# Sticky  "Is it too hot to ride?"



## JCnGrace

Thank you, that's an easy to use graph. I hope the mods pin it at the top.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

This ought to get a 'sticky'. It's excellent info to have.

It's only the 6th of June and today we were 92 F & 78% humidity, so 170 total and it's not even summer yet.


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## flytobecat

We hit a 100 last week. I usually ride in the early morning or late this time of year.


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## Horsef

Thank you. My mare was throwing a fit on Sunday. It felt like I was trying to ride an unbroken horse. She is usually a really good little horse. The only thing I can think of is that she has more sense than me and was telling me that it's too hot. Last night she was back to her mild manners. Maybe I should stick to riding in the cooler parts of the day.


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## walkinthewalk

Ditto this should be a sticky at the top.

We also have already had several days with the combined heat/humidity over 150

My rule has always been, if it's too hot and sweaty for me, it's too hot for the horse

Thank *Boots* for posting this table


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## Acadianartist

Wow... I had to convert that to Celcius. 130 F is about 54 C - crazy! I've seen it get into the low 40s with the humidity, but don't recall ever seeing it get to 50. Even if my horses were ok (they wouldn't be), I wouldn't want to ride in that!!! My point is: there is great variability in horses, but also, in climates. Horses that rarely ever see more than 30 C may not be able to cope with 50 C regardless of what the chart says.

Edited to add: it was barely above freezing last night. We haven't been able to plant our gardens yet because of the cold temps we've been having.

Edited again... is the second line up from the bottom wrong? The last number is 700


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## LoriF

I've been trying to get as much in now as possible. 
For Florida, the evenings have been pretty nice. The spring showed no rain what so ever so humidity was extremely low for here. Now we're getting it and it's leaving cool evenings. 
Usually by this time of year I'm not riding at all. I'ts just too hot for all of us and the horses are spending there days between some grazing and loafing around under shade and fans.

@Acadianartist You are right. I'm sure our horses fare a whole lot better down here in the humidity than your guys would just because they are used to it. Still, our riding time down here is in the fall, winter, and spring. Summers down here are ridiculous even if you were to ride in the middle of the night.


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## george the mule

Hi All!

I don't have to worry about my critters and the heat, their daddy wimps out way before it gets hot enough to bother them ;-)

AA, yea; there is something wrong with the data in that line. Also, the numbers are the _sum_ of temperature and humidity. Not too many places in the world see 130F/50C.


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## Acadianartist

george the mule said:


> Hi All!
> 
> AA, yea; there is something wrong with the data in that line. Also, the numbers are the _sum_ of temperature and humidity. Not too many places in the world see 130F/50C.


Yes, I'm aware that it's the sum of both. There is a similar scale in Celcius. Even so, we rarely get over 30 C (86 F) in the heat of the day here WITHOUT the humidity so 100F (again, before factoring humidity) would be a rare occurrence here. Humidity can get high, but rarely comes with high heat. Anyway, my point was that it is all relative, and that horses are used to different climates.


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## ApuetsoT

My horse tends to get hot and will come in sweaty once it gets around 20°c... 50°c?!


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## PoptartShop

Our weather has been wacky. One day it's in the 70's, the next 90, then back to 63F. LOL. Today it's going up to 66F but next week looks like...92F! :O I think summer is trying to get here...lol.

If it's too hot for me, I agree it's too hot for the horse. The humidity is what really kills me! :sad: Plus Redz is 24 so I don't want him to bake in the darn heat! But it's perfect weather for bathing him so that's probably what I'll do if it's that hot next week.  He sweats!
I try to ride in the AM to beat the heat though. That's why I'm glad my lessons are at 8/8:30AM every Saturday in the summertime. I can only ride in the morning on the weekends sadly because I work M-F but at night sometimes it cools off. Ugh...just annoying how bipolar the weather can be lately!


