How much water does your horse drink?

[MarvelVillis]

How much water does your horse drink?

I ask as I have recently moved my gelding to his winter field, and he has buckets for water, and for the past couple of days I've noticed he has hardly touched his buckets. They are right by the gateway and I made sure he saw them when I moved him into the new field. His summer field has a fresh stream running through it so I could never really monitor how much he was drinking.

If he's not touched his water again when I check on him later should I be calling the vet?

 

[rabatsa]

Here the grass is very wet with dew most of the day. If he is getting a mouthfull of water with every bite then he could be satisfiying his needs without drinking from a bucket.

 

[Widgeon]

Mine is hardly drinking anything at the moment. He has big blue barrels that I top up, so I know exactly how much he's drunk. Like rabatsa says, with the dew and the rain, I think he's getting his water intake from the grass (he is out 24/7)

 

[Nudibranch]

They drink very little when the grass is wet (and wee a lot more so they must be taking more in than they need).
You would need to call a vet if he showed signs of dehydration.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Mine are drinking less water in the field at the moment as well probably down to wet grass and being cooler temperatures.

 

[milliepops]

Mine are drinking less water in the field at the moment as well probably down to wet grass and being cooler temperatures.

same

Mine were drinking quite a bit while it was warm and dry but tbh the rain is filling up their containers as fast as they drink it at the moment!

 

[Polos Mum]

On fresh grass which will be nice and juicy I'd not expect him to drink much at all.

If your worried the simple dehydration test is to pinch a good bit of skin on his neck (it will be a bit uncomfortable for a second) and then let go - well hydrated will spring back - if he's lacking then it's slower to go back to being flat and dehydrated the pinched bit stays stuck together for a few seconds.

If it's not something you're used to then it's worth trying it on your horse as a matter of routine and other peoples horses (with their permission obviously) so you know what 'normal' looks like and easier to know unusual.

 

[MarvelVillis]

Thanks all - makes sense about the wet grass and getting his intake that way. Will try the pinch test to check.