With weather temperatures looking to remain high until at least Sunday, the Met Office have issued an Amber Warning for the anticipated extreme heat expected over the forthcoming days. The amber warning was issued yesterday 9 August and a link to their warning can be found here.
The Amber Warning is currently in place for much of the southern half of England as well as parts of Eastern Wales and is in force from Thursday 11 August until Sunday 14 August. The warning and areas it covers may change as we head through the next few days and updates can be found on the Met Office website which you can link to here.
Whilst temperatures are not set to hit the high numbers that they reached in July when a Red Warning was issued for the first time ever in the UK, they look set to hit the low-to-mid 30s Celsius within the warning area. British Eventing are sharing the advice from the Met Office which is to ensure that all horses, and other animals, have access to fresh drinking water, good ventilation and shade from direct sunlight at all times. Animals need extra care to keep them safe from heat-related illnesses, so it is imperative to keep an eye out for early signs of heatstroke. A link to how to take precautions against heatstroke in horses can be found on the World Horse Welfare Organisation site here.
With regards to competing, and with it being an Amber Warning that has been issued and not a Red, we ask our members to make their own decisions based on the welfare of their horse. An Amber Warning does not require events to cancel but it does ask us to consider the heat and make an allocation for it.
British Eventing have been asked to let members know who are running at Aston-le-Walls this weekend that new wash bays have been put in to assist with the cooling down of horses. Also, to remind those competing at Hartpury that they have state-of-the-art facilities to assist with the same.
Further information can be found on the NAF website here which has been produced by their Senior Nutritionist Kate Hoare.
