Protecting our Horses in the Hot Charleston Summer
It is HOT in the Holy City! At Palmetto Carriage Works, the safety and wellbeing of our animals is something that we are always talking about, and since we consider our animals a part of our family, we make it our job to make sure they are always happy and healthy.
When the temperature reaches 95 degrees or the heat index reaches 110 degrees, carriage tours are halted. We also monitor each animal’s body temperature before and after every tour to ensure that it stays within the normal range of 98.7 to 101.5 degrees. If the animal’s temperature exceeds 102.9 degrees, it is pulled from service.
We also use the old equestrian trick of using beer to treat horses with anhidrosis, a condition where horses aren’t able to sweat in order to keep cool. Here at Palmetto Carriage Works we treat our horses who have anhidrosis with prescribed medication from their vet and supplement this treatment with beer.
We usually give our horses about a case a week each during the summer, with two beers in the morning and two in the evening. Horses like the taste of beer! Some prefer lighter beers while others prefer the beers that resemble a milkshake. At Palmetto Carriage Works, we like to give our horses Yuengling Black and Tan which is fed to them by mixing the beer into their feed.
You may also be wondering whether our horses get drunk off of all of this beer. There’s actually no need to worry about that! Horses have livers that are much larger than ours and are able to metabolize alcohol much faster than humans (which means a couple beers wouldn’t affect a horse like it would you or I).
So next time you see one of our horses enjoying a brew in the summertime, don’t worry! It’s all in a day’s work of ensuring our animals are well-cared for and able to stay cool in warmer weather.
The safety and wellbeing of our employees, especially our four-legged ones, is always top of mind!