Following on from Slight Rant Post

[AmyMay]

So, we all will agree to disagree about the rights or wrongs of bringing a horse in to a stable that is absent of hay and water.

However, some people obviously feel very strongly about this.

So to my question - or rather my point.

A horse that goes out for a 2 hour hack - doesn't have access to hay or water.
A horse competing will usually have hay removed at least an hour before competing.
A horse hunting will go without both for who knows how long.
A police horse - ditto
A work horse - ditto

To my knowledge of most of us on here - we all do at least one of the above activities - none of your horses have keeled over and died...........

So why are so many people so upset about a horse standing without hay and water for what probably amounts to an hour max if it is brought in by someone???

 

[Sparklet]

To be honest JJ I thought it was a major overreaction, however if the owner felt that strongly about it she should have sorted her horses stable beforehand.

I do prefer my horses to have ad lib hay when they are not in work so because of my view I would make sure the stable was prepared, however saying that I would not lose sleep if they stood for an hour without.

There is a horse at our yard who is always on a diet (not really fat just has a neurotic owner) and he has frequently eaten his 'allowance' by 8pm so has no hay until 7am the next morning. Personally I dont think he is fat, however if he does have to have a hay restriction I would prefer to wrap the hay in several hayage nets to it eaks out throughtout the night.....trickle feeding.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

I'm with you JJ. That said mine would be coming in to stand in a dirty stable and previous nights left over water & hay, but I would just be grateful she hadn't been left out on her own to gallop round getting stressed. Think she would be much more likely to injure herself or colic through stress than from being stood in stable for an hour without hay/water.

 

[JACQSZOO]

Completely agree. I dont think going without hay or water for a couple of hours will do any horse any harm.

 

[AmyMay]

To be clear - this was not a dig at Sleepingdragon in any way. I was just a little suprised at some posters replies. So many people (to me anyway) seem to overreact at the slightest thing - think that Colic and immediate death is a constant threat, and don't believe that their horses can cope with slight inconvenience/hardship.

Don't get me wrong - a horses management is very important, as is routine etc. And I am a stickler for the latter.

But really - some people........................

 

[TheresaW]

Erm, I am a bit in the middle here. My boy drinks a lot. He is a big heavy beast and I have been known to go into one in the past because I have gone in to find him with no water at all where he has drunk it all. (Esp in the hot summer months). It annoys me that 10 tonnes of hay gets thrown over his door most of which ends up on the muck heap because he treads all over it then won't eat it, but no-one thinks to top up his water.

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
but no-one thinks to top up his water.

[/ QUOTE ]
Give him an extra bucket???

 

[PapaFrita]

It think I missed original post, but will look anyway; PF is turned out into a bare little paddock (no rain=no grass) and she spends the whole day dozing or chatting with no ill effects. We don't have hay here either so she does spend significant amounts of time with nothing to eat. Once in her stable she gets alfalfa in small quantities as it's very, very nutritious and quite unlike hay. When it's finished I assume she does what other horses do which is snuffle around in her bed looking for stuff to eat, or just kips.
This is NOT the situation I would like, but it's what I'm stuck with (as is the rest of Cordoba due to climate, etc etc) Doesn't seem to be doing her any harm.
That said, if I HAD hay, and she COULD have hay whilst in her stable I would be a bit narked if she didn't have any.

 

[SSM]

Personally I would never bring an animal in (mine or anyone else's) and leave it without water and a little food - sorry but I don't like to go thirsty, why should the horse?

 

[Tempi]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
but no-one thinks to top up his water.

[/ QUOTE ]
Give him an extra bucket???

[/ QUOTE ]

Bloss has 4 water buckets in her stable as she drinks a lot.........Archie on the other hand only has 2 buckets and he drinks one at the most.........anyways, back to the topic....

i havent read the OP this is about, so im not sure whats gone on, but i agree with amymay in that lots of horses go without water/food for over an hour or even whole days if out hunting, so im not quite sure what the problem is.....

 

[welshcobabe]

As I have said before our working horses went a four hour stretch before a break. Me and mine do regular 4 hour hacks on the Pennine bridleway, I stop for a butty they have some grass always choose a spot by the stream sometimes they drinks othertimes they are not bothered.

I do think that some horse owners, are a little over the top and maybe I am a little less sensitive maybe its my farming upbringing but I do know that all our horses thrived on routine and work. Each to there own at the end of the day.

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I would never bring an animal in (mine or anyone else's) and leave it without water and a little food - sorry but I don't like to go thirsty, why should the horse?

[/ QUOTE ]
But why will it be thirsty when it's brought in to the stable - don't all our horses have access to water in the field??

Amy doesn't get water until an hour or so after she's brought in - not sure when she sticks her nose in the bucket - but it's well after I've gone.

