Drinking in stable

[ThreeWBs]

Any tips on getting my 5yo to drink from his trough or even a bucket in the stable?

Owned from 9 months old and he never used to have a problem with it. Last year he just stopped drinking from his auto-filling drinker, so had to leave him with a bucket of water..which he doesn't drink either.

He goes out in the morning and has a big drink from his field trough, so I know he's thirsty.

- I've tried adding molasses, carrots and apples to his water bucket and he will have a look, but seems scared to touch the water.
- He has no fear of running water, being hosed or the troughs outside etc
- He does play with his feed buckets. I'm thinking he's drenched himself or been splashed in the face - but this doesn't explain why he stopped drinking from the drinker?

Help!

 

[Esmae]

Have you cleaned it with any sort of cleaning product at all? If you have then I would scrub it and rinse yourself dizzy to get rid of any residual smell which may put him off. Horses can be very sensitive to odd smells.

 

[splashgirl45]

why not fill his bucket from the field trough and see if he will drink that in the stable

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Definitely clean the bucket but I would also try putting it in a different part of the stable. My cob used to tip her water bucket over but stopped when I moved it.

One of ours isn't keen on fresh water in the stable as our tap water often smells of chlorine.

 

[milliepops]

I'd also try different coloured buckets, I have one that will only drink from a black bucket and she's very suspicious of anything else

 

[eggs]

One of mine basically stopped drinking in his stable although he would drink out of his drinker but they were turned off as there was a leak. He had a red bucket but when I swapped it to a blue one he started drinking again.

 

[Darbs]

They can funny about this, one of ours won't drink out of any new bucket, it has to be his old purple one with green algae on the inside! (I do keep the amount of algae down but he obvioulsy likes it!)

 

[Annagain]

Try different materials too. Mine used to drink loads from one of those big tubs with rope handles. When it broke I gave him a more bendy tubtrug type thing. He wouldn't touch it. Back to big plastic tub and he drank again. That broke - dragging it across the yard was the problem - and as an emergency stop gap I gave him ordinary plastic buckets and he was fine with those. He's the same with feed, won't eat out of of anything bendy but is very happy with a solid bucket.

 

[OdinsMum]

I’ve heard apple cider vinegar can encourage horses to drink their water but never tried it personally

 

[Queenbee]

different coloured buckets, different water sources.... endurance riders add sugarbeet.... I would consider apple juice added to temp... certainly I would put any feeds I give soaked... soaked hay, soaked sloopy feed, even a bucket of chaff drenched in water... I would not be comfy with him not drinking all night

 

[milliepops]

Every time I see this thread I read it as though someone is having a surreptitious G&T in the stable yard 🤣 even though I've already replied 🙈

 

[Pinkvboots]

I'd also try different coloured buckets, I have one that will only drink from a black bucket and she's very suspicious of anything else

That's funny both of my horses prefer black buckets so weird.

 

[tankgirl1]

I'd also try different coloured buckets, I have one that will only drink from a black bucket and she's very suspicious of anything else

Last winter my 2 had 2 buckets - one yellow one purple, and they always drained the yellow one first...

 

[xxcharlottexx]

Outside we have 1 yellow and 1 red trug. Yellow always goes first, even if you switch them round!