Heat & drought & flies...OH MY!

Sierra39

Hairball Magnet
Just wanting to know how all you fellow horse owners are coping with this incredible heat, drought, and biting flies galore...

I guess we'll all be buying hay most of the summer to keep the horses fed! My pasture looks like hell – only the hardiest of weeds are thriving, although the rain last week greened things up a bit.

Just wanted to get everyone's thoughts and tips for dealing with it all!
 

Sierra39

Hairball Magnet
Hey Jay!

Good to hear from you! Yeah, I'm going through hay like crazy, too. I used to get my hay from an Amish farm in Hughesville, but the last load had 10 bad bales out of 15 (moldy!)...and we haven't had enough rain for a second cutting for most of the folks here in Maryland.

So I've been buying my hay from Myers Feed in Upper Marlboro (they'll deliver damn near everywhere! $4.50-7.50/bale, usually about 4 types to choose from)(301-627-8164) or Hatcher's Supply in Huntingtown ($4.50/bale, timothy/orchardgrass mix)(410-535-0368). Myers $7.50 bales of timothy/orchard mix are HUGE, HEAVY (60#) wire-bound bales, equivalent to 2 reg. small light bales and are always of EXCELLENT quality. They get all their stuff in PA.

Hopefully this will help ya, and maybe if we start a raindance going, it'll help!
Have you been riding much in the heat?? Our girls have pretty much been enjoying a long rest, and are only getting ridden (lightly) once or twice a week...lots of hose baths, and night turnout, too. They're drinking GALLONS of water!
 

cattitude

My Sweetest Boy
Hay

When I had sheep, I used to get my hay from Taney Place Farm (Susie Wells) at the end of Adelina Road. She was very reliable. She boards horses now, so maybe she keeps all the hay that she grows. But it is close to you Sierra.
 

RagDoll

New Member
I guess I'm the only one happy that there's not much grass. Miss Fat Mare needs to lose about 200 pounds and the heat is helping. I'm riding 5 - 6 days a week and using liniments to help with cooling out.

Happy I don't have to worry about hay and all that fun stuff anymore. When I was at Lordship's it was always a pain in the hiney. I have the easy life right now, Miss Fat Mare's owners get the hay so I'm worry free.:biggrin:
 

Sierra39

Hairball Magnet
Appy, if I have known pot-bellied pigs like flies, I would've bought one AGES ago! :biggrin: Do you have to kill them for them, or do they just snap them out of the air??

By "tails up" do you mean you keep your horses tails in one of those tail bags or wrapped? Just wonderin'... don't show! And how did you do at this week's show?? You need to post results so we can congratulate you! And TG for covered arenas...

My daughter gave my friends 2 girls beginning riding lessons yesterday...just WALKING the horses were sweating like pigs! And the flies...horseflies the size of small birds...
 

Sharon

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Staff member
PREMO Member
Originally posted by SxyPrincess
A few pilsners of Coors Light might add a few pounds. :biggrin: :martini:
Draught horse drinks 15 pints a day

Sultan the horse can knock back 15 pints a day. The draught horse waits outside pubs in Warwickshire while owner Simon Powell goes to the bar to get him a lager, Guinness or bitter.

He holds the glass between his teeth and downs each pint in 20 seconds. Sultan is exhibited at Shire Horse displays across the UK.

Simon, 41, told The Sun: "I love people's faces when he grips the glass and swills his tongue round inside. He's such a whopping beast, a few now and again do him no harm."

An RSPCA spokesman said: "Beer contains barley and grain. It'll do no harm in moderation."
~~~~~~~
:roflmao:
 

Sierra39

Hairball Magnet
Perhaps you should have a vet do an analysis of your horses' manure to check her parasite burden... A friend of mine had a horse that kept losing weight no matter what he fed her, and it turned out that she had a serious parasite problem (encysted strongyles)... Of course, I don't think he had her on a regular deworming schedule!

How's she doing?? BTW, our mares are only lightly ridden 2-3x week and this is what they eat: just under 1 grain scoop Bonanza each, am & pm; 2 flakes of timothy hay in am; 1.5 flakes of timothy each in their outside hayrack in addition to their night-turnout grazing. They also get the Super 14 skin/coat supplement added to their feed.
 

Sharon

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Staff member
PREMO Member
Arrrghh the mosquitos! They attack us every morning on our walk thru the field. I didn't know there were shots for that. I wonder if they have them for dogs, he gets one for lyme disease every year.
 
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