How to get a horse to drink!

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins

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Oct 10, 2004
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After being very ill with severe dehydration on Tuesday, my horse needs to drink more fluid. He is on box rest at the moment but is turned out into a small paddock for about 4-5 hours per day. Yesterday he didn't drink in his stable and he didn't drink in his field. The vet says that he needs a wet diet and needs to eat grass, so in addition to his turnout (which does have grass in it), I am grass walking him for an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the evening on the longest grass I can find. Which is actually quite hard as there isn't much grass around. In his stable he gets wet hay.

I have got some apple juice to try in his water this afternoon. I have tried putting apples and polos in this water but he is just not interested. It's not a new problem, he never drinks when we go to shows and when we are away on camp and he is stabled he doesn't drink there either. He can't be turned out overnight as he is lame with an infected splint and has to rest as much as possible.

What would you do to get fluid into him?
 
I use a mash type feed, ready mash is my go to for a sloppy feed add more water to get more fluids into him. If he's being fussy a drop of molasses normally does the trick. I'd add salt to the feed to but have just read your other post about dehydration so I'd ask your vet about that first. Can you soak his hay? Does he normally drink from a trough in the field? Sounds silly but if you could bucket some of that he might be more tempting as some horses seem funny about "different water"
 
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Very very sloppy grass nuts works for 1 of the work horses as he is a terrible drinker away at events. Try adding salt to his feed just for a day or 2 to see if it will spur him to drink, it works for some but not all.
There is a product endurance riders use which is a feed based drink basically but i cannot remember the name at the moment but will go and look to see if i can find it. @Jessey might know what im on about, ive seen it talked about of fb endurance sites.
 
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Lissie said:
I use a mash type feed, ready mash is my go to for a sloppy feed add more water to get more fluids into him. If he's being fussy a drop of molasses normally does the trick. I'd add salt to the feed to but have just read your other post about dehydration so I'd ask your vet about that first. Can you soak his hay? Does he normally drink from a trough in the field? Sounds silly but if could bucket some of that he might be more tempting as some horses seem funny about "different water"
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His hay is already soaked, it always has been as he has a dust allergy. I might well try to take some water out of his normal trough in the field. I am thinking of giving him 3 different options this afternoon. One clean fresh bucket, one with apple juice in it and one with his normal trough water in it. Apparently putting buckets in different positions in the stable can help as well.

I'm not sure about adding salt. He does have a salt lick but I found it in bits on the floor when he was ill. I'm not sure if he went overboard on it, or ate too much of it, but he definitely had salt on the night he because dehydrated so I am wary about giving him more.

Thanks for your help.x
 
Could you try adding some electrolytes as well? Lottie has water with this in after hunting or after hard exercise as she sweats so much.
 
Hmm I wonder if you could add them to a sloppy mash?
The equidiet stuff definitely looks worth looking into.

Hoping at least one of these will work and get more fluids into him.
 
Lissie said:
Hmm I wonder if you could add them to a sloppy mash?
The equidiet stuff definitely looks worth looking into.

Hoping at least one of these will work and get more fluids into him.
Click to expand...

I don't know much about mash. He doesn't normally have any feed and I am worried about suddenly giving him something that he isn't used to. He has a few nuts with his bute over the top but the vet said that his feed must be dry because the bute cannot be mixed with water.

How do I make a sloppy mash?
 
orbvalley said:
I guess you've already tried warm water?
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Yes, I have tried warm water and cold water but he just ignores it. He has a water bucket in the field with I am topping up with hot water every morning. I walked him over to it this morning when I turned him out and he just looked at it.
 
This would be what I'd think about trying
https://www.rowenbarbary.co.uk/product/soft-n-soak-readyfibre-mash/

All mine have had it with no problems but as with anything I suppose a sudden change in diet isn't great. I would speak to my vet and start with a very small amount.