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## anndankev

boots said:


> ..."The following rule of thumb has been devised as a guide. If the sum of the temperature and humidity is:
> · Less than 130 - no problem;
> · Greater than 150 - use caution, especially if the humidity is greater than half of the total;
> · Greater than 180 - use extreme caution, since normal cooling is almost ineffectual and horses may resort to panting."
> 
> View attachment 897402
> 
> 
> Courtesy uspolo.org


 
Thanks for posting this boots, especially the chart - which I haven't seen before. 

Always have wondered about the 131-149 range, as it is not in the rule of thumbs list. There are 3 items. There are 4 on the chart: White, Yellow, Orange, and Red.

So what would be the 'description' for handling the Yellow zone on the rule of thumbs list?


...


I suppose an appropriate answer might be: Don't sweat the Small Stuff. LOL


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## cbar

@Acadianartist - I did the conversion too and was like...WTH!? If it is 25 celsius I am melting and don't do anything with the horses. I don't think I could survive in 50 celsius! 

Of course, horses acclimatize....just like ours tend to handle the -30's better than those used to hotter climates.


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## Luce73

we get temps in the 30's (celcius) at 60-80% humidity all summer here in argentina. So thats a combined score of around 170 D: I rode early and mostly stuck to a walk with half a circle of trot thrown in here and there... most people turn their horses out in the countryside for 2-3 months (december 15th-end of february)


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## EmberScarlet

In our nice toasty valley, we reached 113 degrees a couple weeks ago. It was miserable.


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## texasgal

The horses seem to do better than I do. I have friends that ride all year round in Texas and I'm amazed as some of the rides in this heat. I stay home because it's too hot for ME!


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## horseluvr2524

You Canadians make me laugh! :lol:

We here in the desert are in now what I call our 'winter'. Everyone stays inside in AC to beat the heat, and hardly anyone rides. By 8am, we've hit 85-90F and typically climb to temperatures of 100-110F, sometimes more, by noon.

I do light riding, maybe once or twice a week at the very most, in the couple hours before dark.

The nice thing is that we can drive two hours north and escape to cooler temperatures!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

horseluvr2524 said:


> You Canadians make me laugh! :lol:
> 
> We here in the desert are in now what I call our 'winter'. Everyone stays inside in AC to beat the heat, and hardly anyone rides. By 8am, we've hit 85-90F and typically climb to temperatures of 100-110F, sometimes more, by noon.
> 
> I do light riding, maybe once or twice a week at the very most, in the couple hours before dark.
> 
> The nice thing is that we can drive two hours north and escape to cooler temperatures!


I used to ride from 5 am to 8 am everyday. There was a group of us who met up every morning for a ride. Sometimes we'd go out after 8 pm and ride in the moonlight too. But between 8 am & 8 pm, other than to check water, we didn't do much outside.


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## waresbear

Around here, never mind the too hot to ride chart, how about a too COLD to ride one?


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## horseluvr2524

Dreamcatcher Arabians said:


> I used to ride from 5 am to 8 am everyday. There was a group of us who met up every morning for a ride. Sometimes we'd go out after 8 pm and ride in the moonlight too. But between 8 am & 8 pm, other than to check water, we didn't do much outside.


Haha, yes, there is always the die hard riders :wink:

I just can't drag myself out of bed early enough. Especially with the growing business DH and I run, our hours usually end up being later in the day, often staying up as late as 2am (our business is a creative type and we tend to write better at those hours).

Got up around 7:30, went outside, and said 'it's too hot!'. lol. I can handle a short 30-40 minute arena workout just before dark. Even early morning, I've found the sun just too intense for me, so it's better when it's setting and not directly on me anymore.

My whole family desires to leave the desert, so I don't think we will be permanent desert dwellers.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

horseluvr2524 said:


> Haha, yes, there is always the die hard riders :wink:
> 
> I just can't drag myself out of bed early enough. Especially with the growing business DH and I run, our hours usually end up being later in the day, often staying up as late as 2am (our business is a creative type and we tend to write better at those hours).
> 
> Got up around 7:30, went outside, and said 'it's too hot!'. lol. I can handle a short 30-40 minute arena workout just before dark. Even early morning, I've found the sun just too intense for me, so it's better when it's setting and not directly on me anymore.
> 
> My whole family desires to leave the desert, so I don't think we will be permanent desert dwellers.


