Keepin' Horses Cool on the Trail.

Neigh there!  Hot enough for ya?  Yup, us too.  I wanted tell you about how our two-legged friends keep us comfortable here at Carousel Horse Farm.  Like most two-legs, we don’t get a day off just because it’s hot.  If the heat index is below 90 we still do our jobs just like you do.  Luckily our two-legged friends here at the farm work hard to keep us comfortable in this heat. 

First of all, most of our trail rides start and end through the nice cool woods under a canopy of shade trees.  We are never asked to trot or canter too much when it is very hot but we do love to stretch our legs and take a good trot to outrun the biting bugs, not to mention having the wind in your mane feels really good. 

Let’s talk about sweat.  You do it and we do too.  Like you, it means that our cooling systems are working just fine.  It’s our body’s way of cooling itself off.  We stay well hydrated when we work so we can stay healthy.  Did you know that we can actually get sick if we drink too much ice cold water when we are working?  Yup!  It’s called colic and it’s like a really bad belly ache.  Our two-legged friends make sure that we have fresh water to drink but that it’s not too cold—tepid is good.

You may think that our equipment makes us hot.  After all, our saddle pads are made of thick wool and look really hot and we sweat a lot under them.  What you may not know is that the wool saddle pads wick the sweat away from our body and keep the saddle from rubbing raw spots on our back.  The same is true of our girth strap (it goes around our belly and keeps the saddle from falling off).  The sweat actually keeps it lubricated so it doesn’t rub us raw.  If you notice, when your ride is finished our two-legged friends will loosen our girth straps to give our skin a chance to breathe and the sweat to evaporate so we can cool off. 

Finally, when the day is over and the last rider has gone home we get a real treat.  Saddles and bridles are taken off and put away and, like you, we enjoy a nice cooling shower from the hose.  After our shower, we roll in the dirt and scratch all of our itchy places.  Then it’s a supper of grain and turnout to the pasture to sleep under the stars.  We relax, graze, catch up with our other horse friends; sometimes the deer come to visit.  It’s the end of another great Maine day.  We are lucky to have such a great job.  We look forward to seeing you soon.  Traveller.