Is he drinking enough?

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HaffiesRock

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My pony lives out 24/7 and I am worried he is not drinking enough at the minute. There is one big auto refill trough in the field and the ice is broken morning and evening. Unfortunately there isn’t enough surface area on the trough to float a ball to prevent freezing. Last night the auto refill pipe was frozen so I smashed the ice off the water and poured a kettle of hot water into the trough to help defrost the pipe and bring the water temperature up. Today I will be putting a large bucket of water in the field also so he has two drinking options.

He gets breakfast put in the field by the YO each morning. This is just half a bucket of fast fibre which I make sloppy to get water into him. In the evening I bring him onto the yard and he gets a second feed of sloppy fast fibre and I offer him a bucket of water with the chill taken off. Sometimes he will drink a little but most of the time he will ignore it. I feed succulents too.
Am I doing enough? I would imagine if he was thirsty he would drink the water I offered? If we hack I offer him water when we get back and he will usually drink it. The reason I worry is he is a big drinker. Normally he will have a drink every time he goes back into the field after coming in, even if just for a groom, but I hardly ever see him drink at the minute. Ive pinched his skin and he seems OK, but being so cold and him so furry its hard to tell!

I just worry that while everything is frozen and he is eating a lot of hay, he needs water to prevent impaction? Could I put some no added sugar apple cordial or something in the water I offer him to temp him?
Any ideas welcome as I do worry about him :D
 
None on making drink more... but for stopping troughs freezing up so thick (and so ponies can easily huff through) I always pull the broken bits out rather than just breaking up.
 
It sounds as if you are doing a great job, a sloppy feed is a good way of getting fluids into them, an apple chopped up in the water bucket is a way to get them drinking, I cut one into small pieces for a pony of mine, he had great fun try to get them and soon realised it was easier if he drank the water.
Salt in his feed will also encourage him to drink, as long as he generally has constant access to water he should be fine, if it freezes for a few hours overnight dont worry.
 
Thank you be positive for being so positive :D

I'm sure if he was desperate he'd drink when I offered it with his feed?!

They do say you can lead a horse to water but cannot make it drink :p
 
I put carrots in my ponys water because in the last week she doesn't seem to be drinking as much as usual but she just kicker the bucket over and ate the carrots so I assume she's just not thirsty.. She always has fresh water so if she wants it she'll have it x
 
Ah he will drink if he needs to! I think they get a lot of moisture from the grass at this time of year and sloppy feed is what I do too :-)

Apples in water does sound like fun though, might do that one day with mine... She'll blatantly just kick it over!
 
I would also put a bucket of wrm water, not cold, in the field, forget the carrots he will drink it if it is warm, tastes nicer not so cold on the lips, also you will then know how much in a day he has drunk.

Yr other post, love it he lives out, but not all situations allow for this esp if on livery, wet fields etc.
 
personally I would be offering lots of warm water as my tb nearly died from impaction colic caused by lack of water intake. Your horsey is probably less sensitive to cold water but for peace of mind a big bucket of warm water slurped down will be a great help. My haffie and welsh cross will break the ice on the trough but they still gulp the warm water down so they all clearly love it...mum laughs at me for having the kettle on all the time and jokes I should put a tea bag in it for them :rolleyes:
 
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