keeping horses and donkeys comfortable on hot days

Since we have yet another day of heat index over 100, I thought I'd write about what we do here on November Hill to keep the horses and donkeys comfortable.

During this time of year, our herd is on night-time turn-out, which allows them to graze during the coolest part of the 24-hour period, when insect pests are the least annoying, and when the sugars in the grass are lowest.

Over time, it's become obvious that they will self-regulate this pattern if given the chance. When we first moved to November Hill we would generally close the paddock gate each morning to keep them from grazing during the daytime, but I've found they don't really need that precaution. Especially Keil Bay, who loves his cool quiet barn, his fans, and being served hay while he relaxes out of the heat.

They come in on their own most mornings and get a serving of hay. Breakfast tubs are served wet, as always, but this time of year instead of being like warm oatmeal, I serve their mixes with cool water. I like going into a hot day knowing they've absorbed a good amount of fluid, and because I feed loose salt in their tubs, I can add extra if I know we're going above 90 degrees.

They start off their day inside with nice, clean stalls. I close off all doors and windows on the sunny side of the barn, which keeps the heat and the flies out. We have big fans mounted so that air circulates in two different directions, and the sound of the fans is almost a white noise, like the rushing of water or the ocean.

They each get hay and clean water. We're fairly obsessive about the water buckets in stalls, and I also make sure the various troughs are clean, as they will often walk out to drink during the day.

Each horse gets a quick grooming and check-over in the a.m. and legs sprayed with the herbal mix we use. We do use fly predators and various and sundry traps, but when we have heat and rain, the flies seem to thrive, so we do as much as we can to keep them away from the horses. They have fly masks (I like the Cashel ones, with ears but no long noses) and they are offered to each horse. If they don't want it, they don't get it. When it's especially hot, I think they prefer to go without.

On unusually hot days I have wet down the Cashels with cold water, squeezed out the excess, and put them on wet.  Sometimes on those very hot days I will also use the hay nets so I can rinse the hay, which rehydrates it a little and makes sure the horses are getting water every time they take a bite.

By eleven or so each morning, the horses are generally in stalls, munching hay, or simply resting. No one is closed in, although I do often close Cody's stall for one or two hours so he can have the chance to lie down and sleep undisturbed if he wants to. He's the low man in the herd horse-wise, and the pony can be a real pest sometimes!

It's not unusual to go out and find Salina and the donkeys on their side, all together in one stall, and even the geldings will double up. It's a reminder that horses ARE herd animals, and for the most part, I believe they prefer to be with their herd. In our barn, the stalls are very open and they can all see one another at all times - so it fascinates me that even in the heat, when I know their bodies must be generating some extra, they will pack themselves in together and stand sleeping, usually facing in opposite directions.

On especially hot days I usually mix up a big bucket of electrolyte powder and water and leave that out for the geldings. We also have a salt block situated between the two paddocks so that anyone who wants to can lick as needed.

I love when the horses are in for the days, because the stalls get mucked at least 3-4x. Frequent mucking makes it easier, as they haven't mixed anything around. Salina gets her first lunch at 1, and her second lunch at 5, so it's easy to muck and give hay while she's eating.

Keil Bay still thinks it's highly unfair that he does not get the 4 senior meals a day that Salina gets. So he is sometimes allowed into the barnyard while she eats so he can graze a little or have some hay from the round bale.

All the horses are offered showers in the afternoon when the heat is at its worst. They seem to know when they need cooling down, and they come out to the paddocks and stand in a line. Usually Keil Bay always wants a hosing, Salina usually does, and the Cody and the pony sometimes do. The donkeys NEVER do, but they will often go take a dust bath in their very lovely dust circle in the grass paddock.

When the sun shifts to the other end of the barn, we close that end up and open the now shady side. All this is very methodical and makes a very nice routine for the horses, who seem to thrive on having things happen in a regular way they come to expect. We do mix things up enough to provide some variety and to keep them from being fixated on a very exact way of life, as I think they all need to be flexible enough to be okay with some surprises and some changes in the routine.

I'd love to hear of any things fellow horsefolk do to battle extreme heat - for yourselves and for your equines!

monday morning: heat, trims, back to the real world

I had a fairy tale existence this weekend, with writing group here and no responsibility for chores or meals. When you're needing to get rolling again with writing, I think sometimes the retreat mode is what it takes to get you there, but this time, the retreat came to me right here on November Hill.

My goal was to finish the final edit of my pony book, and I hit that Saturday night/early Sunday morning, which meant I was able to keep rolling forward into the next goal. I'm now about five chapters into reformatting my first adult novel for the Kindle, doing a little tweaking along the way. It won't be long - November Hill Press will launch its first title, and claire-obscure will be out in the world after a number of false starts.

I'm excited.

But for right now, it's re-entry into summer heat, 97 degrees today, and on top of that, hoof trims, and hoping I don't literally melt by the time I get back inside.

