Water consumption problem

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cronkmooar

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I have had my boy for approx. 15 years so I thought I knew all his little quirks, likes and dislikes etc.

I have no automatic water - either in the stable for field - I fill everything from the tap so I know who is drinking what and when.

Horse is 17hh+ and 28 yrs old. In the stable he has one of those big plastic trug/skip things as his water container. He has had the same container for years.

Usually he would drink approx. 3/4 of the water which is emptied and filled virtually to the top daily. Container cleaned with a brush once a week. He is in for approx. 12hrs over night and has only haylage which is on the dry side rather than wet, no hard feed

Christmas eve, didn't touch a drop of water over night. I raised an eyebrow as this was unusual, scrubbed his clean looking trug which is light pink (don't ask!) so I would see if it was dirty - and filled up for that night.

Christmas day night - didn't touch a drop.

I had a brand new unused for anything trug so I used this last night - after giving it a good scrub - and he hasn't touched a drop last night either.

He is as bright as a button in himself, eating normally, not showing signs of dehydration and was blood tested only three weeks ago as he is every year to check that everything is working ok. Bloods were perfect.

He doesn't usually have issues with not wanting to drink cold water - and in any event its not been below 4/5 here so its not freezing.

He did change fields two days before Christmas eve to new grass, but there is not loads of lush green stuff

He shares a field and water has been drank, but not massive amounts

Only thing I can think of is to put some warm water in tonight to see if this has any effect.

Other horse is drinking in the stable with no change in consumption with water from the same source, but she does have ems so would probably drink anything!

Could it be the water?

Anyone got any bright ideas or wants to raise any concerns?

Cheers
 
I would be concerned at this too.

You could try apple juice in the water to make it more attractive? I think I'd be damping down the haylage as well.
 
Bit strange isn't it, not much good advice but perhaps it is the water? You could add some apple juice for a couple of days to get him back into good habits, slightly warm also helps but as you say it's not that cold. My mare drinks very little as she's on 12 hour soaked hay, at first it alarmed me as she was a whole bucket drinker but I'm used to it now, it's the change in habit which alarms, just as you've noticed. Perhaps the new grass is more lush than you think?
 
Very bizarre indeed :-)

I think if there was a change in his behaviour or well being then it would be making me more concerned, but he really is bright and well

Was thinking of phoning the water board, but don't want to look like a mad thing!

Have tried apple juice in water before with him (he won't drink when travelling, and four hours on a boat then the motorway used to concern me until I realised he would just drink when he got off and was no worse for wear) but all he did was snort at the bucket in disgust!

He is not a big fan of soaked hay but I think I will do a net and put that in with him tonight as well as his haybar, just to give him the option
 
obvious question - are you sure no one else has been topping up his water?

Has the water source or way of filling changed maybe? eg water from water butts v mains or hose v water container?
 
Hi

No one else doing water, he is kept at home and there is only me here :-)

Filled from same tap, hose, & thing that goes on the end of the hose, so no change there

Only change has been the field - even the bale of haylage was the same - new bale opened for tonight though
 
Is he eating the usual amount?

If you are concerned, it might be worth offering him some well soaked Speedibeet or grassnuts to get some water into him. In your position, I would continue to monitor carefully but not panic at this stage.
 
Thanks everyone for the ideas, they are really appreciated.

To answer the last two responses.

Eating normally, he has no hard feed at all, but has a heaped haybar full of haylage every night and is eating the same amount

Water comes into the property from the mains pipe that then branches off to the house and the tap. Its not beyond the realms of possibility that the tap piping (the old smaller black plastic pipe rather than the more modern blue pipe) has split or something underground and is contaminated, but there is no drop in pressure - which there is if the mains pipe bursts - which does happen quiet regularly

However, when this has happened he never goes off the water

Will try water from house tonight

I'm not overly worried at all - but feel that perhaps I have missed something and should be panicing!
 
Is there another water source in the new field? A tasty puddle or something?

Is it worth trying a couple of days back in the old field to see if he starts drinking at night again...? Might help you pinpoint the cause anyway!
 
