Horse not drinking in stable

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mudmonkey17

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Horse is in most nights from around 7pm to 9am and while he is in he doesn't drink. At previous yard there was an issue with water, none in fields and stable buckets never topped up so he was often stood without, when found this out i swiftly moved yards. He is now on diy so i know what he getting to eat and drink etc.
Now has access to water in field from automated troughs and has large bucket at night. On old yard he would easily empty 2 large buckets when in at night but since moving to new yard a few months ago he hardly drinks anything and recently water been just as full in morning as it is when i leave in evening. He gets medium size haylage net and has veteran vitality in feed which is soaked.
He doesn't seem to be ill in any way but appears 'tucked up' some mornings and heave line very noticeable. This disappears once been in field for a while.
Is this normal? What could it mean?
 
He should drink something in that time.Is the haylage very damp?
I would add a little salt to his feed and see if that encourages him to drink,if he looks tucked up he could be slightly dehydrated.You could also try adding something to a bucket of water,apple juice or some sugar beet or fill the bucket from the field trough he may prefer it.
Hopefully he is drinking during the day.
 
when i worked in racing we had a few horses that hardly drank anything in their boxes. Our vet told us to put 2 buckets in box instead of one to encourage them to drink. I'm not quite sure why it works but it did majority of them. Hope you make some progress with your horse.:)
 
skyejosh said:
when i worked in racing we had a few horses that hardly drank anything in their boxes. Our vet told us to put 2 buckets in box instead of one to encourage them to drink. I'm not quite sure why it works but it did majority of them. Hope you make some progress with your horse.:)
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Would echo this. For some reason ours regularly turn their nose up at one of their buckets. No idea why as both washed, well rinsed, and filled just the same at just the same time! It is fairly usual for them to empty one and leave the other, and it isn't the same one they regularly drink from! Is there any taint to the water, or to the buckets or brush you use to clean them?
 
could you try moving the bucket to a different part of the box, maybe if its near the door he may feel worried about putting his head down. OR does he have a corner manger? put bucket in that and give him his feed in another container. i know its not the same but i get mine in at 8, feed, groom and ride and they get turned out at about 10. neither of them drink from their buckets in the stable but go almost straight to the water trough in the field and have a short drink. so, maybe your horse likes water which has been standing for a while, you could try putting a bucket of water from his field trough and see if he prefers that... hope this helps a bit..
 
There is that new product on.the market designed to encourage horses to drink when away from home.
Maybe worth trying this to temp him.

Although you would imagine when thirsty a horse will drink but if feeling insecure at a new place maybe not.
 
My lad refuses to drink if it is dirty, even haylage in it, or too cold.He also won't drink in new places, took 2 days to drink/eat properly on our yard.I think they can be very fussy about water.

I am very paranoid about dehydration, so if it gets too cold I add a bucket with a touch of warm water added, keep beet very wet and use apple juice in his buckets.

Hope you get your horse sorted, it is a really worry when they don't drink.
FDC
 
Thanks for all the replies. He has two buckets and has no preference over either. Have tried putting apple in one tonight and moving it to a different place in the stable.
 
A few molassed sugar beet nuts will remove the taint, my boy thinks he can suck them up, which is a bit weird.
I had a problem with chlorinated [tap] water when I had a forest bred NF, I had to fetch water from the river for a while till he got used to the normal stuff, and I had to have two buckets, one with river water and one with tap + river water.
 
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