How important is supply of clean water per day

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Somali12

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Hello - I'm new on here and looking forward to reading members' posts and asking for advice and comments on my horse?

To plunge straight in, my mare usually drinks quite a lot of water, and recently in the very hot weather, I've noticed that she has not been drinking much in the stable, particularly yesterday, when she had not touched any of the two buckets she would normally have half-emptied.

She had drunk half a bucket when I went in this morning, but I just wondered if it's possible the water was tainted in some way, and she didn't like the taste? She isn't a youngster, but not old, and I would say pretty savvy.

Am I worrying unnecessarily do you think? I have always felt it extremely important to have clean, fresh water every day, in and out of the stable, but perhaps I'm being over fussy?

Thank you for any comments or advice offered.

Equus 1234
 
My mare comes in during the day and rarely drinks out of her bucket - its fresh, clean, spring drawn water and replaced with the bucket scrubbed daily.

Shes always been like this, I make sure her tea is pretty wet and sloppy, and when she goes out she usually goes for a wee, roll and drink, sometimes alternating the order!

Does she seem listless, dehydrated or not herself? If so, I'd get the vet to check her over for any underlying causes. If not I probably wouldn't worry.

All horses are different - my filly tends to empty her stable bucket but drink less in the field for example.
 
Thankyou for reply - I'm reassured that my mare isn't unusual, although she does normally drink quite a lot of water, and she does seem okay, so think I'm being a bit overfussy!

Equus
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Could be that 'tap' water tastes different? I'm sure the composition changes slightly on standing, I think for the fish tank we have to leave it standing a while or treat with something (sorry not sure as not my job!) before putting in the tank. Someone else will know I'm sure!
Daughters pony prefers when water has been standing a while. She lives down the road, and drinks from a big blue bin. There are 2 bins and they're regularly swapped over/cleaned out/refilled, but often the water she's drinking has been standing a day or three.
When she's at our place, she's offered water in a similar big blue bin (we got it specially) because she was turning her nose up at water from a (green or purple) bucket, but the water is always fresh from the tap, and even with the new blue one she doesn't drink it and unless it's really hot prefers to wait till she goes home later to drink (which could be hours later). However we've noticed she does like to empty the dog's big bowl, which has often been standing a day or two (since he's not often shut out in the garden at the weekends and has access to the indoor bowl, so it's randomly refilled)
She'll also happily drink from any puddle or the ford if offered when out and about after refusing the water at our house.
 
my horse only drinks minging green water, or completely fresh cold water from the tap. he won't drink 3hour old clean water for example... he's very annoying! and he drinks LOADS. it means lots of water changes in his stable. out in the field he drinks from a trough that gets green. when i clean it out he's most annoyed!
 
Sometimes mine drinks less in the stable than at other times, I just assumed it was because he'd had a big drink in the field or the grass was wetter/had more moisture in it on that particular day. I always throw out the old bucket of water and replace with fresh but I don't spend much time worrying about the reasons behind it (prepares to be jumped on!!)
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my horse only drinks minging green water, or completely fresh cold water from the tap.

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SNAP, my new neddy is just the same and my pony i had many moons ago was the same, he'd only drink from the trough in the field, when he was on box rest i used to have to take him from his stable, and into the field for him to have a drink.

Strange, lovely creatures.
 
Merlin is in all day in this heat and never touches his water at all........ I think he likes the trough water better.

If she was thirsty enough she would drink
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Along the same lines, vaguely, only wants to drink from his water trough in the field. I sectioned his field off to limit his grass intake and so placed two buckets of water from the trough for him and he didn't touch a drop, well perhaps a sip, in 24 hours. Let him through to the trough and he drank it happily.
 
Hello and welcome to the Forum.
Do you have any idea how much your horse drinks in the field before coming in?
I would do a pinch test for any signs of dehydration and, if OK, not worry about it.
 
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