Reduce Your Horse’s Transport Stress

North America in that all livestock in transit must be held completely within the vehicle so that no part of the animal may protrude from it. Allowing horses head outside while moving is not only completely inconsiderate of the horses safety its illegal.
Thermal stress is simply that which the body experiences when temperatures rise or fall out of the normal range. Older and very young horses are most susceptible to thermal stress as they frequently lack the ability to regulate their own body heat beyond minor changes. Temperature control is another topic that seems to cause some mystery for many folks this is primarily through a simple misunderstanding of a horses physiology and metabolism. Horses are comfortable within a broader thermal range than humans 1 to 20 degrees Celsius or 30 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit so what may feel cool to us is just right for Dobbin. The equine thermostat which controls a series of temperature regulating functions is quite remarkable. Tiny muscles just under the skin can alter the angle of hair follicles allowing them to raise the hair shaft up to trap insulating air underneath thereby minimizing heat loss. As the surrounding temperature rises the hair shaft is laid flat against the skin to facilitate dispensing heat through the skin. Blanketing interrupts this function and the horse can no longer adjust for temperature changes on his own. Metabolic changes can also be regulated to increase or decrease heat production when needed provided the horse has sufficient forage and water to do so. Contrary to a popular myth grain and other concentrated feeds do not help a horse warm up more heat is generated through the digestion of forage or roughage. If you want to help the horse stay warm increasing his hay ration will stoke the furnace far better than grain.
Horses can experience considerably higher and lower temperatures while in transit than we may think. There are many factors affecting the interior temperature of a horse trailer including size ventilation number of horses on board and whether they are blanketed ambient temperature and humidity. The insulating qualities of the trailer itself are dependent on the materials used in its construction such as bare metal walls or those lined with rubber matting metal floors versus wood plank and even the exterior colour can have a significant impact on interior temperature. These variants complicate things so that there is no