If you've been wondering where the Scottish summer was hiding, this is the week it turned up. The forecast is dry, sunny and very warm across most of the country — nudging 27°C in places — with the west getting the best of it and the east coast cooled by a breeze off the North Sea. Lovely weather for us; harder work for our horses. Good summer horse care in Scotland comes down to three things this week: water, salt and flies — plus a little common sense about when you ride.
None of it is complicated, but the horses that struggle in a warm spell are nearly always the ones whose routine didn't change with the weather. Here's what we'd be doing this week, and what's worth having in the feed room.
What Your Horse Needs This Week
Water comes first. A 500kg horse drinks 25–45 litres a day in normal conditions, and in heat like this that can rise by half again. Check troughs twice a day, scrub off algae before it turns the water green, and make sure automatic drinkers are actually flowing — a stuck valve on a hot day catches somebody out every summer.
Next, salt. A sweating horse loses sodium, chloride and potassium, and plain water alone won't replace them. Every horse should have access to a salt lick as a minimum; horses in regular work, travelling to shows or sweating heavily need a proper electrolyte. If a horse stops drinking despite the heat, that's often an electrolyte imbalance rather than fussiness — our qualified staff can talk you through feeding rates.
Ride early or late, and mind the ground. A week of sunshine bakes Scottish turf surprisingly hard, and that's jarring on legs used to softer going — keep fast work for a surface if you have access to one.
Flies and midges are at their seasonal peak. Apply repellent before turnout, not once the horse is already twitching, and use a fly mask for horses with weepy eyes or pink skin around the face. Midge-sensitive horses — anyone managing sweet itch knows the drill — suffer most at dawn and dusk, so time turnout around it. Pink muzzles burn quickly in this sun; a nose flap or high-factor sun cream sorts it.
Finally, know the signs of heat stress: lethargy, fast breathing at rest, dark urine, and skin that stays tented after a pinch. If in doubt, get cold water over the big muscles, find shade, and call your vet.
Our Recommendations
Redmills Horsecare Mash 18kg is our first pick this week. Soaked in minutes into a wet, palatable mash, it's one of the easiest ways to get extra water into a horse after work, travel or a sweaty day in the field. It's gentle on the digestive system and particularly good for veterans, poor drinkers and horses recovering after exercise.
For horses in work, keep Equine America Apple Lytes Paste in the grooming kit. A syringe of apple-flavoured electrolytes after a lesson, a long hack or a hot journey to a show replaces what's been sweated out — and with competition season in full swing, most working horses in Scotland will earn one this month.
If your horse is in hard work and needs to hold condition through the season, Allen & Page Compete and Condition is a high-calorie conditioning feed that's fed soaked — so every feed carries water in with it, a genuinely useful bonus in this weather. Good doers, on the other hand, may need nothing more than forage, a salt lick and a balancer just now — ask our SQPs if you're unsure.
On fly control, NAF Off Extra Effect Spray is a dependable everyday repellent, Carr & Day & Martin Flygard Extra Strength Repellent gives maximum protection for horses the flies really seem to find, and Battles Summer Fly Cream is ideal for targeted areas like the face, ears and dock.
And for horses stabled through the midday heat, Likit Treat Assorted Flavours keep boredom at bay — hang one in the stable and a few hours out of the sun pass far more peacefully.
Expert Advice at Your Local McCaskie Store
Every McCaskie Country Store — Ayr, Kinross, Lanark and Stirling — has AMTRA-qualified SQPs on hand for equine nutrition and health advice, from electrolyte feeding rates to summer worming timing. Whether you're after equestrian supplies in Ayr, horse feed in Kinross or Stirling, or fly control in Lanark, you'll be talking to people who keep horses themselves. Can't get to a store between rides? Our full equestrian range is online at mccaskie.store, with delivery across Scotland.
Enjoy the sunshine — it never hangs around long up here. Pop into your nearest McCaskie Country Store in Ayr, Kinross, Lanark or Stirling and speak to one of our equine-knowledgeable team — or browse our full equestrian range at mccaskie.store.