Earlier this summer, triple digit temperatures had horse owners and their animals sweltering. Now owners remain hot under the collar as they worry about hay and feed availability with the persistent heat and ongoing drought.

In late June and early July temperatures rose to 100 degrees and higher in the Midwest, the Tennessee Valley, Kentucky, and elsewhere. Though rain began to fall in some areas in the Midwest since then, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sees little long-term relief. On July 16 NOAA reported that drought conditions continue to increase in both extent and intensity across much of the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, the Corn Belt region, the middle and lower Mississippi Valley, and much of the Great Plains.

Brian Fuchs, spokesman for the National Drought Mitigation Center, said 60% of the lower 48 states are under drought conditions. What’s more, he said, the combined hot and dry conditions have already taken a toll on corn and hay crops and have left pastures parched.

"Pastures that got good (rain) soakings in the spring are brown and have gone dormant," Fuchs said. "It’s doubtful that hay producers will get a third cut, and the corn crop will be reduced