You Can Lead a Horse to Water but how to get it drinking more?

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One of my horses has recently had an accident, box rested for 6 weeks before diagnosis, trip to hospital, loads of tests then op which was not under general so should not have had too much impact on his system.

He came back on Thursday showing signs of dehydration the first evening but took some water on board during the evening only a little overnight, droppings were hard so high risk of impaction colic but by getting plenty of fibre down him plus wet feeds this has improved.

I have discussed this with the vet and am doing all he said, and more, to get his water intake up but he is still not taking enough to rehydrate himself.

I have tried so far
Apple juice, no interest
Apples floating, no interest
Speedibeet water, drank a little but he gets it as part of his feed so not really that interesting
Calm and condition in water, this worked well recently for another that was not drinking, he was not interested.
Peppermint extract, possibly going to help, he is very interested in the taste and smell and drank a little last night, this is rather bizarre as in the 21/2 years I have had him he has NEVER taken and eaten a polo, he has now started to so something must be tempting him.

All his feeds are soaked but he will not eat them very wet, he has to eat as they have meds in.

He has adlib haylage and is eating that well, it is fairly dry so should encourage more drinking.
He also has been getting dry hay, I could not decide whether it was better to get him drinking or to try it soaked, have put some in to soak to see if that gets more fluids in.

I will probably get the vet in the morning but this is going to be ongoing as he has another 6 weeks box rest and he needs to drink to get well.
His intake is about 1/3 of what it was before he went away, eating much the same.
He is getting electrolytes in his feed, he was sent with some but no idea whether they gave him the feed and supplements he was sent with.

Any ideas welcome, however strange they may be.

Sorry for such a long ramble but needed to put as much in as I could, just coffee and croissants if you are quick:D
 
You could also soak the hay if he'll take it. But have you tried horse quenchers?

They come in a little sachet from tack shops in various flavours and you add them to the water. They are a mix of flavourings, grains and salts and are said to encourage drinking. I don't know about the science bit particularly but I have used them with great effect on PC ponies at camp who are dehydrating. And on one of my own lads who doesn't drink away from home. I've never known anything not take them. Plus they only cost about 50p per sachet so you can experiment without breaking the bank!

The other possibility - but discuss with your vet - is the use of electrolytes or salt. Both boost the need for water by increasing the salt content of the body - but that might not be the best idea depending on what happened to your boy!
 
I was thinking about the quenchers but never used them, great to hear you have and they worked, thanks:)

He is on electrolytes, vets advice, with extra salt but he is so picky if I put too much in he will not eat so probably not taking in enough to really increase his thirst, it is so much easier to deal with greedy horses that are grateful for any scrap of food;)
 
soak the hay and haylage for 24hrs and feed whilst still dripping it will increase his water intake without the need to be drinking it, put more than one bucket in the stable and use one litre apple juice to 4 litres water, try pear juice, speak to vet about adding salt to feed.

try raising a bucket as maybe he is not happy/comfortable to drink of the floor for some reason?

maybe try soaked grass nuts/high fibre cubes?

can he be walked in hand? as sometimes so movement gets the gut going and kickstarts the drinking.

add lots of oil to his feed if he will eat it/quarter to half a pint per feed

lots of speedi-beet 'juice' in the feeds and offer 3-4 tiny feeds per day

good luck keep thinking outside the box to get those fluids in, its a tough one
 
Jools1234 said:
soak the hay and haylage for 24hrs and feed whilst still dripping it will increase his water intake without the need to be drinking it, put more than one bucket in the stable and use one litre apple juice to 4 litres water, try pear juice, speak to vet about adding salt to feed.

try raising a bucket as maybe he is not happy/comfortable to drink of the floor for some reason?

maybe try soaked grass nuts/high fibre cubes?

can he be walked in hand? as sometimes so movement gets the gut going and kickstarts the drinking.

add lots of oil to his feed if he will eat it/quarter to half a pint per feed

lots of speedi-beet 'juice' in the feeds and offer 3-4 tiny feeds per day

good luck keep thinking outside the box to get those fluids in, its a tough one
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Thanks, no walking for 6 weeks, sadly:(

He is getting 4/5 feeds, several buckets of different water I am waiting on him hand and hoof.

Raising the buckets a good idea, he seems comfy as it is his hind leg but worth a try:)

Oil, brilliant, it was on the list of to do but got lost along the way.
 
