As the fires continue in our state, it is important to note the air quality and air quality advisories if we plan to work our horses. If the air quality is too bad and there are too many particulates you can cause difficulty breathing, coughing, and even infection if horses are worked too hard and inhale too many of those particulates. If you can smell smoke, see ash, can’t see the mountains (or other distant landmarks you can normally see), or in general have a harder time breathing yourself, it is probably a good indicator that you might want to let your horse have the day off of strenuous work.

You can see any air quality advisories here: https://www.colorado.gov/airquality/advisory.aspx

You can see today’s air quality index here: https://www.colorado.gov/airquality/air_quality.aspx

You can see a bunch of other air quality infomration such as maps, forecasts, and more here: https://www.colorado.gov/airquality/

Here are some ways you can help your horse when the air quality is bad: https://coloradohorseforum.com/2020/08/14/helping-horses-when-there-is-wild-fire-air-pollution/