Old horse not drinking

siennamum

siennamum

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hi I have a fit, shiny, energetic & (seemingly) healthy 24 yr old mare. Because she was getting a bit portly I put her in a small paddock with minimal grass a week or so ago. I am also now filling a water trug for her rather than her accessing a trough as she did previously.

She drinks virtually nothing which is alarming. She has an armful of hay daily so I'd expect her to be thirsty. She shows no signs of dehydration. I am tempted to give her added salt (she just gets a supplement atm)but she seems super healthy so am reluctant to meddle.

Anyone have an experience of anything similar. The trug is clean, water is normal tap which shes' used to, am confused & a bit concerned.
 
siennamum said:
hi I have a fit, shiny, energetic & (seemingly) healthy 24 yr old mare. Because she was getting a bit portly I put her in a small paddock with minimal grass a week or so ago. I am also now filling a water trug for her rather than her accessing a trough as she did previously.

She drinks virtually nothing which is alarming. She has an armful of hay daily so I'd expect her to be thirsty. She shows no signs of dehydration. I am tempted to give her added salt (she just gets a supplement atm)but she seems super healthy so am reluctant to meddle.


Anyone have an experience of anything similar. The trug is clean, water is normal tap which shes' used to, am confused & a bit concerned.
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My mare scarcely drank anything at night. Sometimes her water bucket was completely untouched. I do know that all animals much prefer rainwater. My cat never drinks indoors but goes outside and laps up the most green, rancid, stale water she can find. My chickens prefer natural rainwater too. My horse used to drink the muddy puddle beside the water trough rather than the mains water in it. I don't like the taste or smell of mains water so I imagine an animal with a much keener sense of smell than me must find it pretty horrible. If you are worried soak some high fibre nuts in water rather than giving hay.
 
fatpiggy said:
My mare scarcely drank anything at night. Sometimes her water bucket was completely untouched. I do know that all animals much prefer rainwater. My cat never drinks indoors but goes outside and laps up the most green, rancid, stale water she can find. My chickens prefer natural rainwater too. My horse used to drink the muddy puddle beside the water trough rather than the mains water in it. I don't like the taste or smell of mains water so I imagine an animal with a much keener sense of smell than me must find it pretty horrible. If you are worried soak some high fibre nuts in water rather than giving hay.
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My Mare Babi is aging as well, she was attacked by a cougar a year ago but survived, and as well we lost her long time mate Regal to that cougar. She stopped drinking water as well, we were told by good friends to add salt to her feed. We used Pink Hymalayan (sp?) Salt from the feed store and it took but a day to make her thirsty, but as salt is an important nutrient ~sodium~ needed by most all living creatures not everyone feeds salt. Your vet or feed store will help you with either a mineral block or pink salt. And as for the water our water if in the bucket for more than a day in the stalls picks up a stale scent, we change it often, The water outside gets sunlight and charges the ions in it. Rainwater is always the choice of our babies in the field livestock containers. Hope this helps. We take our cobalt water pitcher full of our filtered inside water and it sits outside in the sunlight all day then refrigerated. Its the most refreshing tasting water we have ever known,the benefits of this water has shown us to be much healthier indeed, water in toxins out ;). Thanks to our sister in law that has studied these facts :) we are healthier. Just wanted to share <3
 
If the grass is wet due to the amount of rain we've had recently then your horse won't be drinking as much. My horse absolutely loves a drink of warm water in a bucket - you can try tempting her with that.
 
if she doesn't appear to be dehydrated - ie her droppings are normal, not hard, and they're happening at a usual rate; and her skin springs back immediately when you pinch it, I wouldn't be too worried.

If it's raining a bit, that's probably soaking the hay and grass. Does she get any other feed? If so you can make that super sloppy as well with some warm water. I'm more inclined to give them access to a salt lick as well, rather than adding salt - so they can pick at it if they need it.

Could she not like the trug? You could also add a splash of apple juice if you're seriously worried and it's a hot day, to make it more appealing?
 
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