Horse excessively drinking water been on relax me

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Amber64

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Hi
I'm new to this forum and would like some advice please. My horse is a 17hh warmblood 7 years old. He is incredibly spooking and nervous to hack out in fact so bad that I can only ride in the school. I am an experienced rider having ridden and competed for 20 years.
I started him on relax me calmer last summer and this has taken the edge off a little. Unfortunately I am unable to ride everyday and he needs lots of work. He is in full livery, having a salt lick in his stable, having mint and benefit supplements. The problem is for the past month he has been drinking excessively. As soon as he is brought in he drinks a good full bucket. The same if I ride him. This is not usual for him, would you think it's the calmer? Or supplements? I've now stopped all supplements and calmer!
Has anyone had anything similar?
Many thanks
 
Hi
Thanks for your comments, he has an automatic water trough in his field, it looks a bit green but water is fresh. He shares it with the horse next door, I will give it a good clean and see if he is still drinking as much when coming in. Thanks
 
Amber64 said:
Hi
Thanks for your comments, he has an automatic water trough in his field, it looks a bit green but water is fresh. He shares it with the horse next door, I will give it a good clean and see if he is still drinking as much when coming in. Thanks
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Try also putting a water bucket or 2 out for him which are away from the next door horse. Measure how much he drinks in 12 & 24 hrs from these.
 
Its highly unlikely to be the calmer alone. But it is worth figureing out what it is.

Have a look at the ingredients on the various supplements you are feeding. Do they all contain salt or mineral salts? Might you be inadvertantly feeding a lot of salt?

Some horses over indulge on salt licks - I've got one that does this. If this is the cause then it might be worth swapping the lick for salt in the feed if he really does need it - but you're feeding a lot of supplements already. Or you could try something like Redmond Rock which is a bit harder to gorge on.

He could be over rugged. Check the under rug - has it got white stuff on it? If so this is likely to be the salt from dried sweat indicating that he is too hot - at least at some point.

Could the water in the feild be too cold? Some horses prefer less cold water in the winter months. Might the other horses be keeping him away from it? Have you used horse quecher or anything like that in his stable water bucket so that he might expect it?

If all of these are "no" then see if you can monitor his water intake over a few days. If he is routinly drinking more than the 6 - 12 gallons per day a horse would normally take; and presuming his bed is correspondeingly wet! - then talk to your vet. It might be worth having him tested for Cushings or EMS. Both cause excessive thirst; and I'm sure a few other things do as well!
 
Thanks for all your comments, he is still drinking quite a lot despite taking out the salt lick and stopping all supplements and calmer.
He is clipped and I don't think he is too warm as not sweaty and rugs don't have sweat marks on them.
I think it may be his trough in the field. He has a field to himself shares an automatic water trough with horse next door. The fencing is electric and I wonder if he has scared himself near the trough? I'm going to put a couple of buckets in his field see if he drinks from these.
He has never had horse quencher, when I ride and leave him in he drinks lots, if I ride and turn him out he never goes to his trough.
Will see if buckets in the field helps.
 
Self filling troughs can make quite a noise when they fill. Also being near an electric fence - maybe as you say he has scared himself with that or the noise?
 
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