Nasty equine diseases on the way as the climate warms

In the UK, we're leading the charge in international equine breeding, providing nearly 20,000 jobs to our economy. However, when diseases strike, isolation becomes essential, halting competitions and posing a risk to both horses and businesses. Recently, equine flu and herpes virus outbreaks have had severe consequences, affecting nearly 4,000 horses and halting international competitions across twelve EU countries. This highlights the importance of robust biosecurity measures. Fortunately, UVC technology offers promising solutions for the equine industry, enhancing safety for both horses and their caregivers. Our innovative UVC solutions are designed to protect your business from the threats of disease, setting you ahead of the competition. UVC sanitisation for equine enterprises Our affordable, effective UVC technology is perfect for sanitising busy areas and frequently touched surfaces in offices and show venues. Whether you opt for a portable room steriliser or fixed units, including those that can be integrated into ventilation systems, you'll see a significant reduction in bacteria, viruses, and moulds. UVC lamps quickly disinfect rooms, ensuring the air and surfaces are free from pathogens, eliminating over 99.9% of harmful organisms and providing a safer environment for everyone on the premises. Boosting biosecurity in stables Infectious diseases pose a continuous threat to equine businesses. Our UVC technology not only supports general biosecurity measures but is also an asset for quarantine facilities. Despite limited research on UVC's effectiveness against equine-specific viruses, extensive evidence shows its ability to inactivate a broad range of pathogens, suggesting similar benefits for equine health. Tailored solutions for your business We understand each equine business is unique. That's why we offer bespoke UVC solutions, starting with a thorough assessment of your needs. By eliminating airborne and surface pathogens, the risk of disease transmission significantly decreases, complementing your existing cleaning protocols and providing an added layer of protection for grooming tools, tack, and feed buckets. Our UVC devices maintain a controlled zone of continuous air disinfection, designed with safety in mind to prevent overexposure to both horses and humans. Secure your Equine business against disease Interested in making your premises safer for both horses and people? Get in touch to discover how our UVC technology can safeguard your business against the spread of equine diseases, ensuring you remain operational while others are sidelined by outbreaks. Let's have a conversation that could transform the way you protect your equine business.

One of the worst things about climate change is the way it affects the certainty we used to enjoy about the seasons. Not so long ago, even in the unpredictable UK we could more or less rely on the conditions to be spring-like in spring, wintery in winter, summery in summer and so on. Now we can’t. Things have already changed so radically that there’s no predicting when the next heatwave will happen. It could be spring, summer or autumn. This means equine cooling has become a hotter topic than ever, not just here in the UK but around the world. When you’re caring for precious equines, whether they’re expensive racehorses or beloved children’s pets, it’s your job to keep them safe, healthy and well. And that means keeping them nice and cool in hot weather, safe and happy in a clean place with fresh air flowing through. In a world where the cost of energy means businesses are struggling just as much as consumers, it makes sense to find a solution that isn’t just highly effective, it’s affordable in the first place and costs comparatively little to run. We’re talking evaporative cooling and air filtration, of course, and it’s quite something. If you’re after a cost effective, environmentally responsible cooling solution for stables, that’s exactly what we do. Whether you hire or buy, the difference will put a smile on your face and slow the flow of cash out of your pocket. If your horses could smile, they would! 18 reasons why our equine cooling solutions are so good Evaporative equine cooling costs half the money traditional air conditioning costs to run – around 14p per hour It costs a quarter of the cost of standard air conditioning to install the system to your stable or other building It costs just ten percent of the cost of ordinary air conditioning to run, which comes in at 81p an hour Unlike standard air conditioning it doesn’t dry the air out, it adds moisture for fresh, natural feeling air The tech uses the heat that’s naturally in the air to create coolness The hotter the weather, the more energy the units have to run on Our units emit 1.5 tonnes of CO2 a year compared to 12 tonnes of CO2 for traditional Slashes the risk of waterborne infections like Legionella, common in conventional air conditioning Because the air is filtered it takes out flies, airborne moulds, pollen, dust, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide Easy to retro-fit to an existing building Just as easy to install in a new building The cooling units take up very little space They run quietly There are no draughts The tech works just as well in open sided spaces as it does enclosed areas We’re happy to provide a comprehensive free site evaluation to pin down exactly what you need We provide expert installation, plus excellent after sale service, maintenance and training Hire a mobile equine cooling unit if you like Sounds good? Give us a call or send a message and we’ll get right back to you.

