Is 6 Gallons enough in 24 hours?

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HaffiesRock

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Hi everyone *waves*

In the East Midlands it is very cold brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, hasnt gone above freezing since Saturday afternoon and all my water supplies at the yard have run out/pipes frozen.

My question is, is 6 gallons of water enough for one pony every 24 hours? Additionally he will be getting a feed of very sloppy fast fibre to top up his water levels.

I am having to take the water from home/work to the field so 6 gallons is a manageable amount. I can take more no problem at all, but just wanted to know what your opinions were?

He is naked, out 24/7 and not currently worked while we have snow and freezing temperatures. He is getting ad lib hay so I worry he's not drinking enough.

Thanks
 
I think you should take more than he will drink, no matter how much that is. If he drinks 5.5 gallons, 6 is fine. If he drinks it all, it's not.
 
Depends entirely on the individual & what he normally drinks. It wouldn't even touch the sides for one of mine, the other it would be more than ample. I'd take more though, better to have it there & pony not drink it than risk not having it. Plus even if he isn't a big drinker & 6 gallons is ample, a big bucket topped up with 6 gallons a day won't freeze as quickly as just 6 gallons on its own.
 
cptrayes said:
I think you should take more than he will drink, no matter how much that is. If he drinks 5.5 gallons, 6 is fine. If he drinks it all, it's not.
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this, but providing he's not wasting it/ knocking it over I think you'll be ok but keep an eye on it.

If you have a big enough container/ trough/ bath you could fill that up when you have spare time like a weekend and just keep it topped up with 6 gallons once a day through the week
 
Check his dropping every day if they get smaller and harder then worry he's not getting enough.
As long as he always has water left you are probally ok but he should never have no water available .
 
My horses will get through a 45 litre trug a day. That's around 10 gallons. Some will drink more. Depends on how big the pony is.
 
Wagtail said:
My horses will get through a 45 litre trug a day. That's around 10 gallons. Some will drink more. Depends on how big the pony is.
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This is about what I expect my horses to drink, the ponies take less, often in the really cold weather they eat more hay/ haylage and water intake goes up.

That said I am still struggling to get my post op horse to drink, he had drunk nothing overnight:( He is getting 4, going up to 5, feeds a day of well soaked beet, grass nuts etc but the lack of drinking properly is getting more worrying and there seems to be no more to try, all the clever ideas have been tried, most failed or were short lived, he was drinking 10 gallons at least pre op/ 3 nights away but came back dehydrated and not drinking. His droppings are now normal so the risk of colic is less but it is so frustrating as he is doing himself no good in the long term:( Vets are aware but no help.
 
be positive said:
This is about what I expect my horses to drink, the ponies take less, often in the really cold weather they eat more hay/ haylage and water intake goes up.

That said I am still struggling to get my post op horse to drink, he had drunk nothing overnight:( He is getting 4, going up to 5, feeds a day of well soaked beet, grass nuts etc but the lack of drinking properly is getting more worrying and there seems to be no more to try, all the clever ideas have been tried, most failed or were short lived, he was drinking 10 gallons at least pre op/ 3 nights away but came back dehydrated and not drinking. His droppings are now normal so the risk of colic is less but it is so frustrating as he is doing himself no good in the long term:( Vets are aware but no help.
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I expect you have tried warm water and adding things such as apple juice? Have you tried mint tea? Boil a kettle of water and make some strong spearmint tea and pour into his water.
 
Wagtail said:
I expect you have tried warm water and adding things such as apple juice? Have you tried mint tea? Boil a kettle of water and make some strong spearmint tea and pour into his water.
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Mint tea, I have not done that yet, bought the mint but he was drinking a little that day so never did it, off to boil kettle now:) All other options tried, he will have a little with molassed sugar beet but because he gets that fed to get meds down him it is not so interesting when he has to work for it.

I will report back if the tea works:)
 
I managed to get 9 gallons up there and made a very sloppy feed of fast fiber. I was amazed how much water fast fiber takes! I normally make it out the tap so dont measure, but I put 4 liters of water on 2 scoops of fast fibre and it still could have been sloppier! I can get up twice tomorrow so I can hopefully fill his barrel in 2 trips and then I can relax a little and just top it up.

I offered him a bucket of water and he wasn't interested. The pony next door however guzzled the whole bucket down. I don't think its had a drink since the bucket I gave it at 5pm yesterday. Its water bucket is bone dry :( Made the YO aware as I left. Poor pony, but at the same time I can only physically transport and carry enough for my pony, not everyone elses.
 
HaffiesRock said:
I managed to get 9 gallons up there and made a very sloppy feed of fast fiber. I was amazed how much water fast fiber takes! I normally make it out the tap so dont measure, but I put 4 liters of water on 2 scoops of fast fibre and it still could have been sloppier! I can get up twice tomorrow so I can hopefully fill his barrel in 2 trips and then I can relax a little and just top it up.

