How much is too much?

[Annagain]

...Water. Wiggy is drinking more than any other horse I've ever had. He's been in overnight for 3 weeks now and he started with a big trug full - about 3 ordinary buckets. He was draining it every night so I added an extra bucket and he drained that too so I added another trug. He's finally leaving some but is steadily drinking a trug and a half every night - about 4.5 / 5 ordinary buckets. When he was draining his buckets the first thing he'd do when he went out was drink but now he wanders off to graze. He had lived out 24/7 since I bought him in July until then (and with his old owner) so impossible to know if this is a new thing - I've never had a horse drink more than about 2.5 buckets overnight before - Arch will occasionally drain all three of his buckets but not very often.

He's eating a lot of haylage - he dropped a bit of weight over the end of summer/autumn as our grass was non-existent so I'm happy for him to eat as much as he wants but it is very dry for haylage, it's more like hay but not dusty. Could it just be that or should I get other things looked at? He's 14 but there are no other symptoms of cushings. When I've seen him drink, he'll easily have 1/2 a trug in one go. In the summer, when he came in for an hour or so he had an ordinary bucket and he either didn't touch it or drained it in one go. I wonder if it's a bit of a habit rather than a physical need?

Considering how much he's drinking his stable's not that wet. Archie's definitely a lot wetter but he's always been like a colander.

 

[Carrottom]

If he is eating large amounts of dry haylage I wouldn't be too worried, especially if his stable isn't too wet and droppings are normal.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

My mare is the same, she drinks about 4 'buckets' worth a night. My previous 2 horses drank half what she does, but her wee looks ok and her droppings are normal.

 

[JBM]

Check his wee if it seems good and he’s not peeing a ridiculous amount I wouldn’t be too worried
Is he a warm boy generally?

 

[Annagain]

Check his wee if it seems good and he’s not peeing a ridiculous amount I wouldn’t be too worried
Is he a warm boy generally?

Not massively. He's blanket clipped, in a 200g rug and in normal temperatures is just about warm enough. He was on the cooler side in this cold snap but not quite enough to add a liner. I've never seen him wee but is stable's not too bad. He's on a decent bed of straw pellets. I remove the wet once a week and replace it with one bag which is plenty.

 

[nutjob]

One of mine is drinking an increased amount of water atm. It seems to be since the ground is frozen and he's eating more hay and I give warm water in freezing conditions which seems to get him drinking more. I'm just keeping an eye on mine to see if it goes back to normal now the weather has warmed up. Many horses drink a lot in one go then none for ages, I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[Annagain]

If he is eating large amounts of dry haylage I wouldn't be too worried, especially if his stable isn't too wet and droppings are normal.

Yes, he's eating twice what Archie is - they're a similar type and size. Droppings are very normal.

 

[Annagain]

One of mine is drinking an increased amount of water atm. It seems to be since the ground is frozen and he's eating more hay and I give warm water in freezing conditions which seems to get him drinking more. I'm just keeping an eye on mine to see if it goes back to normal now the weather has warmed up. Many horses drink a lot in one go then none for ages, I wouldn't worry about that.

This has been since before the cold snap.

 

[nutjob]

If the buckets are about 14L and he is drinking 5x14 i.e. 70L a day then this is a lot and I would be contacting the vet to see if blood tests for liver and kidney function are in order.

 

[JBM]

Could potentially just be bored and it’s something to do
Does he have access to a salt lick to compensate for all the water he’s taking?

 

[Annagain]

If the buckets are about 14L and he is drinking 5x14 i.e. 70L a day then this is a lot and I would be contacting the vet to see if blood tests for liver and kidney function are in order.

They're the B&Q orange ones (I use them to fill the trugs as my back can't cope with carrying the trugs. I've just checked and they're 12L. They're probably filled to about 11L for carrying without spilling so 50-55L I'd say. The trugs are 42L (according to the B&Q website) and are probably filled to about 37L (they're too wobbly to go right to the top) so 1.5 of those would work out at about 55L too.

 

[Annagain]

Could potentially just be bored and it’s something to do
Does he have access to a salt lick to compensate for all the water he’s taking?

I don't think he'd use it - he's been in Archie's stable a few times. Arch has one of those awful molassses licks (because he's 28 and I spoil him) and he doesn't bother with that so I don't think a less tasty one would fly.

 

[JBM]

I don't think he'd use it - he's been in Archie's stable a few times. Arch has one of those awful molassses licks (because he's 28 and I spoil him) and he doesn't bother with that so I don't think a less tasty one would fly.

Both my horses bite molasses licks so out of the question for me ?

 

[live2ride]

My mare and gelding have the 75l buckets in their stable, my mare can drink about 3/4 in a night, and has since she was maybe around 14/15, this year was diagnosed with PPID. My gelding will drink maybe up to half-3/4 some nights but not every night. Neither are particularly wet in stable

 

[PurBee]

I have used hay and haylage often, and there’s a big difference in how much water gets consumed by mine - much more on hay.
It surprises me as its literally 20-30% difference in moisture - when i work out kilo’s consumed, say, 10kg - that would be at least 2kg more water in haylage than hay - yet we must remember hay would require more saliva to macerate it into a mush, make it softer, whereas haylage of 40% is already soft. So hay pulls more water from the body via much more saliva production than haylage.

