Ideas to get a horse drinking water after colic

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Becki_08

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Hi my horse had impact colic on Wednesday, he was treated by the vet and is now looking and feeling a lot better but he is still not drinking a lot at all. I'm really worried about dehydration and looking for some ideas on how to tempt him to drink i have tried molasses and water which the vet suggested but he wont drink that anymore (he did drink a little at first:). Has anyone got any and ideas please:)
Thankyou
 
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Salt. Iodized salt from your own kitchen will add some iodine also. Salt drives thirst. A healthy tbn./day or don't be afraid to double it on hot sweaty summer days. I feed a tbn. in my recipe, make the dish wet enough to call it soupy (extra water there) and make sure there is fresh water nearby, cause they are going straight there to drink deeply when they are done. I would also use a slow feeder to make sure the hay is not going down in clumps and soak that feeder of hay for an hour before hanging up to feed. (more water consumed, less sugar and iron in the hay.) They may say that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink, didn't feed the horse salt first, lol! The electrolyte balance in the blood is critically maintained at all time, pulling from the cells to keep that balance in the blood. The horse can be dehydrated and not even know it. Salt is the trigger that makes things well again.
Two other things I've learned: after a recent colonoscopy, the instructions said drink water bigtime, but also the occasional electrolyte, because water alone doesn't cut it, and if you do set out a pail of water/electolytes for a horse, always make sure there is a fresh pail of water right beside it...always. Hope this helps....
 
I've seen people add some apple juice to the water, gets the horse's interest because of the smell and seems to work. Mine loves bobbing for apples from the bucket and drinks then too, the apples were meant to be stopping the bucket freezing! Also agree with the salt, that definitely works but just some other ideas to try.
 
Salt is a good idea, ive also seen that on endurance rides they make up sugarbeet water, when they have their *pit stops* for want of a better word, they need to rehydrate the horse and horses are more inclined to gulp down sugarbeet water than plain water
 
Also take the chill off if it might be cold.
Sugar beet water, apple juice, apple pulp, soaked hay, electrolite salts, try offering the water at mouth height if all else fails, feed wet mashes with the chaff also soaked,
Have a spare bucket of clean fresh water as they can be very picky.
Did vet give a reason for the colic, you need to feed little and often, ad lib soaked hay. I know one vet suggested it might be related to turnout/exercise or lack of it. There is no doubt it is better to have maximum turnout. Walk in hand and allow him to pick herbs from the verges.
 
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Be very careful about giving salt, it made my horse dehydrate even more, very wet feeds will keep fluids going in, I left my horse with several different options at all times, he would use whichever he preferred at the time and it could change daily.

Things that worked for me
Soaked full molassed sugar beet.
redigrass in loads of water so when he took some he couldn't help but take on water.
chopped apples in water, not a whole one as he was not that interested but lots of small bits gave him an easy reward.
Well soaked grass nut slop, probably the favourite.

The buckets and tubs were at different heights to make it easier as he was having trouble stretching down.

I tried all of the obvious and some less obvious suggestions and the only way I got fluids into him for 9 weeks in total was through a variety of feeds given throughout the day and topped up last thing at night, they also helped keep his weight on as he had damaged his mouth and he couldn't drink normally until it returned to normal, no long term ill effects fortunately but at times I was extremely concerned.
 
We feed sugarbeet water when our stallion is competing in endurance, also try apple juice as suggested and simply give wet feeds.

A friend has an old show jumper who always lost weight and had runny droppings. The equine dentist recommended feeding just, properly hydrated sugar beet, nothing else. He is now in glowing good health.
 
I'd be very cautious with salt; you don't want to dehydrate him because that will make an impaction worse... Sloppy feeds, soaked hay/haylage, lush grass, carrots in his water etc. to get extra water into them whilst they're eating are safer :)
 
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