How do you intice your horses to drink

[Hobbit Horse Shire]

One of our girls gave us a scare this week .. The vet thought she might be starting into colic because of not drinking enough .. BUT we found out that problem had nothing to do with her feeling bad .. Seems they've been eating acorns OH! .. We didn't know acorns were a problem .. So now that we're raking up 10,000 little bitty acrons we are still worrying that she might be dehydrating .. We had to force water on her & it was NOT easy .. She fought it every time

Does any one have any ideas on how to intice them into drinking more on their own? .. They have heated water buckets and are given fresh water every other day (other wise the water would be cold all the time) .. Of course if the water is dirty we change it .. They each have a salt block in their stalls where they spend the night

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Russ]

Yup what Karla suggested works great in the feed or water bucket.

It's just good ole table salt that you use for cooking.

 

[Katiean]

I have heard apple juice in the water helps. I don't know I have not had to even try it. My 3 are drinking around 20 gallons between the 3 of them every day and we have to hand carry hot water to them. My colt will even break the ice himself.

 

[JourneysEnd]

I use a product call "EquiTea" .

I get it from KV Vet (item # 42284). It's ground alfalfa with molasses and electrolytes.

I can usually get colicy horses to drink it.

 

[Jill]

All my show horses LOVE gatorade or powerade. They will "beg" me for it at shows. I give it to them, like 1 part to 5 parts water, to be sure they drink enough at shows. I also give it to them more concentrated after working them at home. If your horses like the taste of it, adding that to the water bucket can really boost their consumption of water -- but if they turn out not to like it, then you wouldn't want that to be the "only" water option.

 

[normajeanbaker]

When my filly was sick last fall and not drinking, my vet and I tried all kinds of things in her water to try and get her to drink. Molasses was one thing we tried. After she decided to start eating again, I found if I chopped up an apple and dropped the pieces in her bucket, she'd try and get the apple pieces out of the water(they floated on top of the water), and when she did, she was getting water at the same time. If they like apple juice, you can also add apple juice to their water. Alot of people add electrolytes to water, but a few of mine hate it and will stop drinking if it's in their water.

~Jen~

 

[backwoodsnanny]

Maybe you have one like my Sonny he doesnt like warm water in fact he doesnt like it ice cold either he drinks lots when it is right out of the faucet but if I take warm water to him he wont drink and once it gets any ice in it he wont touch it so I change his water several times a day so he can have it the temp he wants. Hes the only one that refuses to drink warm water. I also have some that will keep the ice broken out of their buckets but we change water out twice a day any way year round. I dump all 16 buckets and start over at 8 am and 4 pm as well as breaking the ice out of the sheep dishes and starting over also twice a day. My grandfather always said Water is cheap feed and drinking enough can ward off alot of illnesses.

 

[Rebecca]

Something like this happened to us over the summer, minus the acorns part. We used salt in her feed. Also, you can put a little Powerade or Gatorade in their water in the summer to keep them hydrated (has electrolytes in it). My 4H leader's big horse doesn't drink much in the summer so every day when they fill up water buckets/tubs, they pour a gallon of apple juice in hers!!!! It works for her.

But I would definatley try putting a tsp of salt in the feed, like barnbum said. That's what worked for us.

 

[Joanne]

There are a lot of great ideas here!

Thanks for asking the question, and Thanks for all the responses!

 

[Casnos Minis]

[SIZE=14pt]Molasses[/SIZE]

Power Aide/ Gatorade (Liquid or powder)

Salt

Apple Juice

MIne like all the above. I will give them gatorade powder in their feed, but they love the warm water with apple juice. I have the heated buckets also and mine would rather drink it warm than ice cold in the winter.

Christy

 

[Shortpig]

I drink it from either a glass or plastic bottle. If i'm drinking it they want it. Doesn't matter what it is they

want it. Ice Tea, Lemonade, Water, coffee. What it is doesn't really matter.

 

[suz]

When my guy was sick and didn't want to drink, I added some apple juice to his water and he drank it like a champ! He LOVED IT! (of course, straight apple juice was even better, but way too sweet to drink too much of!)

I tried some Gatorade before that, but he didn't want anything to do with that!

Good luck!

 

[Hobbit Horse Shire]

Thanks everyone for the great tips .. We tried the salt .. My husband broke off a bit from her salt block & put it in her bucket .. It works

Then we tried the apple juice mixed with the water .. Didn't work as well as the salt

I also wanted to get her to eat her beet pulp which she used to do no problem .. Solved that one by putting unsweetened applesauce on top of the beet pulp .. She ate it right up

Cinnamon is now back to her old self .. Knickering in the morning to say where's my breatfast! She's also back in the field & running

Again .. Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

Carol P