Ways to make a horse drink more water?

[BeesyBee]

I have a horse that has been on stall rest for the past 7 months recouping after a major surgery on his front feet. He is doing well as far as his legs are concerned and has been a seemingly happy stalled horse with minimal to no pain meds or sedation.

However, about 2 weeks ago he evidently made the executive decision that water was no longer a necessary part of his diet.

I have him on compressed timothy and alfalfa mix and he gets about 3 to 4 quarts of beet pulp and low carb pellet mixture that is soaked. The last few days he has stopped eating all of his grain and now only picks at the hay. I started soaking it, too and he still just nibbles on it and moves it around.

The vet suggested flavoring his water or adding alfalfa to it. He also suggested that I start him on a month of ulcer treatment. He is only on his second dose (tube) of ulcergard... so there hasn't been any marked improvement from that.

Meanwhile he is still pooping (5-6 piles a day) and urinating (once or twice.. just a little) and his blood work-up says that he isn't dehydrated... yet. I've invested in heated buckets with no avail.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[quicksilverponies]

I feed my ponies loose salt in the winter to encourage water intake. In the p.m. they each recieve 1 tsp. salt in their feed and they also have heated buckets. They are all good about drinking - this seems to work well. Good luck! Your might also try wetting the feed - I have a very old pony -about 40 yrs - and he eats Purina Equine Sr. feed wet - helps with water intake.

[Blinkers On]

salt. If the horse is not drinking and going to be dehydrated consider tubing some electrolytes or hanging an electrolyte jug on the hors. Dehydration is not a horse's best friend. i have never had this problem, and shy of the above I would just ask my vet for thoughts.

[dynamitemike]

A good probiotic would be beneficial as well as a water bucket with added electrolytes.

[092556]

Maybe your feed has changed.
I have notice my beet pulp has changed. Since the new supply of beet pulp hit the market a couple of month ago it has changed. The 1st 10 bags had an excessive amount of molasses, it was awful, slimy until it dried then it would stick to the bucket like concrete. Normally I don't rinse but had to rinse at least 2 times to make it like it should be. The last beet pulp I bought had none or very little, which was great but my ponies were not pleased. They ate it of course they are ponies but they ate it slower. Has anyone else noticed a difference?

I add salt to the beet pulp for my guys, I also noticed that when I add salt the beet pulp doesn't get that fermented smell after sitting all day or night.

I hope your guy perks up.

[2boys]

I throw a candy cane in the water bucket and sprinkle some electrolytes into their grain.

[Summit Springs Farm]

An old horseman one told me to salt the hay when stacking it, that it would keep it from molding and as it cured it would absorb the salt and be good for the horses to keep them drinking water.

[FindersKeepers]

long shot, but...

If your heated bucket is electric...make sure it is grounded properly. We invested in heated buckets a few years ago. One of them wasn't wired correctly and the horse was getting a little shock everytime he tried to drink.

If that's the case, its going to take a little while before he trusts the bucket again, but start by hanging a regular old bucket and see what happens.

[eventerdrew]

I heard from my vet that Gatorade in water works. He suggested the orange because it is closer to the taste of regular electrolytes.

[dwblover]

I second the Gatorade. We used to mix some blue gatorade in for our pony after shows and he loved it. We would also keep another bucket in the stall that was regular water. In the morning the plain water was still sitting there and the Gatorade water was completely gone. He also had a cute blue smile.

[lauriep]

Plain table salt is MUCH cheaper than electrolytes to encourage drinking. If they aren't actually dehydrated, you don't need to add back electrolytes.

[stryder]

I read here about dropping a small apple into the water bucket. Horse drinks to get to the apple.
But personally, I've added a tiny bit of loose salt to the grain.

[mammadoc]

if i put anything in my guys bucket he will try to destroy it instead of drinking to get to the yummy thing. he gets downright infuriated.

[mandalea]

I put about a cup of molasses in a tufftub, and fill it with water.

It gets skulled in less than 2 minutes :D

[luvmywalkers]

Aside from the 'not drinking', a horse that just quits eating is telling you that something is seriously wrong. It's apparently not colicky. It could be pain somewhere, it could be kidneys, just to name a few.

[LKF]

1) heat or warm his drinking water
2) access to a mineral block in stall
3) add 1/2 tbs. of electrolytes in feed both Summer and Winter
4) add water into his feed

You can do all (4) suggestions together easily and it should do the trick.

[Thomas_1]

First of all ensure his water is "good"

Employ the principle Would you drink it? If the answer is "no" then don't expect him to.

