You can lead a horse to water...

B

Benjamin

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...but how do you get the fecker to drink??
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Any ideas on how to encourage a horse to drink more?

Benj has filled legs from box rest and he seems to have given up drinking now. He had no wet patch overnight either
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I know he needs to drink to help with the fluid he is gathering in his legs!

Any ideas anyone?
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I have read that some people put apple juice in water but I don't know is this works. Also, could you make his food wet to sneak him some water that way...
 
Apples or carrots in the water?

Does he prefer cold fresh water or water that has stood for a while?

Could you put some water with his feed to wet it?

Apple juice added to water? [could be too much sugar thinking thou!]

Hb
 
Calm and condition takes loads of water so that could be another way...but I guess him being on box rest you may not want to over feed him?
 
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I have read that some people put apple juice in water but I don't know is this works. Also, could you make his food wet to sneak him some water that way...

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I give him a handful of very wet Speedi beet so he is getting fluids that way, and he also has wet hay.
Could try a splash of apple juice...just didn't want to add too much sugar to his diet!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Apples or carrots in the water?

Does he prefer cold fresh water or water that has stood for a while?

Could you put some water with his feed to wet it?

Apple juice added to water? [could be too much sugar thinking thou!]

Hb

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He actually prefers the water in his feild, which is a cow drinking trough, which even when cleaned, is murky and slightly green
crazy.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
He actually prefers the water in his feild, which is a cow drinking trough, which even when cleaned, is murky and slightly green
crazy.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Dont know how practicable it is, but could you fetch some of that, like a 1.5 ltr pop bottle and add it to his normal water? It might be colder water when it sits outside he might prefer that?!

Random Ideas!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He actually prefers the water in his feild, which is a cow drinking trough, which even when cleaned, is murky and slightly green
crazy.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Dont know how practicable it is, but could you fetch some of that, like a 1.5 ltr pop bottle and add it to his normal water? It might be colder water when it sits outside he might prefer that?!

Random Ideas!

[/ QUOTE ]

Great idea
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Now why didn't I think of that?
 
Tea works really well and illegidly has something in it that helps the body to absorb water more than just water alone.

After i moved my boy from the UK to denmark, he hadnt drank for just over 24 hours which was obviously a major concern on arrival. The only thing that got him interested was adding tea to his water.
 
If it were me then id
1. Make sure his feed has tonnes of water in it so hes just eating a bucket of sloppy wet mess
2. Soak his hay, every little helps!
3. Put apple juice and apple halves in his water

I all this fails then suringe water down the f***ers throaght!
xx
 
I used to put peppermint essence in drinking water for shows as Breeze would not drink away from home - worked a treat.

You could also try apple squash - but not the horrible sugar free stuff - again this works well.

Finally how about some very sloppy speedibeet - or should I say speedibeet soup - he will think he is getting a feed and that should get fluids into him.

Hope he gets well soon - we have need to have another Decrepit coloured large heavy horse ride together again
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I can second the apple bobbing, Daisy loves it. As I understand, and I'm willing to be proved wrong if someone else knows better, when you leave tap water to stand the chemicals in it 'evaporate' off leaving it more natural tasting like rainwater or water in a trough. If you had two buckets you could try filling them up and leaving them to stand for 12 hours before giving it as you might find its the chemically taste that he doesn't like
 
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