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4 tips to optimally prepare your horse for competition and hot days

4 tips to optimally prepare your horse for competition and hot days

Fien Cavalor
Written byFien Demeyere
The summer season is wonderful. Long evenings, plenty of competitions, and more time to enjoy horses and equestrian sport. But warm weather can impact the performance you and your horse can deliver. In this blog, we share 4 tips to help you arrive at the start line in top form.
1. Take the weather into account

Warm weather! Great for us, but is it just as great for your horse? When the temperature goes beyond your horse’s thermoneutral zone, extra support is needed to help dissipate heat effectively. In the thermoneutral zone (TNZ), a horse doesn’t need to make an effort to maintain its core body temperature (36–37 °C). The TNZ depends on your horse’s age and condition — and whether it’s been clipped. For an unclipped horse, this zone lies between -5 and +15 °C. A clipped horse feels most comfortable between 10 and 20 °C. This applies to adult horses used to moderate temperatures.
Build fitness gradually, allow your horse time to acclimate to rising temperatures (ride early in the morning or late in the evening), and ensure a proper cooldown! Add Cavalor CoolSens to the water during cooling down to increase and extend the cooling effect. Or use a refreshing shampoo to wash your horse, like Cavalor Refresh Wash. Ideal for a wash on a hot day or after training where your horse has sweated a lot.

CoolSens doesn’t just cool — it also gives a beautiful shine.

2. Adjust the feed ration — and don’t forget the electrolytes!

Looking ahead to a busy summer season? Take a close look at your horse’s feed ration. Whatever your goals may be, your horse can’t perform without the right nutrients. When training intensity increases, your horse needs more energy and protein to build fitness and support muscle recovery. More intense training also leads to more and heavier sweating — which means your horse loses electrolytes faster. Especially on hot days!

With Cavalor Electroliq Balance or Cavalor Electrolyte Balance, you can replenish lost electrolytes and support proper recovery. The ideal time to give electrolytes is shortly after exercise. You can also give them up to 1.5 hours before exercise, but administering them immediately after yields the best results. This way, minerals are not lost, and your horse’s reserves are quickly replenished. Want to make sure your horse gets enough fluids and electrolytes on hot days? Use Cavalor Mash & Mix to mix in the electrolytes. Or use Cavalor Sportmash Recup, a protein-rich mash for recovery after exercise. It includes electrolytes (sodium, potassium and chloride) to replenish loss after sweating. Tasty for your horse, and great for recovery.

3. Establish a grooming routine

It may seem obvious, but having a set routine for caring for your horse gives you a solid foundation and helps you spot subtle changes in your horse’s health. For example, check your horse’s manure daily as an indicator of gut health. With good digestion, a horse produces rounded, smooth manure balls without long roughage fibers — abnormal manure can signal digestive issues. Also regularly measure your horse’s temperature. This is the only way to know what’s normal for your horse, so you can recognize a real fever. Just like in humans, baseline body temperature varies per horse.
Additionally, regularly check the temperature of the nose, ears, legs, coronary band, and hooves with your hands. That way, you’ll know what’s normal and can spot potential tendon injuries early. Do you already have a regular health check routine for your horse?

4. Don’t forget yourself!

All the tips we’ve mentioned for horses also apply to you as a rider. Don’t start too fast — give your body time to adapt to the heat. Eat and drink enough, and exercise in moderation. If you expect your horse to be in peak shape, your horse can expect the same from you. Right? P.S. Did you know that you can also use Cavalor FreeBute Gel on yourself for sore muscles?

Nutritional advice from our experts: Building up to the summer season and training on hot days

Looking at a busy season? Adjusting your horse’s feed ration may be necessary. Build it up gradually over the course of a month. First and foremost, make sure your horse has access to fresh, ample water and good forage.

Horses in increased training need more energy and protein — for fitness building and muscle repair. You can supplement your horse’s ration with a fat-rich balancer such as Cavalor WholeGain. Fat-rich feeds provide long-lasting energy, so your horse doesn’t have to tap into its reserves during training. This allows you to build fitness while also supporting muscle development.

Is your horse’s muscle development lagging behind? Support it with Cavalor Muscle Force to aid in building muscle mass. During build-up training, your horse’s tendons and joints will also be under more strain again. If your horse is sensitive in those areas, Cavalor Arti Matrix can help.

Ensure a proper cooldown!

Whether you’re training for the Grand Prix or just enjoying a ride at home, a good cooldown (at least 10 minutes of light trotting) is just as important as warming up. After exercise, your horse’s body needs to gradually return to a resting state. This helps prevent problems and ensures your horse remains a happy athlete.

During exercise, your horse’s heart rate and body temperature rise, and — during high-intensity exercise — the blood’s lactic acid level also increases. A proper cooldown allows your horse to eliminate waste products (like lactic acid), relax the muscles, catch its breath, and reduce body temperature.

Tips for a good cooldown can be found in this video: “How to properly cool down your horse after intense exercise?”

Fien Cavalor
Equine nutritionist
Not a day goes by that Fien cannot be found among the horses. At competitions, during stable visits or simply at home. With this wealth of knowledge and experience, Fien provides many horse owners with personal advice every day for optimal health and performance. Feed as you need, because no horse is the same.

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Personal advice

Would you like personal advice on which nutrition and care is best for your horse? Just ask us! You can reach us via our Cavalor Consumerline or send us an email.

Online ration calculator

MyCavalor.com is a fast, user-friendly online resource that will help you calculate the appropriate ration for your horse in no time.

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