Eating snow

[myvada]

will eating and licking the snow help keep them hydrated as i have seen mine doing this. The water is freezing very quickly.

 

[teddyt]

Better than nothing but wont provide loads of water. As long as its not yellow it shouldnt cause any harm

 

[hussar]

It does help but vets round here are seeing more colic cases than usual and reckon that horses are dehydrating. The river that supplies my boys' field has frozen over so I'm now shipping containers of water to them twice a day - and they were very thirsty the first couple of times I did this, despite licking snow.

 

[nemo_]

My mare eats the snow, but i don't think they do it to re-hydrate themselves, as she is quite thirsty still, more so than usual but probably something to do with the ton of hay she has eaten recently!

 

[3Beasties]

We've been de-frosting the tank in the field daily but the ponies (who live out) haven't been over to it since the snow came (no tracks).

They have been seen eating snow so I can only assume it's keeping them hydrated enough and they can't be bothered walking over to the trough.

 

[sallyellis]

My boy chose to lick the ice/snow today over a bucket of water...strange boy!

 

[comeon]

Guess the ponies in the wild, Exmoor and Dartmoor for example, have to eat the snow, they would have no running water would they?

 

[SVMel]

My bloody shetland is dehydrated which i can only assume is because he doesn't like the cold water as he will drink the warm water I offer him. I say *bloody* as I caught him eating snow today.... so much for him not liking cold stuff ......

Daft thing!!