The news about our specialist equine cooling technologies is spreading fast and we’ve had an excellent 2023. It feels good to know that our customers’ horses are healthy and happy, even when the weather gets far too hot for comfort. We’d like to wish our equine cooling customers a great festive season and a happy, successful New Year. We hope you manage to stay cool and comfortable, and keep your horses chilled through 2024 even when the temperatures soar. 2023 was hot, hot, hot for horses Looking back at 2023, we had the world’s hottest spring on record, making spring a bit of a beast for horses. Heat stress is a very serious threat to horse welfare and health, and with temperatures going forward becoming harder to predict and less seasonally-typical than ever before, your equines are going to need special attention. You’ll be surprised at how afford able our equine cooling systems are, how easy to use and low cost to run. It’s a peace of mind thing, too – once you know your horses have a cool place to be when it gets far too hot, you can relax. It’s important to be prepared when July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded worldwide, and the experts say these record-breaking heat events are ‘not rare’ any more. As Wikipedia says: “Heat waves are one of the deadliest hazards, and in line with the IPCC prediction their frequency and magnitude are rising due to man-made climate change. The July heat wave in Southern Europe and North America would be virtually impossible and the heat wave in China would be a 1 in 250-year event without climate change. But due to climate change those events are now common. July 2023 was the hottest July on earth in the last 120,000 years and the hottest July from the beginning of temperature measurement with a wide margin. During each day in July 2023, two billion people experienced heat conditions made at least three times more likely due to climate change and 6.5 billion people experienced this impact at least one day in the month.” Raising a glass to you and your beautiful animals We wish you a wonderful Xmas and a successful New Year. If you haven’t explored the many advantages of equine cooling the Equus way yet, now’s the perfect time to get cracking before things start getting steamy again. Give us a call and we’ll be delighted to talk things through – no obligation.

The Equine Herpes Virus EHV-1 is a horrible virus. It’s airborne, it’s highly contagious, and it can easily prove fatal to a horse. So what happens when you take your horses away for a competition or a show? It can be tricky to keep horses infection-free at crowded competitions and other equine events and gatherings where horses have been brought from miles around, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles. The 2021 CES Valencia Tour was a case in point, with over a hundred infected horses and several deaths laid at the feet of a breakout of EHV-1. Then there’s something as simple as taking an animal to the vet. Can you be sure there’s no infection at the vet’s premises? If you’re a vet with equine clients, can you be sure you’re not accidentally spreading disease? Luckily there’s a simple, effective and affordable way to protect horses from terrible diseases like EHV-1. If you’re into dressage, show jumping, point-to-point, racing or any other kind of equine event, or you move your horses from place to place for another reason, our equestrian UVC disinfection units will make all the difference to your peace of mind – and potentially to the horses’ health. Set to generate powerful UVC light at exactly the right wavelength to destroy the DNA inside viruses, moulds, bacteria and a huge range of other pathogens, our units are perfect to sanitise an area before horses are brought into it, perfectly safe when horses are not present. The tech works quickly and efficiently to give you a pathogen-free, safe equine environment in no time. Far UVC light neutralise health threats like viruses and bacteria in a few seconds. You can sanitise your grooming area, trucks and vans, horse boxes, stables, trailers and tie-up areas, on tour and at home. You can clean an entire veterinary practice with ease, quickly and reliably. Because some of our units are fixed and others are mobile, there’s something for every equine circumstance. A long history of UV disinfection success This isn’t new tech. Discovered in 1801 by Johann Wilhelm Ritter, by 1903 it was widely used to kill the microorganisms affecting indoor air quality. The scientist Niels Finsen won a Nobel Prize in Medicine for using it to treat Lupus the same year and seven years later the light was brought into play to disinfect the city of Marseilles’ water supply. The 1930s saw Westinghouse selling the first ever commercial UVC germicidal lamps to hospitals, soon being used to improve air sterilisation in hospitals and in food processing settings. During the 1950s UVC was added to air conditioning tech to help fight TB. By 2001 the majority of the EU’s water plants were using UVC to keep drinking water supplies safe and clean. The covid pandemic brought UVC disinfection back into the forefront of the battle against disease, widely used businesses of every kind to keep the air and surfaces virus-free, and their employees and customers safe. The rise and rise of antibiotic resistance is helping drive UVC tech onwards. These days it’s an accepted, reliable and fast way to kill off a long list of pathogens that’s getting ever-longer. Find out more about UVC disinfection for equestrian businesses We believe UVC disinfection tech is a game-changer for the equine sector, especially as the climate warms and brings with it the potential for more diseases. Our units dramatically cut the microbial load indoors to keep horses safe and well. Take a look at this video to see clean, safe UVC in action , and give us a call for an illuminating conversation.

