Hot, dry weather affecting local horse farms

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (WTVQ) — The hot, dry weather in central Kentucky is taking its toll on man and beast.

That includes horses and the people who care for them.

“We need some relief,” says Old Friends Farm manager Tim Wilson.

That relief will come when the rain falls but in the meantime Old Friends Farm is working around the clock to make sure its horses are hydrated. That’s the farm’s main concern with this weather.

“What it mostly means is that we keep an extra eye out on the horses for signs of dehydration,” says Wilson.

Some horses have to stay inside the barn during these hot days because they’re especially prone to dehydration.

Other ways the farm works to keep its horses cool is with cool racks where staff and volunteers will take the horses to cool them off with a water hose. There’s a few scattered around the farm.

On top of dehydration concerns, Wilson says hay has to be used more frequently because the pastures have burned up.

“If you’re in a wet season things are growing, there’s multiple sources for all that but when it dries up those multiple sources are no longer available,” says Wilson.

And that includes small creeks and streams. They’ve dried up, too.

“So we have to make sure the waterers are always functioning and clean<‘ says Wilson.

Hot days mean more work for the staff and suffering for the horses.

Wilson says a horse does better in 30-degrees than 90.

“If it’s a dry cold then that’s a horse’s wheelhouse right there. This is not a horse’s wheelhouse this hot dry weather, no it is not,” says Wison.

Though the calendar says it’s fall, the thermometer does not.

“We’ll just look forward to it ending,” says Wilson.