Horse Won't Drink in his Stable

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buzyizzy

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A really weird one. My horse has never been fussy about what he drinks or where it comes from or where he is. If he's thirsty, he drinks, simple.
We moved yards a month ago and he is in during the day. He has an automatic drinker which he has never had issues with, but he won't touch it. I found out he wasn't drinking after a ride when he was in the wash area and he drank all the water in his wash bucket, then 4 buckets more!
I then put his water buckets in his stable, won't touch them, but when I go up each afternoon, he will drink any water that I offer him over the door. Yesterday I let him have half the bucket from over the door and tipped the rest in his water bucket, he took a couple of gulps and stopped. Then drank more over the door.
Why has he picked the hottest summer we have had in years to stop drinking? He's happy to drink from his trough when he goes out in the field, and will drink from buckets in the wash area, but won't touch anything in his stable.
I just don't get it. His best friend is next door, he has 12lbs hay/haylage when he is in during the day, he has breakfast with salt added and tea with salt added, but to no avail.
Today I have left him with a different water bucket in a different place and moved his haynet in the vain hope he will drink from it.
Suggestions welcome.
 
no drinking can be a sign of stress-he's not drinking because he doesnt feel safe to in that stable for some reason. Is there a horse on the other side of him that sint his friend? something going on outside that he can hear but not see?
 
MotherOfChickens said:
no drinking can be a sign of stress-he's not drinking because he doesnt feel safe to in that stable for some reason. Is there a horse on the other side of him that sint his friend? something going on outside that he can hear but not see?
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Now that did cross my mind as there is a horse the other side of him that he pulls faces at a lot as he seems to think he can get in to eat his hay. I've moved his haynet to the other side, the water was already on the other side where his best friend is, so I shall see. I guess the only other option is for my two to swap stables as the pony has never minded who he is next to. And thinking further on that, he hasn't had a neighbour other than his friend since Feb last year. Thanks, if he hasn't drunk today, I'll swap their stables over.
 
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buzyizzy said:
Now that did cross my mind as there is a horse the other side of him that he pulls faces at a lot as he seems to think he can get in to eat his hay. I've moved his haynet to the other side, the water was already on the other side where his best friend is, so I shall see. I guess the only other option is for my two to swap stables as the pony has never minded who he is next to. And thinking further on that, he hasn't had a neighbour other than his friend since Feb last year. Thanks, if he hasn't drunk today, I'll swap their stables over.
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please let me know if it works, I like figuring stuff out like this.
 
I'm on a polo yard and a lot of ours aren't drinking either but they drink loads when you turn them back out in the evening. They are all very happy in and very chilled.
 
the other thing to consider is that water absorbs ammonia quite quickly, so if a bucket of clean water is left in a stable all day in the heat it may well just smell/taste a little off compared to nice fresh water outside.
 
I would cover the automatic drinker with a towel and elastic band/fillet string so he cant get to it and put fresh water down so you can monitor how much he is drinking- if anything.
We have 4 large rubber buckets in our field. 2 are green and 2 are red. All 5 horses always drink from the green ones first. They are in exactly the same position as the red ones and I have even swapped their places round in the line up. They all always choose the green ones. So maybe try a green bucket. Much debated topic horses and colour but I am convinced they prefer a natural colour bucket.
 
Mines just started this. Happily drinks out of anything, any time, anywhere but not in his stable. Hes had different buckets and he still doesnt want it. It started when a baby bird drowned in his bucket. It also coincides with him getting a huge water tank in his field. No idea whats up with him. He really happy and well in himself and loves his stable so its not anxiety. I've been giving him a big sloppy wet feed and making sure I take him for a drink before he works, but other than that I'm stumped!
 
buzyizzy said:
A really weird one. My horse has never been fussy about what he drinks or where it comes from or where he is. If he's thirsty, he drinks, simple.
We moved yards a month ago and he is in during the day. He has an automatic drinker which he has never had issues with, but he won't touch it. I found out he wasn't drinking after a ride when he was in the wash area and he drank all the water in his wash bucket, then 4 buckets more!
I then put his water buckets in his stable, won't touch them, but when I go up each afternoon, he will drink any water that I offer him over the door. Yesterday I let him have half the bucket from over the door and tipped the rest in his water bucket, he took a couple of gulps and stopped. Then drank more over the door.
Why has he picked the hottest summer we have had in years to stop drinking? He's happy to drink from his trough when he goes out in the field, and will drink from buckets in the wash area, but won't touch anything in his stable.
I just don't get it. His best friend is next door, he has 12lbs hay/haylage when he is in during the day, he has breakfast with salt added and tea with salt added, but to no avail.
Today I have left him with a different water bucket in a different place and moved his haynet in the vain hope he will drink from it.
Suggestions welcome.
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As others, trying different water bucket, as my old mare would only drink out the paler bucket, trying putting bucket off the floor as some pref water that way.

