[SCMSL]

My horse WILL.NOT.DRINK when her ulcers flare up. I do two things:
1st all her food is weted down to a soup-like consistency. I do a mash for her with 2kg of beetpulp and 2kg of Alfa A and offer it to her 3 times a day.
2nd, suggested by a fellow COTHer, I do a "hay tea" for her. This has been a real life saver. It is tempting enough for her to drink a few gallons each time, which has kept the vet away. Just pour some scalding water on top of a nice hay (alfalfa or a rich grass) and let it soak for about 10min, then either keep hay in or remove it and top it up with cold water until luke warm. It smells wonderful once its done and my little big princess can't resists it!

Best of luck with your horse

[Lilypad]

I dissolve grain in 3 gallons of warm water 3 times a day for my non- drinker.
He drinks the whole bucket down with great relish.
Nothing I ever did worked except for this. I now use the dissolved grain on most of my horses....to keep the vet away!

My mare doesn't drink much either, but LOVES her sloppy alfalfa cube/beet pulp/pellet mixture. The sloppier, the better, in her opinion. She dives in so eagerly she often ends up with half her face painted green with alfalfa mush

[bdj]

Sounds really random, but can you offer her water in a different bucket? My old guy wouldn't touch water in a bucket in a stall and didn't seem to drink too much from the big trough, but always preferred to drink from a 6.5 gallon feed tub that I'd set up just outside his stall in his run-out paddock. Slightly more inconvenient for me to refill, but I was happy to forgive him that, since it was very easy to keep track of his consumption that way.

Oddly enough, the new girl prefers to drink from the small tub, too. Don't know why the preference (both containers are totally clean, and are filled from the same hydrant), but it's pretty clear, and as long as I know she's drinking, I'm happy.

Good luck with your girl.

[arbiter]

You could see if she's willing to drink out of a hose. Some horses like that.

[SuckerForHorses]

I would suspect possible ulcers.

The previous "owner" (you said she was leased out?) said that the horse was a finicky drinker when they showed her...trailering/showing = stress

My mare had ulcers, and the first indication was a huge decrease in water consumption, ESPECIALLY if I trailered her somewhere.

The fact that your mare didn't drink while being shown/trailered, and has since been relocated back to your facility, I would try a course of ranitidine and see if you see an improvement.

[SuckerForHorses]

2nd, suggested by a fellow COTHer, I do a "hay tea" for her. This has been a real life saver. It is tempting enough for her to drink a few gallons each time, which has kept the vet away. Just pour some scalding water on top of a nice hay (alfalfa or a rich grass) and let it soak for about 10min, then either keep hay in or remove it and top it up with cold water until luke warm. It smells wonderful once its done and my little big princess can't resists it!

Best of luck with your horse

I think that was me!

[SCMSL]

I think that was me

SuckerForHorses, I hope you know your suggestion was probably what saved my mare, so thank you

[savethedate]

I would try making sure the water is warm like suggested above.
Aside from soaking Alfalfa cubes, you could try soaking her hay if she enjoys hay.
My mare loves hay, but doesn't mind if it's soaked in a round rubber ground feeder in her stall and if it's a little soupy at the bottom, she drinks it because of the flavor (I use kinda dusty alfalfa flakes though, which come with dust so I have to water it down so she doesn't inhale it.)

[SuckerForHorses]

SuckerForHorses, I hope you know your suggestion was probably what saved my mare, so thank you

YAY!!!! So glad I could help! It does smell very delicious after you steep it for a bit, I wanted to take a drink myself!

[SuckerForHorses]

The very first sign that my mare's ulcers are flaring up is her decrease in water consumption. You learn their habits, and one of hers is to drink immediately after finishing her "grain" (which BTW, is just soaked beet pulp and flax, with some TC 30% mixed in, so not a high grain diet).

If she doesn't drink after eating, I know something is up, and start acting immediately, which involved rantidine at a dose of 3000 mg twice daily until she starts drinking again, and then I continue for another few weeks with the dose, then taper down.

