Encouraging a horse to drink!

[Mosh]

So my older mare had an impaction colic tonight, vet came and sorted promptly and she should be okay but the consensus is because she has a high fibre diet and didn't drink anything she became impacted. She has plenty of water in her stable, but I'm trying to encourage to drink more fluid. She has a constant supply in the field too..She generally won't touch salt/electrolytes in her food and water but wiling to try again with that. She is fed a mash which I make very very watery to get some fluids into her that way.
Is there a really tasty electrolyte around rather than the everyday ones you can get?
Has anyone had any success in fruit cordials in water? Thinking peppermint or apple?

Ideally needs to be low sugar due to cushings/laminitis risk but short of shoving a hose pipe down her neck don't know what to do!

 

[Barton Bounty]

How about low sugar apple juice

 

[HappyHollyDays]

In hot weather I cut apples in quarters which float and one of mine bobs for them. It just encourages him to put his mouth in the water and more often than not he will have a drink. He’s an EMS pony who is prone to colic but I would rather he had a few bits of apple than a vet call out for colic. My ex laminitic hasn’t got a clue how to bob for apples so he just gets them in a soggy feed of chaff with a few cubes to carry supplements.

 

[Cowpony]

Give her hay a good wetting

 

[Mosh]

Will try all of these. She is a peculiar pony, vet was saying lots of horses struggle from hot to cold but mine seems to struggle with the random hot days that are thrown in with a cooler spell.

Vet and I were discussing if it's her cushings which means she struggled to regulate her hydration levels when the weather is so extreme in temperature

 

[JBM]

Have you tried putting chaff in her electrolyte water?

 

[GreyDot]

If she will still eat her hay if it is soaked or wet, that is a great way to get more water in. Also Saracen Recovery Mash, made extra sloppy - it's very tasty.

 

[HollyWoozle]

I find that even the tiniest amount of spillers senior super mash in water means they slurp the whole thing. In the heat wave last year I made soups for our herd and literally used just a tiny handful to flavour the water.

 

[cauda equina]

Or you could try plain grass nuts made into soup
Mine all prefer cold, fresh from the tap water to stuff that's been hanging around, even if it's clean, so you could try refilling her bucket more frequently and see if that helps

 

[Mosh]

Thank you all. Going to try these ideas too, I'm borrowing samples of feed from some lovely friends and will try them carefully over the next few days.
I didn't try the chaff with the electrolytes but we've swapped to a new chaff so that's worth a try.
She is funny with her water, sometimes she will drink it when it's fresh and sometimes when it's a bit older so going to give two buckets, one of each and see what she thinks!

 

[Pinkvboots]

Use the recovery mash all horses love it and it can be fed really wet.

 

[Mouse19]

I feel your pain. Mine is a fussy drinker too. I use really sloppy Speedi beet - almost a soup to get more fluid into him.
He turns his nose up at recovery mash

 

[Abacus]

Some seem to prefer rain water as well, or puddles! Mine always drinks from puddles when out.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Having had many issues with colic over a 4 year period, I now give fluid to my horse who very rarely touches her water bucket, 4 times per day, 7am, lunchtime, tea time and finally at 10.30pm. I use warm water and make up 18/20 litres of squash. I use saracen recovery mash, saracen re-leve & spilliers senior apple mash in rotation to keep her interested. I find having it warm enough to put a nice smell up helps, I also give her a little treat (bit of apple/carrot/fibre nugget) as I offer the squash and then drop another treat in the water together with a sprinkle of chaff on top. Using this method I can around 60 to 80 litres of fluid in every 24 hours. I also give wet hay.