It was unusually hot in June this year, with very warm air temperatures and unusually high humidity. This kind of weather prevents horses from getting rid of body heat during and after exercise, with heat stress developing when a horse over-exerts itself. There’s more. Just like some people, some equines can suffer from a condition called anhidrosis, where the sweat glands don't work properly. This also puts the animal at risk of overheating – which can be fatal. We’re experts in the equine cooling. Here are our tips top keep your horse cool, plus some vital tips around handling their welfare if they suffer from anhidrosis. 10 equine cooling tips While exercising your horse in unusually hot weather, monitor their vital signs and check how quickly their heart rate recovers. If it’s taking a long time to recover, the horse could be struggling to cope Rather than coming to a sudden stop, help your horse cool themselves down gradually after exercise. Take the saddle off and walk the animal for quarter of an hour after exercise to steadily bring them back to a normal temperature and flush waste products and heat from their muscles Repeatedly bathe their neck, head, and legs - where big blood vessels run - with cool water to create a similar sort of refreshing evaporative cooling that’s provided by our equine cooling systems Don’t cool the horse down too fast or they could suffer chills and painful muscle spasms– avoid ice, just use cool water Never leave wet towels on a horse – they just keep the heat in Check your horse’s rectal temperature as they cool down – you’re ok to stop cooling when it hits 38.3 centigrade or their skin feels nice and cool Give them water to drink after exercise, ideally small frequent drinks when they’ve been galloping around, and as much as they want if they’ve been moving at a steady pace Provide shade, either in a place with good natural air circulation or where there’s a fan that’ll provide convective cooling, drawing the heat from their skin A series of short, gentle walks will help the horse gradually move the heat away from their core If your horse isn’t cooling down in 10-15 minutes, contact a vet straight away How to handle equine anhidrosis 70% of excess body heat usually evaporates via a horse’s skin as they sweat. But an unusually hot and humid spell can send a horse’s internal cooling system into a spin wherever in the world you live, leaving them unable to sweat and at risk of heatstroke. Experts reckon there’s a genetic component to the condition, which has been seen in more or less every horse breed except Arabs. Smaller horses seem to suffer less, maybe because they’re a bit better at getting rid of excess heat. Young horses are also less at risk simply because they’re not in training and not performing like adult animals. As you can imagine, a horse with a darker coat will absorb more heat, making darker horses more prone to the condition. Horses at risk of anhidrosis are often perfectly OK until unusually hot weather arrives. If you notice your animal staying in the shade all day, the simple fact that they’re trying to stay cool might be a sign. Anhidrosis can happen fast or develop slowly. If their sweat glands close down their skin will feel dry but the horse will be breathing fast and have a high temperature. You might see patches of sweat behind the ears, under the mane, at the elbows and flanks. If their performance is being affected or it takes an unusually long time to cool off, check carefully in case they’re suffering from anhidrosis. Anhidrosis isn’t always a permanent condition. It can come and go. But if it becomes chronic, appearing year after year, the animal’s sweat glands can change permanently, leaving them always at risk in hot and humid weather. Because every horse reacts differently, it’s hard to recommend treatment. Some things work for one horse but don’t have any effect on another animal, so your vet is the best bet. Other than that it’s good to keep the animal cool so it doesn’t sweat in the first place. Fans and misters are helpful, as is a sprinkler. But the best solution of all is to fit a reliable, effective equine cooling system like ours, so whatever the weather the horse is always cool and comfortable, happy and healthy.