This is my least favorite time of year, once it gets this hot. Fortunately we are having early evening thunderstorms, which keeps things from drying out too much, and also makes an immediate dent in the heat index.

Last night, right after the rain, the temp dropped from 95 or so to 74, but after an hour, it went back up to 77!

There's not much I want to do in this kind of high humidity heat, but the back field needs dragging, so that much will have to get done.

Here's to an early fall.

Trim notes, added in after the fact:

Basically, every equine had lots of growth this time and all looked good when trimmed and dressed. Worst thing was the heat and the greenish/yellow biting flies that were out mid-day. Yuck! We made it through, and hopefully next appt. won't be this hot - heat index 104!

it's writing weekend and I can't wait

I'm racing through morning chores this a.m. because I have a meeting to attend, and then a little grocery shopping to do, but when I get home, I'm declaring writing group weekend's official start.

D. will arrive sometime after 2, and I am so grateful that she's coming, because I have been walking around with my head full of books for two weeks and I need this writing time badly.

We will write through the night, through the heat, through all the chores that other members of my family will take over and do for me, because it's Writing Group Weekend!

Looking out my window, it is overwhelmingly green. The horses are transitioning to the front field and hopefully grazing the cooler nights makes up some for the very hot days we're having right now. They're all slick and shiny and even the donkey boys are beginning to shed out.

Send good writing energy this way, and if you happen to be a writer yourself, send an excerpt and we'll read it out loud and send you encouraging words back!

the magic behind the morning

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.
 - J. B. Priestley

My friend Sue's kaleidoscope of the day post this morning offered the above quote, and not only do I love it, I think it sums up my approach upon waking every morning.

Today's magic included several friendly encounters with the young black snake living in my feed room. He (or she) is very respectful of my work space,  staying near the walls along the floor. After I said hello, he left for a few moments but then came back, peeking out (literally) at me from behind the oat bin, and then coming around behind my work table to peep out from that angle.

This morning's magic also included Dickens E. Wickens lying sprawled, legs all akimbo, upside down, in a pile of hay in the grass paddock. Salina and the donkeys are used to having a tuxedo cat mixed in with their hay, and the donkeys will sometimes nuzzle Dickens' very white belly.

There were more squash, more zucchini, more cucumbers, a few beans, and new sunflowers blooming in the garden. Last night we had yellow squash and zucchini tempura. Delicious!

The tomatoes are coming in, still small and green, but we should have a nice crop soon. The basil is getting bigger - can't wait for the tomato/basil/garlic/olive oil/salt/pepper/brie pasta that is so easy yet so good it almost seems too good to be true. It's only good with vine-ripened tomatoes that have never seen the inside of a truck or refrigerator.

The watermelon vines are thriving and the pepper plants are now blooming.

Although I still have squash borer moth eggs, we are getting so many squash I can hardly complain. It might be that when the squash decline I just need to clear them out and plant anew. I'd rather do that than use chemicals!

I started a new compost pile yesterday, in a very bare spot in the bottom of the front field. I'm excited to watch the compost mature, and I'm thinking by late summer I can spread the black gold out and transform that area into more fertile ground.

zen harrowing and some other things

Last night after dinner I went out to harrow the arena. Sunset, orange and lavender, coincided with my methodical circling, and husband was there to move jumps, standards, dressage markers, and ground poles so that my circuits were uninterrupted. I hadn't realized just how calming it is to go around and around, making harrow lines in the near darkness.

Just before I drove through the gate to the barnyard to begin the harrowing, Dickens E. Wickens, cowboy and hunter, came from the forest with a young bunny in his mouth. Since the bunny was already dead, we gave it back to him, but when I first spotted those dangling ears, I called out to husband and was making upset noises. Rafer Johnson and Redford came running when they heard my cries - with looks of concern on their donkey faces. It was about the sweetest thing in the world to see them look at my face, searching to see what was wrong, donkey ears held high. They are true friends and guardians.

Today I spent some time checking my compost piles after getting the barn set up for the day. There is so much color this time of year - green grass, green leaves, yellow goldfinches, blue birds, red cardinals, brown tree trunks. Walking through the field is like opening a new box of Crayola crayons, the big box, and trying to choose which one you'll use first.

This afternoon I went into town to run errands and ended up running into my dentist at the gas station. He came over to say hello and reassure me about an upcoming dental appointment. Have I mentioned lately that I love our little town? I grew up in a different small town and couldn't wait to leave when I graduated from high school. I'm beginning to see the benefits, in middle life.

Another thing I did today was set up the second pondering bench. I have one looking into the back field, and today's looks over the barnyard. These are simple benches, utilizing leftover cinder blocks and pieces of wood, but they sit nicely and provide two shady spots to sit and watch and think. Redford walked with me to the back field bench, and knocked the bench off with his nose, but when I put it back, he allowed it to stay.