08/03/2026
☀️🥵 Colorado friends, please take this heat seriously. 🥵☀️
With temperatures expected to soar above 100°F over the next two days across the Denver area, we wanted to share an important reminder.
Sadly, we have already heard of several horses being lost to heat stroke in our community recently. 💔 Heat stroke is often preventable with careful management, early recognition, and quick action.
Research from the University of Guelph found that horses are 3–10 times more susceptible to heat stress than humans. Their large muscle mass generates tremendous heat during activity, and while horses sweat heavily, much less of that sweat actually evaporates to cool them effectively.
⚠️ Factors that increase the risk of heat stress include:
• High temperatures and humidity
• Direct sun exposure
• Poorly ventilated barns or trailers
• Strenuous exercise
• Obesity or heavy muscling
• Foals and senior horses, who are especially vulnerable
🚨 Watch closely for signs of heat stress:
• Elevated temperature (102–105°F)
• Excessive sweating—or no sweating at all
• Rapid breathing or flared nostrils
• Elevated heart rate that doesn’t recover with rest
• Hot skin
• Signs of dehydration (skin tenting, tacky gums, sunken eyes, decreased appetite)
• Weakness, stumbling, lethargy
• Refusal to work
If your horse’s temperature climbs above 105°F, heat stress can quickly become heat stroke, a life-threatening emergency that can cause organ failure, collapse, seizures, coma, and even death.
💜 Please help keep our equine friends safe:
• Provide unlimited fresh, cool water and electrolytes when appropriate.
• Offer plenty of shade and airflow.
• Avoid riding or strenuous work during the hottest parts of the day.
• Cool horses immediately with cold water if they become overheated, and contact your veterinarian if they are not recovering quickly.
• Check on your older horses, foals, and those with health concerns more frequently.
🐶 And don’t forget about our canine companions. This heat is just as dangerous for dogs. Keep walks to early in the morning or after the sun goes down, and always remember that asphalt can be dramatically hotter than the air temperature. A good rule of thumb: if you can’t comfortably walk barefoot on the pavement, neither should your dog. Hot pavement can cause severe burns to their paw pads in just seconds.
Please also check in on your fellow horse and dog owners. A simple text or visit could make all the difference during extreme weather.
Let’s work together to keep all of our four-legged friends healthy, hydrated, and safe through this heat wave. ❤️🐴🐶
