{"id":15,"date":"2020-08-20T09:55:35","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T09:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horseycounsel.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2021-08-12T17:11:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T17:11:32","slug":"protecting-a-horse-from-sunburn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horseycounsel.com\/protecting-a-horse-from-sunburn\/","title":{"rendered":"Horses and Sunburn – Everything You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Just like humans, horses are vulnerable to the Sun’s UV radiation, and they can get sunburns with relative ease. After all, they spend most of their time outside, and if you live in a particularly hot region of the world, sunburn in horses is something that you should definitely pay attention to. Moreover, as you’re about to find out in this article, a horse can get a sunburn even if it’s relatively cloudy outside.<\/p>\n
It’s always a good idea to ensure adequate protection for your horse, and fortunately, there are quite a few methods that you can use to prevent sunburn and make sure that your horse stays healthy. These include sunscreen, sun sheets, UV-blocking masks, and even good-old shade.<\/strong><\/p>\n Before we go into detail on each solution, let’s answer some of the most frequent questions regarding sunburn in horses.<\/p>\n It’s worth noting that a horse may become photosensitive (photosensitization) due to something it ate or due to other health-related conditions such as liver damage. Most of the time, a horse will be affected by sunburn on non-pigmented, pink-looking areas of the body: around the eyes, on the muzzle, etc. However, a horse can also get a sunburn on its back, in which case it will become reluctant to wear a saddle.<\/p>\n The most common signs of sunburn in horses include red skin and skin that is peeling off or is becoming scaly. Deeper burns will cause blisters, and the skin will start to leak a clear to yellowish fluid. Basically, the signs are just as obvious as sunburn in humans. If your horse suddenly becomes reluctant to wear a halter or bridle, make sure to check if it doesn’t have sunburn on its face.<\/p>\n Sun damage can also bleach out or wash out the color in your horse’s coat. You will most likely notice this if the horse is bay, dark brown, or black.<\/p>\n The sad news is that a horse might need up to a couple of months to completely recover from sunburn, which is all the more reason to protect it adequately during the spring and summer months.<\/p>\n There are several steps that you can take to ensure that your horse doesn’t get sunburnt. The first thing you can do (and the easiest solution) is to make sure that it doesn’t spend too much time outdoors when UV radiation is at its strongest.<\/p>\n For instance, you can schedule your horse’s grazing sessions to take place early in the morning, in the evening, or even overnight. One of the best solutions I’ve come across is to take the horse out just before dusk and leave it to graze overnight. This way, it will still get a fair share of sunlight exposure (Vitamin D), just not the damaging kind.<\/p>\nHow to identify sunburn in horses.<\/h2>\n
How to protect horses from sunburn.<\/h2>\n