavior can help.
3. Weaning foals on the same property where mares reside can be challenging, but this is often most easily done in the pastures (vs. stall confinement). If you have enough land, put the mares where the foals can’t see or hear them. The buddy system makes this a lot easier (often foals will bond with another – keep them together when you wean).
4. If stall separating is your only option, sometimes it’s easier to put the foal in a stall adjacent to the mare. Make sure the walls are tall enough (this may require building them to the ceiling) so the baby cannot jump into the adjacent stall (or get hung up trying). With other foals (you should have a good read on their temperament by now), it’s necessary to get the mare as far away as possible from the foal. Sometimes, putting foals together in a stall can help all through the process for a couple of days.
5. Keep an eye on the mare and watch her bag. Some absorb the milk quickly, others may have challenges. It’s important to give the mare ample daily exercise to ensure mastitis doesn’t set in.
6. Teach babies to lead, accept human handling and get familiar with their intended new herd prior to weaning. The more familiar and comfortable they are with what will be required of them next (and don’t rule out the need for a possible vet visit from resulting injuries as a result of the weaning process), the easier it will be for both you and your foal.
7. Ensure your foals trust, like and look to your for guidance and confidence. This can go a long way toward helping them make this tough transition.
8. Start separate foal graining rations early. There are a number of feeds designed for foals (and this does not include mare & foal labelled products – look for those that include a milk supplement) to ensure your foal gets the nutrition he needs early. Mare’s milk starts deteriorating between months two and three and you should start addressing this with special and separate feed for your youngster at this time.  Suddenly throwing grain at them when weaned produces growth spurts that aren’t healthy.
9. Check recently weaned foals daily for injuries and issues.
10. Give your foals the trust, lead and confidence to see you as a  guide through this difficult transition. This needs to start early, but the benefits that result from your time and attention will pay considerable dividends in making this process easier for all.

Editors Note: Friday’s Opinion appeared on Wednesday of this week due the timely (and scary) nature of the issue addressed. So, this week’s usual Wed. quick tips feature is a bit delayed.

Whether you are housing horses in a stall 24/7 (a tough life for a horse unless injury layup is an excuse), offering limited daily time in a paddock, giving horses ample pasture time during the day or night (depending on the season) or operating with a primary turnout situation that has horses in stalls only during severe weather, vet appearances, blacksmith visits, foaling times or training preparation activities, you need stalls. These quick tips assume your horse spends daily time in the stall, but could also apply to those who don’t (and run in sheds).

Quick tips for stall maintenance

1. Know your flooring and address the issues. Wood and mats when wet can be very slippery. Make sure you have enough bedding (sawdust provides better footing on these surfaces than straw) to ensure foals can get up (we bed foaling stalls with straw, but have found that it’s necessary to put a thin layer of sawdust under a bale or two of straw for some less coordinated foals), excited horses don’t fall and periodic accommodations are made to dry these areas out. Wood rots too, so keep an eye on deterioration and fix it before a collapse results in a vet bill. Cement is too hard on horses that spend a lot of time in the stall. Invest in mats if this is your only surface option and bed deep. Dirt encourages digging and urine will produce holes too. We put mats in our dirt stalls (sans one for our mare who has a proclivity for producing slow foals) and pull them out annually to level out the dirt. Still, dirt, although high maintenance, is probably the best solution for your horse. If you’re building from the ground up, put stone down about seven inches for good drainage.
2. Picking stalls saves time and bedding costs. It’s relatively easy to remove manure at feeding times and doing so makes the full stall clean a lot quicker, keeps the stall a lot neater and makes a great impression on visitors. We have a couple of churn machines in our barn and staying on top of the deposits reduces bedding and labor costs dramatically.
3. There are ergonomic tools you can put to the task, but we’ve found a standard plastic pitchfork to be the most durable and easiest tool for the task (even on the straw stalls – so much sold in our area today is so chaffy, standard metal straw pitchforks just don’t work well). We also use a broom in stalls to clear wet spots thoroughly.
4. We’ve found the best stall construction material to be 1” X 6” rough cut oak. It’s tough and affordable. If you screw (vs. nail) the boards in, they’re easy to remove when broken or chewed through. Having cordless power tools (circular saw, drill, etc.) makes it’s simple to render quick repairs and keep your barn in pristine shape.
5. Inspect stalls (and run-in sheds) daily for loose screws/nails, eye-hooks that may have been mangled, boards that are loose, items that may have been pulled in by the resident and other potential injury issues. It’s amazing how some horses are magnets for trouble. Save yourself the heartache and headache of injuries and vet bills by striving to prevent potential mishaps.

