Horse not drinking - any advice?

CeeBee

CeeBee

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Apologies for the double posting, as also in Vet section....
Nemo had been in a stable for 7 weeks following a knee injury.
He normally lives out and came home at last on Saturday. Since then he hasn't touched his water at all! Will he be getting all he needs from the grass?
He gets hay and a small feed twice a day, you would think that would make him thirsty!
Any advice? Do I need to involve the vet?
 
I fill his bucket from the automatic water trough in the field. The field is sectioned off at the moment to keep Nemo and Harvey separate for a few days while they both get used to each other again. Harvey seems to be drinking it ok, judging by the footprints by the trough. I cleaned it out a week ago, but obviously don't use any 'products', just elbow grease.
His hay is not soaked, but I do add water to his feed.
Not heard of horse quencher, what is that?
 
I'd go for sugar beet water too. Just to see if there is something up with his water, can you source it from somewhere else just as a test? Sometimes our supply has a little more chlorine in and it puts the fussy ones off drinking.
 
I've had the same problem. I've added a little mollasses to the water which has encouraged them to drink a little more but still not enough as I'd hope.
 
Have you tried adding some warm water to his water bucket? Some horses drink a lot less when the water is icy. Also echo the advice above to give him some sugar beet water if the warm water fails. Have you checked him for signs of dehydration - ie pinch test and checked his droppings to see whether he is passing normal amounts and their consistency? Is there anywhere else he could be getting water from?
 
Ditto above with the warm water, also try adding apple juice to water but always make sure he has an alternative normal plain water somewhere as well.
 
im a warm water fan... I fill all the buckets in the morning after defrosting the tap ... then put hot water into one of them to offer him straight away. Yesterday he was checking out the three buckets and stuck his nose in each one... then went back to the one which i had taken the chill off!
 
Totally echo the warm water thing - my 3 drank very little when the temperature went sub zero until I started adding a kettleful of boiling water to top up each of their normal waters. Have now started taking up 2 water containers filled with hot tap water from home to mix in with the cold stuff each morning - problem sorted, all drinking normally again now!
Good luck & hope you can tempt him.
 
I'm having the same problem, having to warm up water as he wont drink it cold, a flask seems to work. I've actually switched off the automatic tough, it means more work to fill up but this way I can see exactly how much he is drinking :)
 
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