Like every sector, the equine world is often a competitive one. It might be either graded or competitive endurance riding. You could be involved in high level, high-stakes horse racing or dressage, or something relatively simple like a riding school for kids. Whether you breed horses, keep horses for business or pleasure, or care for older retired horses, equine cooling keeps them happier and healthier, which in turn helps to keep your costs under better control. We’re already seeing climate-led changes in the UK’s weather The most successful equine businesses like to prepare for change before it happens. The current level of climate change being predicted, and the speed at which the UK’s climate is already changing, means it makes a lot of sense to fit the best horse cooling technologies in the premises right now. The current spring heat wave affecting the South West of England is a good example of why preparation matters. So far the south west has seen almost four weeks of full sunshine, with no rain at all, and because much the same happened last year it makes sense to prepare for it happening again. If we’re unlucky the coming summer could be just as hot and dry, putting horses of all sorts at more risk of disease and leaving them more vulnerable than ever to heat related illnesses, including heat stroke.  What the UK’s Met Office says about climate change The weather isn’t the climate, of course. They’re totally different things. But the world’s warming climate is already having an effect on the British weather, making it less predictable than it has been since the end of the last ice age. So what does the Met Office predict for the years to come? The latest State of the UK Climate report, for 2018, shows ‘several indicators’ consistent with the effects of a warmer global climate The temperature between 2009-2018 has been an average of 0.3 °C warmer than the previous decade’s average All the UK’s ten warmest years have happened since 2002 The longest running record of temperature in the world, the Central England Temperature dataset, shows 2009-2018 was around 1 °C warmer than the pre-industrial period 1850-1900 This temperature rise in the UK is consistent with warming observed globally at around 1 °C since pre-industrial times So far the 21st century has been warmer than the previous three centuries By the end of the 21st century, all areas of the UK are expected to be warmer, more so in summer than winter By 2070, if humanity follows the current high emissions scenario, the UK’s warming range looks like being 1.3 °C to 5.1 °C in summer, 0.6 °C to 3.8 °C in winter Very hot summers are expected to become more common The summer of 2018 was the equal-warmest summer for the UK along with 2006, 2003 and 1976 Climate change has already increased the risk of a summer as hot as 2018’s by 12-25% By the mid 2000s hot summers will already be more common, with the risk increasing to 50-60% Also by the 2070s, given the current high emissions scenario, the frequency of hot spells is predicted to rocket Stay competitive, stay responsible, stay kind Our equine cooling systems are exactly what you need to look after horses the way they deserve so they can do the best possible job for you, whether it’s race or compete in another way, give rides to kids, provide equine therapy, or just be a really good friend. Click here for the technical details - and book yourself a no-obligation site visit if you like.