[Callmeacab]

Half a cup alfalfa pellets in a full bucket of warm water, soaked for a good hour, til it's a warm pea soup. Add a tablespoon of salt.

Even in warm weather, my horses prefer warm water out of a bucket.

You can add some apple juice to a bucket of water, and see if the horse likes it, as well.

[GaMare]

My princess doesn't like to drink when there's a drop in temperature. Here are the things that have gotten her drinking: warm water, apple juice, Horse Quenchers, Gatorade (she prefers orange but I know others have more luck with fruit punch), molasses, peppermints in the bottom of the bucket & root beer.

When I was researching her diet, the info found was about 800 calories per lb of timothy mix hay vs 1,000 calories per lb of alfalfa cubes. This will obviously vary by cutting, brand of cubes, etc. but is a good starting point. If there's a possibility of ulcers, the soaked alfalfa cubes a few times during the day should help her belly feel better in addition to getting her the fluids.

[morgansnmind]

My mare has decided she doesn't want to drink when stalled ever since she came back from a 2week stay at a friends house. She will drink outside though. I've been soaking her senior and added beet pulp. At first she didn't drink anything in the stall but now will drink almost a half a bucket (sometimes). This mare normally slurps up almost two buckets ...

I will have to try the 'hay tea' and also I was thinking about buying a new bucket to see if she just has decided she doesn't like the color blue. I know the other farm had a red bucket for her to use.

[SuckerForHorses]

Morgansnmind - My mare stops drinking in her stall when her ulcers flare up. Will drink when I put her back outside. She hates being stalled, and that seems to make her anxious enough that, even though she doesn't APPEAR anxious, she won't drink overnight.

Lord help me if I ever have to have that woman on stall rest...we'd have to sedate and tube her with fluids until it was over...

[Elfe]

Mashes for meals: at least one gallon of hot water to one pound of Timothy pellets and half a pound of TC Senior, allowed to sit and dissolve for at least 15 minutes. Supplement added right before serving.
Additionally, one cup of TC Senior dissolved in 5 gallons of hot water. Mostly they drink the entire 5 gallons within 2 hours from coming into their stalls.
Good luck !

[SCMSL]

It does smell very delicious after you steep it for a bit, I wanted to take a drink myself!

I have to admit I gave it a taste... mine tastes like chamomile tea! hihihihi!

I, like many other, own a very sensible princess and her first symptom of ulcers is not drinking water too. And although I start treating with omeprazole immediately, after what I've been through this summer, I make sure I address the water issue that same day.

The stress of knowing her ulcers are flaring up is enough for me and I would rather not receive a call from the barn telling me she's on the floor with colic. Water is essential to keep everything going, so thats the first thing I address. Try having to fast a horse who also has ulcers to "cure" his colic. Worst experience ever.

[SuckerForHorses]

My "addressing the water" IS to start treating the ulcers. I can't force her to drink water when she isn't drinking because of a sore tummy. Electrolytes can actually further irritate ulcers, so pumping them full of electrolytes may end up being counter-productive. I found a study on electrolytes and their effect on ulcers some time back when I was researching.

[OveroHunter]

She drank a bucket and a half last night! I think she was just being finicky about how the water tasted here compared to where she was in VA before.

We're going to move her to 4 qt of dry grain in the morning and 2 qt of beet pulp and 2 qt of grain mash in the evenings. Luckily she decided to start drinking before the 36 hour deadline the vet gave us so she didn't need to be tubed

Now I just have to see if she'll drink the pasture because she is supposed to be on retirement pasture board and not full stall board. I figure I'll let her adjust for a couple of weeks in the stall with day turn out before we go fully to pasture.

[fanfayre]

Awesome news!!!

[SuckerForHorses]

She drank a bucket and a half last night! I think she was just being finicky about how the water tasted here compared to where she was in VA before.

If that were the case, wouldn't she have drank normally in VA? I thought they had trouble with her being finicky about water too?