During the long warm days of summer, like us, equines are faced with the prospect of too much sun, Samantha Sinclair – Chief Executive Officer of Aniwell has this essential advice. (first published June 2018).

The three biggest problems facing horse owners in the summer months are heat, sunburn and insect irritation

These can cause a high degree of discomfort during the summer season to your horse or pony on a daily basis.

Physical shade, shelter and a clean plentiful water supply are essential for horses and ponies throughout the year, however, even more so during the summer period to avoid dehydration, over heating (especially if they have not shed the winter coat in a timely fashion) and sunburn.

When shelter or shade is difficult to provide, supplying fly-veils, cooling shade and anti-fly sheets are a must. Protecting from over-exposure to UVA/UVB rays will prevent sunburn to those horses with areas of skin which are sparsely haired and to non-pigmented skin areas – noses, lips, eyelids, ear tips and fetlocks (especially if pink skinned and clipped).

This can be done easily in the paddock with nose-flaps on halters or full-face masks of shade-cloth to head areas and importantly applying a non-absorbing (reflective) total sunblock when not wearing a physical barrier out riding or schooling, and for the exposed lower limbs.

Dew burn on clipped, white legs can also be prevented with application of a reflective sun-block. Daily application of a reflective sun-block cream that also contains antibacterial properties will not only provide ultra sun protection to vulnerable areas but will also provide protection and assist healing to already sun-damaged areas.

Sunburn symptoms in horses

Horses will exhibit very similar sunburn symptoms to people.

Redness, skin discolouration from pink through to quite a dark red-brown with ongoing exposure.

Tenderness or pain reaction in the area affected, with some minor localised swelling.

The skin then thickens, hardens, cracks and peels, exposing the layers below to the environment and insects.

If the burn is deep, the lower layers of the epidermis will become exposed and there could be some serous ooze.

The optimum sun blocking for horses and other animals is to use a sun-block, which has a ‘reflector’ rather than an ‘absorber’ as its sun-blocking ingredients. Pharmaceutical grade Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide and Ultrafine Titanium dioxide are examples of total reflectors, preventing damaging rays from reaching the skins’ surface. Even a barely visible pale coating of cream with these ingredients will still provide protection to the underlying area from damaging UVA/UVB rays.

Horse types and body parts prone to sunburn

Any horse with pink/pale pigmented skin under the hair or in particularly sparsely haired pale areas – white noses, exposed white fetlocks (clipped or lightly feathered), white across the face and around the eye and eyelids. Therefore, any horse with white on its face and down through its nose – paints, piebald, skewbald, Clydesdales, Appaloosas, Spotted, horses with the cream or champagne dilution gene producing pale/pink skin on face and fetlocks, such as Cremello and Perlino .

The exposed fetlocks can also experience ‘dew burn’ from the sun refracting through the dew/water on the hair/skin and intensifying the suns effect, burning the underlying skin.

Protecting your horse from the sun

Any horse outdoors for any length of time will get exposed to ultra violet rays, even though the sun is extremely important to maintain overall wellbeing, overexposure will cause damage to horses with pink/pale pigmented skin areas.

Applying a physical barrier when the horse is grazing/paddocked by using a full shade-cloth face-mask or a nose protector attached to a halter (similar to us wearing a hat) works well. However this is not always safe (catching on fences/trees) or practical (these usually can’t be used while riding!). Therefore, use the reflective sun-blocks, applied prior to turn-out or riding, re-apply daily and after heavy sweating or washing.

If using only a daily sun-block for protection, be aware that all creams need to be thoroughly washed off every two to three days to prevent build up on the skin and trapping of dirt and bacteria that can cause irritation to the underlying skin cells.

Keeping insects at bay

Flies cause horses constant bother in the heat. Detering flies and treating bites:

Flies irritate, bite and can cause dangerous physical situations for people on the ground or when mounted, especially with sensitive horses. Some horses can become overwhelmed and lose all sense of boundaries or focus when biting insects are prevalent.

Prevention is the key to everyone’s safety and the horse’s wellbeing. Use insect repellants/deterrents, keeping the yard and paddock areas clean and clear of manure will help keep fly numbers down.

Providing the horse with physical barriers to ease the misery, such as mentioned above, work well.

When the flies have broken the skin and cause weeping wounds – preventing infection and allergic reactions is paramount. Cleaning the wound area with clean water or a mild antiseptic solution before applying a thick layer of an antibacterial wound protector cream will deter further insect invasion and allow the skin to breathe and heal while at the same time providing protection from environmental factors.

Sweet Itch is the most well known of the seasonal insect problems. A form of ‘Seasonal Sweet Itch’ affects all breeds and types of horses throughout the world (for example – Queensland Itch in Australia, Taupo Itch in New Zealand, Sommer Eksem in Germany). The allergic reaction to the saliva of the Culicoides midge unfortunately has no known cure – therefore, prevention is the key. Removing horses from the midges’ breeding grounds (sheltered boggy marshlands) to an exposed, dry area will reduce the incidence of midge infestation, close fitting blankets and head covers. If the skin becomes compromised and inflamed, an application of a thick antibacterial cream to those exposed areas unable to be covered will prevent further irritation and insect attack.

Allergies are another problem more prevalent in summer

Anaphylactic reactions are the extreme end of the allergy spectrum and require immediate veterinary intervention to prevent death.

Luckily, most reactions our horses get tend to be from the grasses, pollens and insect bites (ticks, flies, mosquitoes, sweet itch midge saliva). In the case of insect bites, checking horses skin for signs of tick, fly and mosquito bites, using insecticides, repellents or deterrents as per the manufacturer’s instructions will reduce the incidence of insect bites. Covering with a full neck and body fly-sheet will assist with prevention.

Again, using physical barriers to prevent grasses and pollens irritating exposed areas – nose-flaps or full eye to nose mesh masks for grazing animals to protect from contact allergies of the nose, muzzle and chin.

Pollen and grass allergies can also be managed with topping paddocks to drop seed and pollen heads, encouraging grass growth rather than seed production as the season wears on and not allowing grass to become rank.

Protection and prevention

The key elements to stress free, fun filled summer months for you and your horse are protection from the sun, the environment and insects by preventing these causing an issue in the first place.

Slip on a fly-sheet, slop on sun-block, spray on repellent and snooze in the shade!

For advice or information visit the Aniwell website: www.aniwell-uk.com

Article first published in June 2018