If you have a horse of your own or work with horses, it’s important to understand what happens to them when they get too hot. In a climate change world, horse cooling matters more than ever before. Here’s what you need to know about equine overheating, fresh from your experts in equine evaporative cooling. How and why horses get too hot – and what to do about it Horses have sweat glands all over their skin. This helps keeps them cool through natural evaporative cooling, the same tech we adopt in our horse-cooling units. There’s more. They also stay cool by getting rid of excess heat quickly via dilated capillaries in their skin. If a horse gets so hot that the capillary action can’t keep up, it’ll start to sweat. If you see a horse whose coat has flattened, and who’s panting, it’s because they’ve got far too hot and they’re trying to cool back down in every way available to them. If the horse sweats a lot, their blood gets more concentrated as it loses water. The water in the blood is replaced by water from other places: the spaces between its cells, the gastrointestinal tract, the lungs, and the lymphatic system. If this starts to happen, it’s a bad sign because it means the horse is at risk of impaction colic, and of the stiff and spasming muscles involved in a condition called ‘tying up’. If the dehydration becomes acute they could need a few days of rest and drinking to recover. How do you know when a horse is getting dehydrated? When you gently pinch their skin at the point of the shoulder then release it, you can see if it’s elastic or takes ages to flatten out. The longer it takes the more dry the horse is. You can also carefully press a fingertip on the animal’s gums. Take your finger away to see a pale spot. Normally it’ll return to pink within a couple of seconds. If it’s still there after four seconds, the animal is dehydrated. Electrolytes are helpful, a set of minerals including calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, chloride, bicarbonate and phosphate, all of which are quickly lost when a horse sweats. Eating their normal food fixes this, but if it’s acute you might have to give them an electrolyte supplement to avoid fatigue, muscle tremors, heat stress and more. Which are the best foods for stocking up on lost electrolytes? Go for grass, hay, grains and special commercial feeds containing electrolytes. Sodium and chloride, both ingredients in table salt, are different. For that, you’ll need to give the horse a salt block to lick. What if all the other horses are sweating but yours isn’t? It can happen with thoroughbreds, which can suffer from an inability to sweat called anhidrosis, most common when the weather’s humid. In this case even a small amount of exercise can be dangerous. Watch out for a horse with a small amount of sweat around the mane or under the saddle and a dry coat, but who is breathing heavily through the mouth. If this happens it’s time to find shade and cool the horse down with cold water. A horse with heat exhaustion is an unhappy horse, and it can be deadly if they can’t cool themselves off in the usual ways. When the animal’s core temperature hits 104F its metabolic system will suffer, and anything over 105F can quickly lead to organ and circulatory system failure. Look out for sticky sweat, dark gums, a high pulse rate that’s also weak and irregular, depression, and rapid breathing that’s either unusually shallow or worryingly deep. If your horse develops heat exhaustion, call the vet immediately. Never give them an electrolyte paste, that’ll just make things worse. You can take the animal into the shade and douse it with cold water, then dry them off and repeat rather than waiting for the water to evaporate. Use ice packs on the big blood vessels running under their throat to cool their blood. You can also provide buckets of cold drinking water. The idea that letting a dry horse drink is dangerous and can result in colic is a dangerous myth. If there isn’t any water, lush grass will help because it contains as much as 90% water along with vital electrolytes. Harness our amazing specialist evaporative cooling tech for horses Obviously the best thing of all is not to let horses get too hot in the first place. That’s what we do at Equus Enviro . We use brilliant environmentally friendly evaporative cooling technology and filtration systems to keep stables beautifully cool. Our machines deliver a constant flow of clean filtered air even in the hottest weather. As well as keeping horses comfortable this helps avoid illnesses like strangles, influenza, asthma, and herpes viruses. If a horse does overheat, our machines provide the perfect conditions inside your stable for them to rest and recover quickly in a comfortable place where the air is always the way they like it: fresh, clean, and cool. Flexible installation options Fast and easy to retro-fit and perfect for new builds Work just as well in open-sided areas as well as fully-enclosed Small, neat units with a tiny CO2 footprint Quiet and draught-free Detailed free site evaluation Support getting Carbon Trust grants Expert installation Top class maintenance and training Hire our air cooler and filtration units if you prefer If that sounds good, why not book a site visit? You’ll find it fascinating – and as the climate gets ever-warmer, your equine friends will thank you for it!