To make it very sloppy just add more water than recommended so it's wetter. My first attempt I went overboard with the water and it was like soup lol, horse still loved it though. This is what I feed Lottie after hunting as she doesn't drink much but they seem to find it really tasty and always licks the bowl clean. I know it's not the feeding you need but thinking if he likes it it might help get more fluid in him.

Ergh, talk about you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!
 
mystiquemalaika said:
Very very sloppy grass nuts works for 1 of the work horses as he is a terrible drinker away at events. Try adding salt to his feed just for a day or 2 to see if it will spur him to drink, it works for some but not all.
There is a product endurance riders use which is a feed based drink basically but i cannot remember the name at the moment but will go and look to see if i can find it. @Jessey might know what im on about, ive seen it talked about of fb endurance sites.
Click to expand...
Equidgel is the one I've heard a bit about, I have always just used really sloppy sugar beet or grass nuts, or thirst quencher in really dire situations.

If you saw he had bitten lumps off of his salt lick @Mary Poppins I wouldn't add extra salt (or electrolytes as they are just salts) as you could well be right in he over dosed himself, it has been known in stabled horses that they will keep licking (or biting) out of boredom, if anything I would remove the lick and just stick an appropriate amount of plain salt in a bucket daily (salt water or just the salt) so that he can get enough but not too much.
 
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Lissie said:
This would be what I'd think about trying
https://www.rowenbarbary.co.uk/product/soft-n-soak-readyfibre-mash/

All mine have had it with no problems but as with anything I suppose a sudden change in diet isn't great. I would speak to my vet and start with a very small amount.

To make it very sloppy just add more water than recommended so it's wetter. My first attempt I went overboard with the water and it was like soup lol, horse still loved it though. This is what I feed Lottie after hunting as she doesn't drink much but they seem to find it really tasty and always licks the bowl clean. I know it's not the feeding you need but thinking if he likes it it might help get more fluid in him.

Ergh, talk about you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!
Click to expand...

That is exactly what the vet said as he was pouring water down the tube!
 
Jessey said:
Equidgel is the one I've heard a bit about, I have always just used really sloppy sugar beet or grass nuts, or thirst quencher in really dire situations.

If you saw he had bitten lumps off of his salt lick @Mary Poppins I wouldn't add extra salt (or electrolytes as they are just salts) as you could well be right in he over dosed himself, it has been known in stabled horses that they will keep licking (or biting) out of boredom, if anything I would remove the lick and just stick an appropriate amount of plain salt in a bucket daily (salt water or just the salt) so that he can get enough but not too much.
Click to expand...

My instinct says to say away from salt for the time being. I don't know what he had done to the salt lick, but it was smashed and on the floor so he must have done something.
 
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Spillers have introduced a new feed called speedy mash which has an apple smell to it and flipo loves. Use lots of water to make it up. Hasn’t been recommmended by lammi society yet but likely will be as has hit the criteria according to my local feed merchant. It’s cheap as well at under £10 a bag.
Otherwise fast fibre by Allen and Paige is good and is what I used last year to get him eating (and drinking!)
It’s a hay replacer for those with no teeth or no access to hay, so it’s mushy, you add water to it but is still nice for them to tuck into. Fast fibre is about £1-2 more expensive.
 
I make Allen and Paige Fast fibre really sloppy for ours - it is suitable for good doers. Might be worth a try? You do have to mix lots of water with it, and I quite like the idea of it being wet for ours. Chloe doesn't always drink enough when it is really cold weather so this helps her.
 
Mary Poppins said:
He has a few nuts with his bute over the top but the vet said that his feed must be dry because the bute cannot be mixed with water.
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Really? Well bless my soul I am learning something new yet again :O I have fed bute from time to time for many, many years to several different horses and ponies and always in a damped down feed, never sprinkled dry. Did your vet say why it has to be fed dry? Seems very difficult if you have a very fussy eater like some of mine have been too feed it as an unflavoured powder?

Sorry slightly off topic but that really is the first time I have ever heard that and very interested to know why?
 
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