I offered him a bucket of water and he wasn't interested. The pony next door however guzzled the whole bucket down. I don't think its had a drink since the bucket I gave it at 5pm yesterday. Its water bucket is bone dry :( Made the YO aware as I left. Poor pony, but at the same time I can only physically transport and carry enough for my pony, not everyone elses.
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Oh no, poor pony! Some owners make me so mad! :mad:
 
The girl has 3 ponies, 2 live out so id guess the other one has no water either :(

Just out of curiosity really, on ad lib hay and a feed of nuts and chaff, how long will a pony last (both 14hh one cob, one sec d) on 24/7 turnout in the snow with no water?

What kind of problems other than impaction colic and dehydration could they face? and how quickly would problems start?

Ill do my best to offer them water when I can and keep pestering the YO but otherwise I cant provide water to everyone!
 
HaffiesRock said:
The girl has 3 ponies, 2 live out so id guess the other one has no water either :(

Just out of curiosity really, on ad lib hay and a feed of nuts and chaff, how long will a pony last (both 14hh one cob, one sec d) on 24/7 turnout in the snow with no water?

What kind of problems other than impaction colic and dehydration could they face? and how quickly would problems start?

Ill do my best to offer them water when I can and keep pestering the YO but otherwise I cant provide water to everyone!
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Lack of water would cause problems far sooner than a lack of food. I really feel sorry for them, and for you having to witness it. If the YO does nothing, then I would report the problem to the RSPCA or WHW. The YO is responsible as well as the owner.
 
Does the YO live on site or have a house within walking distance if so I would ask yo for access to the house for water I bet they dont have frozen taps.
Mine live out 24/7 I too am east midlands but the chap that owns the house breaks the water and tops it up from his house when the water taps are frozen trouble we have is that it freezes as fast as we can break the ice. They are not drinking much at all but they do have fast fibre well soaked and wet feeds these I take warm from the house each day so they are already soaked overnight so holding as much water as possible We have a 20 min drive to the field looking a bit dodgy over the weekend but if we cant get then the man who owns the field will chuck hay over to them and give them water. This is very good of him as he is terrified of horses
 
be positive said:
This is about what I expect my horses to drink, the ponies take less, often in the really cold weather they eat more hay/ haylage and water intake goes up.

That said I am still struggling to get my post op horse to drink, he had drunk nothing overnight:( He is getting 4, going up to 5, feeds a day of well soaked beet, grass nuts etc but the lack of drinking properly is getting more worrying and there seems to be no more to try, all the clever ideas have been tried, most failed or were short lived, he was drinking 10 gallons at least pre op/ 3 nights away but came back dehydrated and not drinking. His droppings are now normal so the risk of colic is less but it is so frustrating as he is doing himself no good in the long term:( Vets are aware but no help.
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Have you tried mixing marmite in warm water, mine love marmite in any form,
there are also granules you can get that encourage horses to drink, sorry can't think of the name
 
Go back to the sugar beet water - it was the only thing that got one of the recovering horses on our yard to drink again. they were having to tube him to get water down till they tried that.
 
flirtygerty said:
Have you tried mixing marmite in warm water, mine love marmite in any form,
there are also granules you can get that encourage horses to drink, sorry can't think of the name
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I have tried the granules, horse quencher is probably what you are thinking of.

He likes brewers yeast in his feed so marmite is something I could try and had not thought of, off to boil the kettle again and root out the old pot lurking in the cupboard, thanks:)
 
Wagtail said:
Hope he starts drinking better soon, BP. You must be so worried.
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Worried is an understatement now:( I tried the mint tea but he did not want to drink, he ate the mint though:rolleyes: it seems now that it is drinking that is the issue, he is eating really well, I thought for a while it was because his mouth was sore but now thinking it must be the drug he is on, hence my thread asking about any known side effects of potassium iodide.

Phoning the vet in the morning, they were out yesterday and not worried, he has not drunk since 4pm yesterday:(
 
I've been getting 9 gallons up each day but using 4 litres of this to make his fast fibre. Each day there has been easily 2 or 3 gallons left in the barrel so the entire barrel is about half full now which I am happy about. xx
 
Has the yo sorted the other ponies out? Regardless of DIY, water should be checked by yo, doesn't take any time doing it alongside fencing checks but is so important
 
PandorasJar said:
Has the yo sorted the other ponies out? Regardless of DIY, water should be checked by yo, doesn't take any time doing it alongside fencing checks but is so important
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It didnt have any yesterday so I gave it some which it took happily. It did have a bit tonight but not a lot. I left a note for the owner and YO. Now my barrel is half full it can drink out of it over the fence but thats not really the point is it...
 
Glad it's got something with yours... But no not the point. And you don't want yours running out as you're watering another two! Yo and owner need to buck up a little.
 
Someone said something about increased hay intake and therefore increased water intake... Which in many ways is true enough, although some horses drink less because its so cold and they don't like it cold :(. Studies have shown that in cold temperatures adding a bit of hot water to the water to warm it up a bit can increase a horses willingness to drink by up to 40%
 
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