"Viruses and bacteria, and the illnesses they cause to our horses, affect the global equine industry more than ever before and continue to be a threat to the wellbeing of our horses – all the way from smaller barns to professional sales stables, vet practices, show grounds, etc. But with this new technology, we face a breakthrough, and we can control the spread of viruses that causes illness and worst-case scenario the risk of losing horses." Andreas Helgstrand, CEO of Global Equestrian Group, on UVC sanitising for stables.  As the climate warms and the weather becomes ever-less predictable, horses are feeling the difference. Like us they don’t like being too hot. At the same time horse diseases are causing an ongoing threat to horse health, a real worry for the people who make a living from equestrian activities. Why horses need clean, well-ventilated stables As the RSPCA says, a stabled horse needs a well-ventilated, clean home because time spent indoors puts them at more risk of germs, toxic dust and fumes. Environmental dusts and antigens play a big role in poor equine respiratory health, with horse diseases including Equine Influenza, Equine Herpesvirus, Streptococcus Equi or ‘Strangles’ and more casing illness and sometimes death. Take the terrible outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus EHV-1 during 2021, just one of a number of common viruses that can harm horses. 265nm UVC light plus innovative air filtration solves the problem Luckily there’s plenty of evidence around UVC light being highly effective at inactivating viruses, bacteria, and fungi. And there are exciting ways to provide stabled animals with a constant supply of clean, fresh, scrubbed and filtered air. Add them together and that’s what we can do for equine environments. Thanks to our tech you can disinfect surfaces in stables, killing diseases before they cause harm, and take things even further by providing a constant clean, fresh air supply. Powerful UVC light at a deadly 265nm wavelength is a harmless way to deactivate 99.9% of viruses and pathogens and it happens fast, within a few minutes. The specific wavelength of UV light we use destroys DNA and RNA so diseases can’t reproduce. The technology is long-proven, widely used in the world’s operating rooms, hospitals and ambulances for almost a century with great success. Our air filtration and cooling technology delivers complete filtration for stables. The units scrub the air clean and cool it. When you fit both air filtering and UVC into the ductwork you get the best of both worlds. Keeping horses cool Because the temperature in enclosed stables can quickly get a lot hotter than the outside, poor air quality and potential disease aren’t the only issues. So is the heat, which affects people and horses alike. Our system cools the air as well as cleaning it. We maintain your stable environment completely, your horses enjoy better health, your staff enjoy their work more, and you spend less on vet bills. And of course using our tech means your stables will comply with Health and Safety. If you’d like to know more, get in touch. PS. You might also like to read an article about our work with Lewisham Horse stables for the Metropolitan Police , and explore our post about air quality and cooling for equestrian environments.

In a fast-warming world, humans are not the only ones to struggle with unusually hot weather. Animals are suffering too, including horses. When the London Metropolitan P olice got in touch about the police horses stabled at Lewisham, we were delighted to help keep these magnificent animals cool, happy, and healthy. Here’s how. Horses, heat, and poor quality air It’s inevitable. When the sun shines, the light comes with heat... and it can pack a punch. When the police horses return to their stable from work the air temperature in a stable can increase even more. Being full of horses it gets even hotter, and poor interior air quality isn’t good for them. In this case the stables were built not far short of half a century ago, and natural light was built into the design. These days the solar gain is far too large and the stables get too hot. The solution – Powerful evaporative cooling Our brief was an interesting one. We needed to create a specific internal temperature inside the station’s stable block, and keep it constant. We wanted to achieve several air changes per hour so the air inside was always fresh as well as cool. We needed to minimise draughts around the building, and make sure the resulting equine environment was dust-free. Our calculations revealed two of our evaporative coolers would do the perfect job. Together they provide 13 or 14 changes of fresh air per hour. Analysing historical information about the weather in the region showed us the units would be capable of keeping the internal stable temperature to a comfortable 21C throughout the summers to come. The coolers’ simple automated programmable logic controller makes water management and control a simple matter, regulating the temperature throughout the stables efficiently and effectively. Constant positive pressure inside the building prevents insects and irritating particles finding their way in. The lovely, comfortable flow of fresh air is good for the horses, and just as good for the stable staff that work with them. The result? Happy horses, happy people. Can we help you keep your equine charges cool, healthy, and happy? If your horses are suffering in the heat and you’d like to make their lives more comfortable as the climate warms, get in touch for an interesting discussion about how we can help.