I also tried making squash with fast fibre, treacle, grass nuts and pony nuts, none of those worked and she turned her nose up.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

When it's been hot I have put a good glug of apple juice in a bucket of water and Dex drinks almost the whole thing. I offered it to the whole yard (with the owners' ok) and they all had a good drink, so that is a cheap and easy thing to try

 

[KJ94]

My mare had slight impact colic when she was on box rest and vet recommended a very watery mash which did the trick, she also had two water buckets in stable one with normal water the other with a bit of apple juice in it

Also simple but make sure everything is super clean, my native who will drink out of muddy puddles won’t drink out her bucket in stable unless it’s scrubbed daily

 

[Oldernewbie]

I have used just a few drops of peppermint essential oil in a bucket of water to good effect. It does float on the surface iykwim but definitely increases interest and desire to drink- have used it in extremely hot weather as well as to get colicky horses interested ( only when its deemed safe not for severe colickers).
If you try this do make sure you purchase good quality oil tho.

 

[Michen]

Not sure if you can get them in the uk but my fusspot eats pelleted apple electrolytes. There’s also an oral paste you can syringe in.

 

[nikicb]

I am another that swears by Saracens recovery mash. In the summer I give my ridden mare a small trug of water which has had a cup of recovery mash soaking in it while I ride. She doesn't come up for air. If it is especially hot, I also give the same to the two retired horses, and in extreme temperatures, I put a cup in one of each of their large trugs of water (they all have 2 trugs in their stables overnight).

 

[doodle]

Mine loves a mash but if it is too wet he won’t have it. However a good glug on tescos cheep apple juice in his water does the trick. He used to event and wouldn’t drink all day but the apple juice had him asking for more.

 

[Mosh]

So the recovery mash is a win and she had that at lunch and tea time. We've had two poos today in the stable but there won't be a lot in her system still from last night. She is very bright in herself and the vet encouraged a gentle hack this evening which resulted in tanking off up the hill with me.
She drank some water and it's raining here so the grass is going to be damp too. Going to get some apple juice tomorrow but she is much happier in herself

 

[Boulty]

Might be a faff to do for one horse but the livery I’m at gives them 6 or 7 different infusions plus fresh water. We’ve had, salt, bicarb, mint, green clay, fennel, cleavers, turmeric & probably some others I’ve forgotten. In theory you could make a concentrate to dilute out of most horse friendly herbs, fruit juices or dried fruits I think. It definitely increases the water intake & frequency of drinking of the horses where I am and they seem to enjoy trying all the different flavours (sometimes they’ll be there for several minutes having little sips of them all)

 

[sport horse]

I have a horse that had surgery for impacted colic nearly 7 years ago. We make sure that all her hay is wet - put in a large tub as if soaking but only leave for 5 minutes or so just to absorb moisture. All her hay is fed off the floor so that her head and neck are in a natural position and the gastric juices flow down into her mouth. I also feed her a wet bran mash last thing at night every day. (luckily I live on site) I add a tablespoon of salt to her feed 1 x daily and in hot weather, if she is competing, she gets electrolytes.

 

[Haphazardhacker]

Horse quencher is absolutely amazing but can be hard to get hold of, I think horse health sell it and a couple others. It got us through the really hot spells last year with our oldies. I bought a uk made product this year , the name escapes me at the moment that’s meant to encourage them to drink but they rejected it. I am going to try get some horse quencher to keep in stock just incase of another hot spell

 

[Bobthecob15]

Use the recovery mash all horses love it and it can be fed really wet.

I was going to suggest this, it's brilliant

 

[Mosh]

Thanks all. Will look for horse quencher.
She will not eat soaked hay. She would rather starve and at 29 I don't want to take the risk but we're working on a plan to make it palatable for her.
Water wise, she likes the bucket which is a bit dirtier but not too dirty! So I save half of the water from the day before and add half fresh and that seems to be palatable. She is enjoying the mashes and we had torrential rain last night so I know she got some water in her!

She is very sprightly and definetly more poo in the field last night so slowly looking more positive!

Water infusions are next on my list to try and also ordered/borrowed some samples for different mashes. She hasn't got a clue how to eat a very watery one though which is quite funny to watch.

 

[Hallo2012]

saracen recovery mash-you ony need a handful per half bucket normally.

my 5yo is a dreadful drinker but slurps this down no issues.

 

[Annagain]

ASheltandBitMeOnce and I have just been discussing the colour of water buckets on another thread. If you have some you can borrow, it might be worth trying some different coloured buckets. Mine drinks better out of a yellow one.