Try scrubbing the auto drinker out as there maybe film or something nasty in water like these blinking birds who poo everywhere
 
randomly my horse wont drink in his stable at the moment! he's had the same one for 3 years! i wonder if he doesn't like the bucket or something! if I offer him to drink out of a smaller black bucket he'll drink the whole thing but he wont drink it if I tip it into the big red bucket! I clean it every day too! i wonder if its because his bedding is really dry and might be making the water a bit dusty?
 
I have one who went through a multi year phase of refusing to drink out of anything other than a black water tank. He finally got over it, but, not before I amassed a ridiculous number of black water tanks:rolleyes3:

(I had to put the black water tank outside his stable so he could reach out over the door because he obviously wasn't going to use his automatic drinker) :rolleyes4:
 
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It’s difficult to fathom these things out. My boy has an auto drinker in the stable but has never touched it so has a water bucket. Over the years he has on occasion gone through phases of not drinking from his stable bucket even if two different ones are provided - have usually coaxed him back to them with apple juice. At the moment his field has a stream - we fill two different coloured buckets from the stream - as access is tricky we have to fill them using a small treat container - as soon as we leave the field he drinks all the water in this smallest container!
 
jojo5 said:
It’s difficult to fathom these things out. My boy has an auto drinker in the stable but has never touched it so has a water bucket. Over the years he has on occasion gone through phases of not drinking from his stable bucket even if two different ones are provided - have usually coaxed him back to them with apple juice. At the moment his field has a stream - we fill two different coloured buckets from the stream - as access is tricky we have to fill them using a small treat container - as soon as we leave the field he drinks all the water in this smallest container!
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Perhaps our horses are just a bit odd.
 
Dave's been fine with his stable drinker until the first hot day & he was very thirsty & glugged the whole two mouthfuls in in one go, it made a noise, he jumped, boshed his nose & has hated it ever since. Got a trug now.

ETA I did actually watch this happen & his look of disgust at the drinker was real.
 
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Cracked it!
I changed the bucket (but not the colour) and moved it to his hay corner, then moved his hay across and bingo, he's drunk well today and had a mahoosive pee!
 
I have similar. Mine currently won't touch his normal big blue trug which is at the front of his stable and looks at it like it's going to eat him. We have had wasps in the stables a bit so I just wonder if he can hear buzzing of them somewhere in the wooden panels distantly behind the bucket. But he will drink if I fill a different coloured trug, take it into the stable and place it further into his stable on his bed away from the sides of the stable - still wary and looks for reassurance from me to do so. But at least I can get him to drink a decent amount that way. He will drag me to 2 troughs we pass on the way up to the field also so at least I know he's rehydrating later in the day (out at night, in during day). I'm also ensuring he has very soaked hay and very sloppy feed to get a bit more in to. Mine seems to be some issue with the front of his stable area, might be the very bright light as we're in full sun and front of stable inside is very bright, he's 22 so I did also wonder about his dark/light vision he ages.
 
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Mine is not drinking much in the stable, but I put that down to us soaking hay to keep her weight under control. The hay doubles in size when soaked, so I guess she is getting plenty of hydration that way,
 
Bum!! As he was doing so well, I left him with some extra chaff to boost his fibre intake whilst he was in yesterday and he didn't drink a drop of water.
He was out last night and not coming back in till tonight as storms predicted, I have split his water into two buckets in different places and likewise with his hay and chaff (small bucket this time which I have also soaked) so fingers crossed. I am going armed with apples and apple juice tomorrow night.
YO didn't seem that concerned until I mentioned that he was heading for colic the quantity of dry forage he is having with no water.
 
Also going to break out the black buckets. See if that makes any difference. What is it with them? So glad I am not alone.
 
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