Important to be considering this matter too because a horse requires on average 5 gallons of water a day and its preference is to drink water at temperatures between 36 and 50 degrees and from a clean supply and from a clean container.

Its important for aiding digestion, reducing toxins as well as for regulating temperature. In hot conditions a horse should drink more than the average and up to 8 gallons per day. Regrettably too many horses do not have access to a good clean supply and rather are drinking from streams or standing water too warm in troughs not cleaned regularly enough and with algae or otherwise contaminated and/or tainted.

And if a horse does not have access to a good clean supply then of course it will still drink but only the minimal amount. And sadly too many horse owners kid themselves into thinking that things like algae and a bit of dirt or a taste of sulphur does no harm or that the horse enjoys it. They say things like "your horse will get used to the water here" - but that shouldn't be the case and it won't be. All that will happen is that the horse will drink it if there's all that's available and it will stop complaining because there's no point. In the same way if you were in the desert with only a muddy sulphurous pool to drink from you'd put up and shut up. And you'd drink no more than you need to survive.

In fact what happens is that the horse will pull water from its digestive tract and will be considerably more predisposed to colic and laminitis.

So a timely opportunity to remember how essential good clean good quality water is not only during summer months but also as we approach winter and the horse is likely to be eating considerably more dry matter (hay).

Over time, horses with access only to poor water will also hypersensitise and have chronic liver damage often resultant in photosensitisation and a host of other secondary difficulties.

Quite simply if you won't drink your horse's water supply, then the horse shouldn't be expected to drink it.

To encourage a horse to take in more water ensure there's salt licks and do such as putting salt in a clean fresh bucket of water and even let him drink from a running a hose pipe - all mine love this. I always refresh their mouths out with a cold hose when they've done a lot of work in the heat and they love to drink from it too. You can add such as a teaspoon of molasses to water but NOT if your horses in laminitis predisposed - so I'd say not whilst on extended box rest. I've done such as dropping bits of carrot and apple in the water bucket so the horse goes dunking!

Soak his hay so he's getting water as well as dry matter. If he's leaving his hay, then I'd be wondering if he's getting too much of it, or too much of something else? Is he getting something else other than hay???

And as a general reminder (not necessarily for box rested horses) to help avoid impaction aside from increasing water...
Mix any hard feed with water so its quite sloppy
put plenty of oil in the feed to help to prevent compaction
Put in varied textures so the horse isn't bolting its food - chopped carrots, swedes, cabbage leaves and such are all good so it sorts through and picks things out steadily.
For a horse that is prone, spread soaked hay about in a field so its walking and forage grazing rather than static greedily eating.
Never use hay nets or high feeders - feed low.

[CB/TB]

A friend had an old horse that wasn't drinking. She had major issues, other than age. They found she liked HOT water, not just heated bucket/trough temp water, and not boiling hot, but hot, from the tap. She'd pretty much drink it all down. Winter or summer, it didn't matter- she liked hot water. Good ideas from others, too.

[TikiSoo]

Along the same lines as Gatorade....why not add some apple juice to the bucket of water?
I had a pet (ok a parrot) that wouldn't drink enough so I added juice to his water. Worked like a charm!

[BeesyBee]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Good news is that he started eating a bit more after his 3rd dose of ulcergard yesterday. He has been eating more soaked hay, too. But still isn't drinking any water. I guess he is getting enough from the hay and grain, but it is making me nervous.

I have been working closely with my vet and he thinks it's ulcers or worms (or both). I am doing a panacur power pack on him (although this seems silly since he has been in the stall for 7 months). When I hand walk him (only 5 minutes a day) he always will take a giant mouthful of dirt and eat it. So I guess he could've gotten critters that way. He has been on tractgard since the surgery and access to loose red mineral salt in the stall, but I'm guessing that's not enough.

My stall now looks like a bucket shop and it is definitely exciting for him to see what mom is putting up next. He also has a bucket of gatorade (fruit punch), a bucket of water mixed with carrot sauce baby food, a bucket with apple juice and water mix, a heated bucket with normal tasting water (checked to make sure that it didn't shock him... that made me cringe when I read that :( your poor horse), soaked hay tub, and he has the loose salt and tractgard with his soaked grain. Oh and I made sure his beet pulp was decent and not funky looking.

I feel like I am creating a little spoiled picky monster. He's a little diva in the making. Soon he's going to stop liking the texture of his shavings and the color of his walls, but I'll do it all if he will just drink half a bucket of water for me :)