I think you'll find the water board will be pleased to test the water. They'd rather do that than risk supplying polluted water. Yes, where there are concerns, return everything to what it was before and try again. Putting back in the old field makes sense, as does walking the new one in case there is some unknown water source (spring, drain, puddle, etc).
 
oh bless him, my boy didn't drink much for a couple of days but he didn't eat much either! found of that the farmer was out the back of his stables cutting up wood, which he could hear but not see so he was getting rather upset about it! he also had dried sweat too!

so in other words, are you close enough to someone else that he might be getting upset by noise that they are making?

also does he have cushings? the vets always asked me if my 29yr old is drinking enough (she has cushings)
 
Change the water bucket - they are so cheap it's worth a go.
I knew of a horse which literally went downhill in a week to almost skeletal proportion.....they'd moved to a field with a metal trough and he wouldn't drink from it...put water in a plastic bucket and bingo! Drank every drop.i also knew of a horse who would literally drink the bucket dry as soon as bought in....owner couldn't understand why....til she went to check the field water trough & realised the electric fencer had made the trough LIVE!!
 
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Sometimes the water from our outdoor tap smells quite chloriney? We are in a hard water area too and sometimes water comes out cloudy, sometimes it doesnt. That said you've not had a problem before so I guess it cant be the water. Hope you get something sorted and he starts drinking again!

jnb - that must be awful - we've recently been getting electric shocks in the house whenever we turn on our downstairs taps the shocks were coming from the actual water! The electrician came out and noticed that the earth was plumbed into an ancient electricity box that was no longer in use !!
 
jnb said:
Change the water bucket - they are so cheap it's worth a go.
I knew of a horse which literally went downhill in a week to almost skeletal proportion.....they'd moved to a field with a metal trough and he wouldn't drink from it...put water in a plastic bucket and bingo! Drank every drop.i also knew of a horse who would literally drink the bucket dry as soon as bought in....owner couldn't understand why....til she went to check the field water trough & realised the electric fencer had made the trough LIVE!!
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We managed to do this once ! A tail of electric tape was dangling and touching some sheep netting which was touching the metal trough. It took a while for her to trust the trough again - but she did.
 
Crikey - went out to redo water from house - lots of carrying of buckets :-) and came back to loads of ideas, thank you all so much.

To reply to all:

Water bucket has been changed to a brand new unused bucket last night - no difference. Plastic not metal

New field has no water supply/source/dub etc

Troughs are the same ones in the new field - plastic troughs x 2 dragged under fence when field changed.

Field is not really two separate fields - its an 8 acre field split in two with a permanent electric fence.

The OLD field/paddock does have a stream at the bottom - so reluctant to put him back in there as he then does have access to unmonitored water - though to be fair neither of them ever seem to drink from it and prefer the troughs - but will try this tomorrow if nothing drank tonight.

Its not the outside water consumption that is the main concern, he is not drinking in the stable so no risk of anything interfering with the bucket and making him not want to go near it. Though I would say, if pushed, that there could be lower consumption from the field troughs, but as there are two 90 litre troughs it will be a few days before I could be absolutely certain about this.

No excessive pee, no different smell but have not seen colour when he is in action - will try and catch him in the act :-) He is on nedz so no actual pee pools in the stable to examine

The mare he is with has EMS/Cushings and has done for many years and he is not showing any signs, also had bloods and full MOT three weeks ago, all well, in fact the vet commented on how well he was looking - my experience of EMS/cushings that is that water intake increases not stops, but accept others might have different experiences.

Live in the middle of nowhere and not aware of anything that would upset him, but he is usually quite laid back and is not showing any signs of worry, distress or illness.

Will put warm water in bucket from house when he comes in to see if that does anything

Will change field back tomorrow

Will phone water board on Monday, as you say, they usually are quite good

Thanks again, all suggestions gratefully received
 
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amymay said:
Have you tried him with a little warm water?
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No, that is tonight's plan, as per posts above, it has not been cold here as yet - 4/5 degrees at its coldest and he has never had any issues with cold water before.

He has never had any issues with water before
 
Can you make the most of the rain - either by collecting in a wheelbarrow or from your downpipes and seeing if he drinks that - then you would know it was a water issue.

In the meantime, I would just make sure his food is relatively sloppy and maybe feed haulage - I find that the horses water consumption drops a lot if I feed haulage rather than hay?

And if you can catch any pee - then it would be interesting to see the colour/smell, etc.

I hope it resolves itself quickly.
 
to answer the above two replies

He is already fed haylage, but does not get any hard feed - he really does not need it, though if nothing is resolved by Monday the sugar beet water is a good idea
 
Horses (well ponies IME - used to loan a Sec A that would ONLY drink from her own blue bucket in her own field but not an identical bucket in our nearby so same mains water field, even if over 30 degrees and out at a show all day!) can be fussy, but I'd suggest it might be the moisture in the new grass, our mare doesn't drink much (an inch off a trug of water overnight) when on new grass for the first week or so
 
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