Encouraging horse to drink at events

Traks

Traks

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Hi

Our horse never drinks when we go out in the trailer to events, I always offer it but she never does. We have a few events the next few weeks in the evenings and potentially the weekend if its not too hot...how can I encourage her to drink?

Would a sloppy mash be a good idea? What do other people do?

If its too warm we just won't go out, but be good to know what tricks people use to get their horses to drink when competing!

Thanks
 
We took saracen's recovery mash to a stay away show to make sure Ben got plenty to drink. A couple of handfuls in a bucket with lots of water - lots more water than recommended. He loved it - he doesn't usually get a hard feed so he thought it was the best thing ever! You can get a little travel size resealable bag which is meant to have 3 portions in it but will last a while if only using a little bit each time.
 
I don't use a specific recovery mash but have for years feed a very sloppy meal if the horse isn't a good drinker. Mine generally does drink with the intention of throwing as much water over me as possible at the same time.
 
I put a cup of balancer and two scoops of electrolytes in a bucket and add 1/2 a bucket of water and when we are finished Faran gobbles it up. It does him until I can get him home and then he takes a bigger drink from his stable or field bucket. He then gets a sloppy fibre feed with more electrolytes left in the field/stable for him to pick at.
 
atm i’ve got some recovery mash, but i usually just take a big sloppy feed of mash with me. neither of mine will drink when we’re out which is concerning enough, but on top of that, the second diva is on the box she has a big wee so she’s getting it out even quicker🤣
 
Thanks all, I’ve ordered some recovery mash and will see how we go with that! Slightly nervous it will send her loopy as she’s not on much hard feed but I guess I’ll just water it down a lot!!!
 
daffy44 said:
In addition to what everyone has said, I always travel my horses with soaked hay never dry, it all helps with keeping horses hydrated, I also use very sloppy Recovery mash.
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We’ve got haylage which is pretty wet so hopefully have that box ticked! Thanks
 
Wet hay or sloppy speedibeet that you make up there. Remember to take a towel for drying the mouth afterwards though!
 
mine wont drink either! she won't even eat if I take a feed, sloppy or not! the only thing she'll eat is a carrot! its so annoying! we have a pole clinic on saturday, so like you, I'd love to get her to drink
 
I wonder if taking your own water, though a pain in the neck, would help. Is it just the excitement that is the problem or the taste of the water, I wonder.
 
Lois Lame said:
I wonder if taking your own water, though a pain in the neck, would help. Is it just the excitement that is the problem or the taste of the water, I wonder.
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I always take my own water, never rely on water at events being available! I am also paranoid and always take lots in case we break down etc!
 
Lois Lame said:
I wonder if taking your own water, though a pain in the neck, would help. Is it just the excitement that is the problem or the taste of the water, I wonder.
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We have always taken 2 big containers of our own water and a bucket that we know they will drink from. Even going from up north to down south the water seemed to be an acquired taste .
 
Bobthecob15 said:
Hi

Our horse never drinks when we go out in the trailer to events, I always offer it but she never does. We have a few events the next few weeks in the evenings and potentially the weekend if its not too hot...how can I encourage her to drink?

Would a sloppy mash be a good idea? What do other people do?

If its too warm we just won't go out, but be good to know what tricks people use to get their horses to drink when competing!

Thanks
Click to expand...
Just put apples and carrots in the water, l do this before going to competition and have no problem with my horse drinking
 
A few things that may help (and remember that if they're not drinking, they're likely already dehydrated):
- Practice asking them to drink from a hand held bucket at home
- Preload with soluble fibre in the days before the event so that they're not starting off with a deficit and they have plenty of fibre going through them to act as a reservoir for the water they do have on board - such as sugar beet, fast fibre or Equidgel
- Soaked hay or haylage on the way to the event
- Get there in plenty of time so that they have plenty of opportunities to eat and drink before they compete
- Don't wait till you think they may be thirsty before you offer water (or carrots, see below)
- Carrots. If you can get them eating, they'll likely start drinking and carrots are a ) tasty and b ) full of water
- Bring your own water from home
- Give them a few options - plain water, molasses water, sugar beet water, a few nuts/a bit of mix in water.

Good luck!
 
I took my boy out this week (short drive, shady indoor school, walk work only)
I took a tub of sloppy grass nuts with us which he polished off.
Then he had a drink to wash them down (never usually drinks while out and wasn’t interested in the water before I gave him the grass nuts)
 
Well goodness me…she actually drank plain old water today after she’d jumped a couple of rounds 🤣

I’ll keep the recovery mash for another day!
 
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