Pony not drinking at night

Vikki89

Vikki89

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One of my horses has not been drinking in his stable since the water has been freezing (a couple of days), the other two must break it themselves to drink as they have broken ice in theirs and have clearly drank as usual.
I put an apple in it last night as have heard it can stop it freezing but it didn't work and he didn't drink anything.
Not sure about during the day as 5 horses use the same trough.
Any tips on stopping buckets from freezing?
 
Maybe fill the bucket with warm water last thing? Will take longer to freeze over. Some horses detest very cold water. You could up his liquid intake by adding warm water to his feeds as well.
 
do you have an electric socket near the stable and any way of putting a lead safley to the bucket? If so, get an aquarium heater. theyre fully submersible and will keep the water above freezing. The only issue is the lead. If you can somehow rig it so its not likely to be moved or hooked on anything........
 
Use a large bucket (like a big tub trug), place in a corner away from the door, put something insulating underneath it such as a rubber mat, and bank bedding up around the side. If possible fill with lukewarm water, rather than chilly water straight out of the yard tap. (For example, take a Thermos of hot water to the yard and mix with the tap water to take the chill off.) You can also try adding a little soaked beet to the water to make it more tempting.

Make sure any feeds are well soaked and incorporate soaked beet into feeds if possible.
 
He has a big bucket on rubber mats, its not by the door but is under a window. I will take some flasks of hot water from home so he can have warm water and put bedding round it. He doesn't have a plug socket near his stable.
I put water in is feed when i mix it and he has sugarbeet (he didn't tonight though as I took it home to stop it freezing and forgot to take it back to the yard, something else for me to remember:rolleyes:)
 
first thing i would look at is is his bed as wet as normal - is he weeing? My 2 may look like not drinking but in this weather they have wetwet wet feeds and wet hay - it all helps to get fluids in. plus lot of wet on grass so mmm bank bedding round big big buckets make sloppy feeds check troughs wet hay and try not to worry - if bucket is ice free when he comes in and he doesnt sink for a drink he will be ok - just keep eye on bed to how wet it is :) xx
 
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