Life is about continuous learning. This year we decided to fence in twenty-six acres. We learned a lot about herd dynamics, best practices, time saving (and depleting) practices, the effects of changing the equine routine and the wishes of horses. Whether your methods involve 24/7stall confinement (a tough life for a horse), a combination of turn-out and stall care or full-time pasture life, you can make it easier on both you and your horse by being smarter about how you decide to make this so.

Ten tips for good turnout strategies

1. Give your horses shelter. Surprisingly, this is more critical in the summer months with the bugs and the sun then in the cold, windy and snowy season, but it’s a necessary component for comfort and health year-round.  Run-in sheds can be purchased or built, but know that one horse will likely command the space, so ensure there is an overhang or L-shaped construction so that others can get some protection.
2. Develop a rotation management plan. We had twelve horses on twenty-six acres this year (divided into three herds) and figured such small numbers would make it easy for the acreage to support the grazing demands. We were wrong. It’s important to restrict access and move the herds on a regular basis to ensure good pasture food and maintenance. It was amazing how much the quality of the pasture improved after we took the horses off a particular pasture, mowed the field, and gave it a month or so to regenerate.
3. Provide an ample, clean water supply. We have water piped to some of the paddocks, but truck it into the rest (with a 325 gallop tank on a trailer that hitches to the back of the pickup). In our area, municipal water (3 miles down the road) is inexpensive and saves wear and tear on our pump and water purification system.  Horses can drink a lot and you never want them to be without water.
4. Ensure you provide dry, clean and maintained pastures and shelters. Run-in sheds should be cleaned at least daily, preferably more frequently. If you can get one that is mobile, that’s even better as some herds will urinate in the sheds and this creates a very unhealthy condition for the feet. If you can’t move it, fill it with absorbent bedding that is cleaned at least daily. If areas of the paddock tend to get muddy (this will always be the case by the gate and in front of the shelter) see if you can restrict horses access to these areas and reseed.
5. Stick to a routine. Horses are more comfortable, and stay healthier, if they can plan on a schedule. Try to feed, water, train, bring in and out of the barn, rotate herds, do any doctoring, etc. at the same times each day.
6. Keep an eye on every horse in your care. Check the feet and eyes daily (small issues here can turn into major problems quickly). Give each horse the once over daily to ensure there are no open sores that may lead to infection, swollen areas, leg concerns or other medical issues that may need attention.
7. Watch the weight and the manure of each horse. Forage quality can change quickly and you don’t want to be dealing with founder on a horse that has been allowed to get obese or fighting to put  pounds on a horse as winter sets in.
8. Respect the herd dynamics hierarchy (and make sure you are seen as the leader when among the critters). If you want to move a herd, start with the alpha. Don’t get between horses that can get combative with one another. If you are supplementing with hay, make sure it is set up so that all horses are permitted to eat (multiple locations for placement or an adjustment to the herd groups usually works here).
9. Set a schedule for the blacksmith, shots, worming, etc. and keep good records. Just because a horse is turned out, doesn’t mean he can go without basic care.
10. Give your horses a job.  While it may seem idyllic and beautiful for a horses to be grazing freely day and night, most horses aren’t happy being ignored. Even older retired horses can help teach the babies a thing or two and the youngsters love to be challenged with training. Frankly, we were a bit surprised at how much the horses at the farm happily anticipated being put to work. Those in training were the first to come running to be brought into the barn.