Encouraging Drinking

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PurpleSpots

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Aside from molasses, could I ask what others use to cover up the taste of unfamiliar water or to just plain encourage drinking please?

A new water source is giving divided opinions on whether the water is actually water, or if it is fact laced with poison or similar!
 
Saracen Recovery Mash. Both of mine love it, I actually gave one pony a bowl of it yesterday instead of a haynet when I left her in and hacker the other one.
 
When my lad got dehydrated or I noticed he wasn’t drinking enough, I gave him an electrolyte mash. Any tasty feed that you can soak and make sloppy (his favourite was recovery mash) with a Hestervarde supplement added (forgotten the name of it). You’d see the difference in the amount of water drunk - and how wet his bed was next day.
 
I have to give my horse 40 litres of water in each 24 hour period after numerous colic incidents. She rarely touches her stable bucket and she has straw in her diet so it is absolutely crucial she drinks well.

For her the key is having the fluid warm so the aroma is noticeable. I also use 'sprinkles' onto top of the drink which comprises a mug of bran/oat mix. Saracen Recovery mix is pretty much infallible and cost effective as you only need a handful per 10 litres. I also use a soup ladle of molasses, Spillers Apple mash and grass nuts as a stand by if she decides she is off her favourite tipple.

I find making sure you have the attention of the horse and the yard is quiet so no distractions helps. For me simply leaving a bucket and hoping she drank it does not work. Having a routine of preparing the drink with her watching and the taking to her, giving a treat direct to her, dropping the other in the bucket and then sprinkling the bran handful on top of water gets her interest and down the hatch goes the lot. I did use a clicker initially but don't need to now. It is a rigmarole but it keeps her alive.
 
Another vote for recovery mash if you need to get water in to a horse. If you're wanting to try and make the water a more appealing prospect long term it wont help with that but if you're wanting to try and just get them drinking then it should.
 
I have used molasses, apple juice, blueberry juice, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, halved apples (get some juice and also get them 'dooking' for the apple pieces'), a small amount of their usual soaked feed (eg mine uses Coolstance Copra) and even a bit of no added sugar squash.

I tend to always offer a different flavoured water alongside normal water in the stable, so I get an idea of what each horse likes. Makes it easy when you need to encourage them to drink later on.
 
Thanks so much for all the replies - as always HHO is a fountain of knowledge and experiences ❤️ .

Sorry for the delayed response from me - lost internet connection and then had a fair bit to catch up on before being able to engage properly.
 
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