Summer Issues

WEIGHT GAIN
Summer is the time of year when horses gain weight. I have had 3 laminitics now and we have explored all the solutions to preventing laminitis. BEST way for us has been diet pasture. We had a larger one which was 2 weeks in 2 weeks out but now we have a smaller one which is one week in one week out. It worked at keeping the weight off especially when we had exams or went on holiday and couldn't ride them. Another solution is available which is muzzle, and can be used in a large paddock. I have used this but Blue has a talent for rolling and shuffling his head out of this. The best form of solution is exercise, lunging and hard workouts are bound to shift the pounds. Also, licks such as laminaze are good and general tips such as soaking the hay before feeding it to them are helpful to just keep the weight down. Also another good idea is to have your horse stabled during the day, they eat less at night and on these hot summer days its good to give them shade.


TICKS



Anti-tick solution can be sprayed on your horses and I would suggest having some tweezers handy for getting the wee buggers out. Shannon had tons of teeny tiny ones on her muzzle you can either wait to see if the horse gets rid of them or I find, smothering them in Vaseline stops them. You do have to leave the vasaline on for a while so you will need to keep your horse in for over an hour.




FLIES
Anti-fly spray for the win! Top Tip - CHECK THE LABEL TO SEE THE CONCENTRATION OF "N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide" or DEET, as it is more commonly named as. Citronella spray is sold and used for anti-fly purposes but due to the debate over its safety I stay away from it. NAF off - Deet power I find very effective with 19.8% concentration of DEET. You can also purchase by NAF off a bottle of spray called extra effect which uses p-Menthane-3,8-diol,  and I have never tried this. The NAF off deet power is the best I have found and I would only change it to make my own. Now, my old pony, Melody wouldn't be sprayed, she would just try to kill you, we once found an amazing green gel which I have completely forgotten the name of, but it was amazing, I could be mistaken but it might have actually been the gel version. This brings me on to my follow up point, GELS! if your horse is spooky around spray gel is the perfect solution especially for in the private areas and face. 

Anyhoo, another solution is to feed your horses garlic, Shannon (companion) doesn't get sprayed and its a bit of a kerfuffle to get her in and get her gel etc so I just feed them both garlic. Garlic granules are the best bet and none of my ponies have ever rejected it in their feed.
I would put a rant about fly rugs but I have never used them so I will leave that up to the people who do.

HOOVES
My ponies hooves get quite cracked when there are heat waves with no sun, if I can I usually put ointment and oil on their hooves, to keep them hydrated and strong. When I can't do that I or if they are really bad I feed the ponies biotin  in their feed or on its own. Its a very nice grass kind of powder which strengthens their hooves, I had Shannon on this all throughout her box-rest last year since the only moisture her hooves where getting was the blood (rarely) from the wound and if she kicked her water bucket. 

LICE, INSECTS, SUN BURN AND "HAY FEVER"

Lice: 
Keep your horses clean and groomed, check their coat for any signs of lice regularly. If you do find lice, go buy medicated, lice shampoo and use it over 2 weeks and also soak your brushes in it.

Insects:
Again keep your pony clean and groomed. When your horse has been rolling or lying down, I would suggest giving them a good groom to get rid of anything that crawled on them when they were down. (Similar thing if they walk through streams/puddles/ponds)

Sun burn:
On sunny days, especially if you are riding in the sun, with no shade, I would apply sun cream to 
their muzzle, chest, poll and groin area.

"Hay fever":
Some horses can have reactions to the grass they lie on so I would suggest having piritin handy for these situations.

THE END

Okiedokie, that's me, like always I will mention, this is my opinion, I am not professional, this worked for me and I am only suggesting that it could work for you. In any situations when you are concerned for your horse's health CALL A VET. Righto, enjoy the sun, adios :)