I'm a little bit stressed out.  Also, I don't know who the screamer is, but I've seen a video of his and it was hilarious.

It's been too hot to ride this week.  On Monday, a normal riding day, it was 93º when I left work.  I stopped off at the vet's office to pick up more happy pills for Scarlette and checked again.  94º.  And 50% humidity.  In this aptly named post, Sweating Like a Hooker On Dollar Night, Karen talks about the Heat Stress Index - basically, at what point you can expect to die.  It's temp plus humidity.  Under 120 is okay to ride.  At 150, the horse starts to have problems.  At 180, the horse's body starts to lose the ability to regulate his temperature.  With a horse that already has a history of anhydrosis, that's not something I want.  (In case math evades you, Monday afternoon was 146 on the HSI.)  Monday was the record high for the year.

Yesterday was a whopping degree cooler.  I didn't check the humidity, but I gave up on the idea of riding.  I left work early due to a lunch function and was able to attend an ass-kicking Zumba class.  Still thinking about asking the 5-month pregnant instructor if she'll be my personal trainer.  I left that class and went directly out to the barn to check on the Kid.  He wasn't as sweaty as I would have liked and he was wide-nostriled, but still grazing.  I hosed him off a few times, until the run off from the sweat scrape was a more reasonable temperature.  Gave him his dinner while I played fetch with BM's super athletic and focused dog.  Fly boots back on, fly spray, and into the cross ties to hang out until the rest of the pasture finished eating.

Side note:  on one of these blistery days back at the old barn, BO told me that she hosed Archie.  Okay. Awesome. When I asked how he was to sweat scrape, she said that he'd run off and rolled by the time she finished hosing her own horse.  Er.  You think maybe he was trying to get the hot water suddenly encapsulating his body off?

Today is supposed to be a little bit cooler, but I'm not sure that I'll be able to ride.  I've got an appointment scheduled for Scarlette to see the vet, as she stopped eating yesterday morning.  You're going to think that I'm exaggerating.  I'm not.  But seriously, this dog has never had gastro issues, except for the times that I've had to induce vomiting.  Savannah is my dog that eats shit, voms shit and shits shit.  D texted me yesterday afternoon to tell me that Scar had a loose BM and vommed once.  Yarg, dogs.