summer horse housing
In many cases, horses fare better outside in turn-out where they can roam at leisure, graze a little green grass or nibble some hay, and mingle with others in the herd. | Photo: Erica Larson/The Horse
Q.I live in Northern Illinois where the summers can be very hot and humid. My question is—Where is the best place for a horse during the hottest part of the day: in a barn with fans or outside? We are on a hill, so we usually have a pretty brisk breeze blowing.

My thermometer in the barn is at 96 degrees right now, probably hotter than outside in a shady spot. One place seems about as bad as the other in the heat. Any ideas?

—Dusti Coyle, Wilmington, Illinois

A.We all know how it feels to stand in the baking heat of the sun without respite. When overly hot, a horse will sweat, which is a normal process to eliminate heat from the body to maintain a stable body temperature between 97-101°F. One way to determine how solar radiation is affecting your horse is to measure his respirations, which are normally 18-24 breaths per minute. On a hot day, he’s likely to breathe more rapidly to dissipate heat from his body. A dark-haired horse tends to be more affected by direct sunshine. It helps to compare one horse’s respiratory rate to a few others experiencing the same ambient conditions

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