The early morning rides are one of the many things I miss about the desert. The cholla cactus? Not so much. I'll return someday.


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## Acadianartist

Thought of this thread yesterday. It was 32 C (about 90 F) and 38% humidity. According to the chart, this is no problem for horses and riders - not even in the yellow! My daughter was supposed to haul to her coach's for a lesson, but the other rider's mom pulled out because of the heat. She's a nurse, and said the ER was full of people struggling with the heat. So we didn't go (the whole point of hauling there is for my daughter to ride with someone else). I would have gone, but I admit, that heat was pretty unbearable! I don't know how people cope with higher temps. Again, it has a lot to do with what your body is used to. Here, we rarely get this kind of heat so everyone is dying! 

But we ride when it's -15 C no problem.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

Acadianartist said:


> Thought of this thread yesterday. It was 32 C (about 90 F) and 38% humidity. According to the chart, this is no problem for horses and riders - not even in the yellow! My daughter was supposed to haul to her coach's for a lesson, but the other rider's mom pulled out because of the heat. She's a nurse, and said the ER was full of people struggling with the heat. So we didn't go (the whole point of hauling there is for my daughter to ride with someone else). I would have gone, but I admit, that heat was pretty unbearable! I don't know how people cope with higher temps. Again, it has a lot to do with what your body is used to. Here, we rarely get this kind of heat so everyone is dying!
> 
> But we ride when it's -15 C no problem.


We do a New Year's Day ride here and some years I can ride in my shirt sleeves, others in a sweatshirt and then...I've done that ride when 6 F was the high for the day and of course, the wind never quits here so there was a wind chill on top of that. I practically needed a crane to get me up on the horse. I had so many clothes on I looked like the Michelin Tire Man. It was a fun ride and BOY did those Black Eyed Peas and Cornbread taste GREAT when we got done. 

It's funny how we all acclimate to our various temperatures and humidities. I went back to the desert after moving out here and had nosebleeds for 3 weeks straight because it was so dry. Here in OK, we think it's dry when it's 40% humidity. It's already 72 F + 84% so = 156, in the danger zone, and we're going to be 90 F for a high today. 93 tomorrow. I get cold when it gets below 75 F.


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## Acadianartist

Haha... that's funny @DreamCatcher... I can relate to the Michelin man comment. However, as you can imagine, over the years I've built up a very nice wardrobe of winter riding clothes that provide lots of movement while keeping me warm. The wool base layer is the key for me. And a good riding coat that isn't too bulky. 

I just find it easier to cope with cool temps because I can always add layers. In the heat, there's only so many layers you can remove!!!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

Acadianartist said:


> Haha... that's funny @DreamCatcher... I can relate to the Michelin man comment. However, as you can imagine, over the years I've built up a very nice wardrobe of winter riding clothes that provide lots of movement while keeping me warm. The wool base layer is the key for me. And a good riding coat that isn't too bulky.
> 
> I just find it easier to cope with cool temps because I can always add layers. In the heat, there's only so many layers you can remove!!!


Yeah, out here when it gets cold we start with thermals, then jeans & t-shirt & sweatshirt and then we start adding the various Carhartt layers. I had my heavy duty, good to -30F Carhartt Ova'hauls (overalls for those who speak the Queen's English) on, and I did OK. The best investment I ever made out here was my wind pants. It doesn't get cold enough often that I need my ova'hauls but I live in those wind pants! My Carhartt jacket is heavy duty and windproof so with a wool hat, gloves (I have YET to find gloves that really keep my hands warm) and my Bogs boots...I'm good for chores. Oh I also have a cool neoprene face mask







, for when it's so windy you just can't stand for your face to be out unprotected.


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## Reiningcatsanddogs

Woke up this morning and at 7 am it was 92% humidity and 75 degrees F. Breathing made you sweat. No AM riding today.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad

I never worry about the temperature. He is an arab and heat doesn't seem to bother him but it is the bugs that are out in the heat that drive us both nuts
I don't ride in the extreme heat because of them


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