 

[annaellie]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I would never bring an animal in (mine or anyone else's) and leave it without water and a little food - sorry but I don't like to go thirsty, why should the horse?

[/ QUOTE ]
Thats my opinon a few hours will not do it any harm but it takes a few mins to fill a bucket up

 

[Sooty]

When Beano was weaned he was watered three times a day, but never had free access to it. It used to be perfectly common practice not to leave a horse with water, but to take a horse to a trough several times a day. There are loads of instances where a horse is without water for a period of time and it does no harm at all. Horses are more likely to be stressed by the absence of food than water.

 

[ihatework]

I agree JJ, if it's important to the owner then they should leave water/hay in the stable in advance.
But no hay/water for an hour or two isn't going to do any horse any harm.

 

[Tempi]

im with amymay again on this - Bloss dosent get water until about 2 hours after she is brought in (shes groomed/tacked/ridden/mucked out) and even when i put her in her stable after being ridden she never drinks anything til after ive left, which is probably then going on for 3hours without water.

i dont see how a horse just brought in from a field would be in desparate need for a drink? unless it dosent have acess to water.......

 

[The Virgin Dubble]

If it's for a short period then I don't have a problem - I don't think many of us do

However, where the time period is not known, I would think it is basic common sense to stick a bucket of water in with a horse.

As you say, people have different ideas and different preferences. It doesn't make people right and it doesn't make them wrong.

 

[Kelly1982]

I'm with you Amymay

 

[the watcher]

I wouldn't panic ifit was for an hour or so. My rule of thumb is that if mine have access to hay, they will have water to go with it, as I wouldn't want them to get impacted. One of mine drinks two big trugs of water evey night and the other two drink at least one full - often more so I do think the water is important

 

[not_with_it]

Horses, like humans, will drink when they feel thirsty. They are trickle feeders not trickle drinkers. If you dont have a drink for a few hours then you will not die. Horses in the wild dont have constant access to water, they have to find it and drink whenever they come across it.

 

[magic104]

I dont have this problem because 1) Haylage is in the stable ready for when they come in & topped up later if necessary. 2) The stables without automatic water's have water buckets filled up as the stables will have been mucked out so ammonia should not be too much of a problem.

 

[Theresa_F]

Mine are often chucked in the stable without food and water for a hour or two - won't kill them. However, I ask anyone who puts them in and knows I am unlikely to be around within 2 hours to chuck in a slice of hay and check they have a drop of water left in their buckets. Purely as my work can go wrong and I am not up until very late.

I often bring in other horses and if I know there owners will be up within a hour or two will leave them standing as they came in unless their rugs are soaked through.

My stables are left in normally with water and some hay left in their nets from the morning or if I have been up, are ready for the boys to come in, ie full water buckets and nets.

 

[shadowboy]

I'm in total agreement with you- i wouls argue that the horse is better safe in its stable without food and water for an hour or so then taring round the field- i would be grateful that the other person had thought to bring my horse in.

 

[JoBo]

Here, here!

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Well,it was 4 hours she was in for,so slightly longer than the 1 hour stated

And yes,better in with her mates than on her own in the field.

BUT, my argument wasn't against her being brought in,more that there was not alot in there to keep her occupied til I arrived.It really wouldn't have killed them to put some water in there for her now would it?

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
It really wouldn't have killed them to put some water in there for her now would it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope.

 

[Tia]

I don't know.

Over here, people who do not have heated water in their stable-block do not water their horse AT ALL during the night - they can't! So it is normal practice for many, many horses here to go each and every single night without any water whatsoever.

I do have heated water, in the stables, in the barns and in the fields, so my guys all have access to it whenever......but as I say, this is not possible for many here as water freezes almost instantly.

 

[HBII]

The yard I worked at when I was younger, the YO there drummed it into me the horse should NEVER be without clean fresh water! So yes I like to see a supply of water to the animal. But I also fully appreciate that they can survive for a few hours without it.

Hb

 

[sleepingdragon10]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree JJ, if it's important to the owner then they should leave water/hay in the stable in advance.
But no hay/water for an hour or two isn't going to do any horse any harm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tell you what,lets get this straight shall we?

SWUO CANNOT eat hay,therefore her hayreplacer is prepared by me at home as she prefers it dampened down and I prefer not to give it to her cold(no hot water available on yard).This is MY CHOICE.
Secondly,no one had EVER said to me they would bring her in for me, therefore as I already stated,I PREFER to give her fresh water,so do it in the evening when I get there to bring her in myself.Again...MY CHOICE.

My original annoyance was at her lack of water/food to keep her happy til I got there.I NEVER said I wasn't grateful,and acknowledged that they were trying to help,which was nice.
I PERSONALLY wouldn't leave SOMEONE ELSES horse without atleast a bucket of water.Am I not entitled to this opinion?

 

[sleepingdragon10]