getting horses to drink at events

[nickyb]

i seem to be having trouble getting my horse to drink, i thought i'd sussed it by giving him a drink as soon as we got back from xc, however this has now dwindled and he won't drink anything. i was at firle a couple of weeks ago and it was so hot, but still he wouldn't drink anything till we got home, then he drinks life his life was denpending on it! any tips or ideas????

 

[Tempi]

Archie wont drink at competitions either, unless its really really hot and hes dying of thirst

What i do is ive got a large suringe and i fill it with water and squirt it in his mouth! I also use a sponge and sponge his mouth a lot.

He also gets a really really small wet feed of alfa-beat (takes 15mins to soak) with electrolytes in about 40mins after hes finished working at a comp. That helps to get water into him.

 

[kick_On]

Get bucket put small amount of water in then cut up apple or carrot and put in water, so gg plays to get apple/carrots slice but then also takes on water

 

[nickyb]

thats a really good idea with the sugar beet, i'll get some and try that at the weekend. thank you

 

[SummerStorm]

Sugar beet in a bucket works brilliantly - you only need a small handful in the bucket but I've never known a horse to not take at least one mouthful yet

 

[Tempi]

make sure you get alfa-beat and not sugar beat!! Sugar beat you have to soak for 24hrs, alfa beat for only 15mins!!

 

[Hornby]

speedi beet only needs 10 mins!

 

[Baggybreeches]

I use speedibeet, only needs 15 minutes soaking time. Also try some peppermint cordial in the water, and we always let ours have a pick at the grass.

 

[kerilli]

do you take water from home? they're more likely to drink water they know the taste of, kind of thing. also, a few drops of peppermint essence (the sort you can buy in the baking section of supermarket) helps, if he likes polo mints!
try the water slightly warm, too, just an idea.

 

[RobinHood]

My sister's pony doesn't drink away from home either and he thinks sugarbeet is poison so thats a no-go. You can soak the hay or feed haylage (20% moisture content) instead of dry hay which will help to some extent. We take water from home so it tastes the same and we make sure it's fresh each time. Regularly throughout the day I squirt water into his mouth with a large syringe and although he doesn't actually swallow the water sometimes wetting his mouth encourages him to drink. Another thing we've found that sometimes works is to give the horse standing next to him a drink and then he suddenly decides he wants some.

You could also try cutting up an apple/carrot and putting it in a feedbowl about an inch full of water. When they eat the apple they can't help slurping up some water at the same time.

A friend of mine has a horse that will only drink out of a certain colour bucket

so it could be worth experimenting!

 

[MillbrookSong]

song has a habit of doing that!! i have now saved a worming syringe and fill it with water and squirt it in his mouth! i think at least then he gets a little bit of water!!

 

[SpruceRI]

Syringe water into her mouth as have tried hay water, Speedi beet, apple juice. she says no thanks to all, but will stand there all day and let me syringe it in!