During my recent travels from Canada to Arizona, I realized how much horses will not typically require blankets while in the trailer.
A few weeks ago I left on an exceptionally chilly Saskatchewan morning, -27C plus the windchill to be exact. I strategically opened the roof vents only, and hummed and hawed about how many layers to leave on the horses during our travels that day.
The trailer I was taking had a neat feature I haven’t had before – a thermostat! I was excited to be able to put some facts behind my assumptions, of which my assumptions were quickly thwarted!
Within the first few hours of the trip, the outside temperature had warmed up to -13, but by that time, the horse compartment of the trailer was double that on the plus side!
By our end destination that travel day, the horses were riding in a 19 degree hot box, with 200g blankets on, despite me opening all the windows to get fresh air moving to them and cool them down.
As we were heading south, the weather only got warmer, so I left the horses naked for the rest of the trip, still managing windows and vents as the temperature ebbed and flowed during 16 hour days.
It was an interesting exercise to have objectivity behind how hot a trailer can actually get!
Now before you decide to make changes one way or another during your travels, important to remember is that a number of factors can go into changing the temperature of different travelling scenarios, such as:
- How many horses are in the trailer – the more body heat the warmer and faster the temperature will rise.
- A stock trailer vs a trailer with individual windows and screens will have different results
- An insulated trailer will warm up more in the winter, and stay cooler in the summer.
Stopping to check horses, feel under blankets, or installing a temperature gauge especially during extreme col, or heat is an essential part of travelling with horses.
Wishing you safe travels-
Addy