Drinking?

Katie__Connie

Katie__Connie

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I'm a bit worried because my pony and her field pal don't seem to be drinking anything at all in this snowy weather... I regularly break the ice on the trough but they haven't been near it (No footprints in the snow!) Should i be worried?
 
They are probably getting enough moisture from the snow that they don't need to drink.
Are they stabled over night and drinking then?
 
some horses won't drink for a few days at a time.I would think they are avoiding the water because it is so cold.Have you tried offering them a bucket of water with the chill taken off of it? I wouldn't be overly worried at the moment because if they are foraging in the snow they are getting plenty of moisture from the grass that they are finding.If however they are not doing that and are eating hay I would try to get some water in them somehow,even if it meant giving them some runny sugarbeet to keep them happy.
 
our horses have actually been eathing the snow and drinking less, as snow is made of water, im sure they are less thirsty cause they have been eating the snow.
just check they are not dehydrated (pinch the skin on the neck and it should go straight away, if it stays raised then they could be dehydrated!)
 
Definitely second doing the pinch test. I found that one of ours was a little dehydrated as she wasn't drinking enough as the water was too icy, so have been running water down from the house specially for her!
 
I wrote an article for my local endurance rag this winter and in it put "It’s a little known fact that horses can actually be thirstier in the winter than they are in the summer. In fact the colder it gets, the less your horse feels like drinking – even when his body really needs fluid. In cold weather horses will occasionally eat snow and cut back on drinking water. A horse cannot get the water he needs simply from eating snow. What’s more, the forage beneath that snow is primarily dry matter. Without a readily available source of ice-free water, this is a recipe for colic."
Hope this helps....
There's a new product called horse quencher that gets problem horses drinking. I bought mine 2 years ago from the states but it is now available here online. i had a horse who competes and wouldn't drink, even worse in winter, so I set out to learn more about the consequences...
 
mine have been avoiding their water trough, which i thought was odd, then found tracks down to the stream, so they must've been down there a bit.

Teddi does eat the snow, as i made a snow ball to throw 4 snowflake, and teddi ate it! :0
 
add a bit of sugar beet/beet juice to a bucket of water to tempt them and also lots of fruit/veg and sloppy meals. impaction colic is a risk when its cold and they are eating more hay-my two both drink more in this weather than the summer! eating snow takes alot of energy for little return and they may be eating some but it might not be enough.
 
I think TGM's signature is of use in this instance
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[ QUOTE ]
I think TGM's signature is of use in this instance
wink.gif


[/ QUOTE ]Indeed! Ironically I didn't come back to this thread until I received a blatantly promotional pm from CC which alerted me to their stealth marketing techniques on here!
 
I must apologise for my stupidity and naivety. Believe it or not I am new to all this and I am a member of another forum where you can talk about your "wares" and it's ok to do so, and completely stupidly I honestly didn't realise you couldn't do this here. I got so excited by someone having started the topic of "drinking" I didn't look further than the end of my nose (or fingertips) and started banging away on the keyboards excitedly. I am completely at wrong and sincerely apologise. I cant believe I have been so stupid. Please accept my humble and sincere apologies and have a lovely Christmas,
 
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