(when i gave mine soaked hay, their water intake drastically reduced)

As youre using just 1 bag of pellets per week, which is amazing, shows it’s not going straight through him. If he has no other symptoms like edema, filling of legs, more water weight on body, i would put it down to dry haylage and him being stabled - drinking alleviates boredom too, it’s cooling, maybe some hours during the night the rug makes him a bit warmer so he uses water to cool.

Teeth could be worth checking - if he’s not chewing enough, he wont be producing as much saliva per mouthful to coat/macerate the hay, and the hay in the gut absorbs a bit more moisture from the gut, which would induce more thirst.

Check the length of hay bits in his poops compared to your other horses. If theyre a bit longer, he might have a teeth grinding issue.

 

[Annagain]

I have used hay and haylage often, and there’s a big difference in how much water gets consumed by mine - much more on hay.
It surprises me as its literally 20-30% difference in moisture - when i work out kilo’s consumed, say, 10kg - that would be at least 2kg more water in haylage than hay - yet we must remember hay would require more saliva to macerate it into a mush, make it softer, whereas haylage of 40% is already soft. So hay pulls more water from the body via much more saliva production than haylage.

(when i gave mine soaked hay, their water intake drastically reduced)

As youre using just 1 bag of pellets per week, which is amazing, shows it’s not going straight through him. If he has no other symptoms like edema, filling of legs, more water weight on body, i would put it down to dry haylage and him being stabled - drinking alleviates boredom too, it’s cooling, maybe some hours during the night the rug makes him a bit warmer so he uses water to cool.

Teeth could be worth checking - if he’s not chewing enough, he wont be producing as much saliva per mouthful to coat/macerate the hay, and the hay in the gut absorbs a bit more moisture from the gut, which would induce more thirst.

Check the length of hay bits in his poops compared to your other horses. If theyre a bit longer, he might have a teeth grinding issue.

Teeth should be good - he was checked in August just after I bought him and my dental vet said they were perfect (no other horse I've owned has ever been perfect according to her!). He was last done in March and vet said he should be good until then.

 

[Carrottom]

I have found that dry haylage causes horses to drink more than hay. I'm guessing it's is something to do with the "curing" process inside the wrap.

 

[Barton Bounty]

BB drinks about 2 x 42 l buckets a night and same roughly during the day, one drink and he can half empty the bucket ?

 

[Backtoblack]

has the vet checked for EMS?

 

[Goldenstar]

How big is he ?

 

[Michen]

When Bear was downing water it was a liver problem.

 

[Annagain]

How big is he ?

16.1 and 620kg

 

[Annagain]

has the vet checked for EMS?

We haven't checked anything yet.

 

[Annagain]

I've done some research and found some vet resources (american) that suggest more than 50ml per lb of horse is the point at which it becomes excessive. If my maths is correct this would be about 67 litres for Wiggy. I think he's drinking about 55L overnight so even with a bit more in the day he may be on the higher side of normal rather than it being a problem. I'm going to measure accurately for the next few days rather than guesstimating and take it from there.

 

[Barton Bounty]

I dont think it is a lot tbh. Mine has 2 x 42l a night and maybe another 42l in the day

 

[Goldenstar]

I think that 55 litres is fine it’s at the top end of normal intake for a horse and he’s quite heavy so I would not worry to much .

 

[blitznbobs]

Mine drink that much - especially if the water is warm and the weather is cold - im giving the mares 4 massive trugs a day i miss our autos - had to turn water off cos of a leak so hopefully back on tomorrow

 

[Annagain]

A quick update on this as I thought it might be interesting / useful for others. As soon as it warmed up, he started drinking less. He still drinks a fair amount but less than when I first posted.

I've been monitoring his intake closely. I give him 60 litres every night and he's had between 13 and 20 left in the morning so is drinking 40-47 most nights. The few nights I've let him with 50 as an experiment, he's drained the whole lot. It's almost like once his bucket is close to empty he feels the need to drink it all. Even when he's done that, he hasn't gone straight to the field trough so I don't think he needs it as such, it's more a quirk of his. I've started dropping his haylage down a bit as he's picked up weight nicely and he's drinking less again since doing that. The YOs have assured us this very dry haylage was off one field and the other fields were more normal. This was the last field to be cut so is at the front of the pile. We should be through with it in the next couple of weeks so I'll see if that makes more of a difference. I'll report back!

 

[Tarragon]

I give my pony a prascend tablet straight into his mouth, trying to pop it in between his cheek and teeth. The ponies are field kept but I bring them into stables every day for a feed and access to a bit of hay (which is always completely finished when I get there), so he would have been eating just grass before doing this.
There is a huge difference in how wet his mouth feels if I let him have some hay before giving him the tablet! I think it must be like the equivalent of trying to eat a dry cheese cracker.

 

[meleeka]

My cob used to drink loads. It was related to the amount he ate (a lot!), but I think he just liked fresh water. Before I got him he only had rainwater, so fresh tap water was a big difference. His consumption did go down over the years. A friends horse drinks only drinks half a black bucket overnight with no ill effects, but that’s rainwater too so might be why.