How fussy about hay is he? Would he eat it if you put a leaf in a big trug full of water so its so wet its almost floating? And have you tried water from whatever source he usually drinks from in the field, such as filling a bucket from the water trough? And have you experimented at all with different temps of water? Difficult I know but any chance of trying a receptacle made of a different material? I'm guessing you have plastic water buckets, you could try a different type of plastic, or if you can get hold of some sort of ceramic or metal container? Although no ideas what you could use big enough & safe enough to leave him with. Reason I say it is friends horse was rather odd, it must have tasted different cos she'd only drink from plastic buckets if they were those thick stubbs ones. She was super fussy about everything.
 
I used Horsequencher but have recently started adding some made up fast fibre which 2 of mine love. I also add warm water.
 
Littlelegs said:
How fussy about hay is he? Would he eat it if you put a leaf in a big trug full of water so its so wet its almost floating? And have you tried water from whatever source he usually drinks from in the field, such as filling a bucket from the water trough? And have you experimented at all with different temps of water? Difficult I know but any chance of trying a receptacle made of a different material? I'm guessing you have plastic water buckets, you could try a different type of plastic, or if you can get hold of some sort of ceramic or metal container? Although no ideas what you could use big enough & safe enough to leave him with. Reason I say it is friends horse was rather odd, it must have tasted different cos she'd only drink from plastic buckets if they were those thick stubbs ones. She was super fussy about everything.
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He is fussy, he has got wet hay now and does not look impressed:( will leave it and see if he eats.
Water from the field trough is worth a try, it looks a bit green now but will be ok as it is mainly rainwater.
He has 2 types of bucket, one now on an upturned dustbin, more interested in the bin than the water:rolleyes:
Metal bucket a thought he was almost wanting to lick the bin so it he may
like the metalic taste.

Thanks :)
 
fizzer said:
I used Horsequencher but have recently started adding some made up fast fibre which 2 of mine love. I also add warm water.
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Supertrooper said:
Epsom salts in feed, makes them drink more.

Make up really sloppy sugar beet or fast fibre xx
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Horse quenchers on shopping list to get as soon as I can, if it is as good as they say it could be the answer and useful longer term to keep him drinking.

Fast Fibre/ speedibeet sloppy he is not interested in:(

He is getting salt but if there is enough in to make him need to drink he will not eat the food so no use, I think Epsom salts would be the same but I can try.

I will try hot water on his feed later, the feed may smell more interesting.

Thanks, it is all helpful:)
 
Pick some buckets full of grass for him? Many a time I've gone on lane walks with 2 buckets and picked grass. Most of the time it goes down well, and will help get some 'juices' in!

Good luck.
 
Add plain salt to his feed, increase to a tablespoon per day. Give just plain water and don't bother with electrolytes is my suggestion.
 
As suggested earlier- if he is used to drinking rain water, then maybe it is the taste/smell of tap water that he doesn't like.

I would have a go at providing collected rain water and see if that makes a difference.

I would be careful about the salt route, as I would worry that if he is not drinking that you may exacerbate the problem further

I would also try raising the bucket- my oldie finds it very hard/uncomfortable to eat off the floor mow, and her stiffness is all in the back end. ;)

good luck!
 
With my fussy drinker I always lift the bucket to him, sometimes I drop carrots in to get him interested then leave on the floor. its just trial and error, very frustrating. Sometimes I leave about 5/6 buckets in with all diff flavours etc to see which they prefer. Can change depending on what mood. !!
 
As others have said really.

My mare loves what I refer to as "skanky trough water", the greener it is the better :rolleyes: she'll have that over fresh any day.

My old boy when he gets fussy with his feeds or if back in the day he had been competing in the heat I would add fruit squash to his feed / water. Seemed to love it really sweet.

The apple in the bucket thing kinda back fired on me when he decided to drink 45 litres in 15 min to get the apple..!
 
Latest update, he has drunk about a bucket this afternoon and is looking brighter:) He has had loads of options to choose from and really seems to prefer plain tap water, he now has 3 buckets, the plain one raised which he seems to like so thanks for that suggestion, one has mint and the other molassed sugarbeet water, new this evening as I had to wait for ages while it soaked.

He has been licking his salt lick, which I am very happy about and also had a go at a lickit which I put in to see if he was interested, it has been sitting here for about 2 years as I would never use one and it was given to me, I meant to throw it away but at last found a use for it, full of sugar and no goodness but if he enjoys it anything to cheer him up.

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions, he is not out of the woods yet so I am sure to get round to trying more in the next few days.
 
Nari said:
That's good news, fingers crossed he starts to improve now :)
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Thank you, I am hoping that once he is fully hydrated it will be easier to maintain, I can then get on with looking after the others, they are getting jealous of the extra attention he is having and all the naughty treats.
 
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