You can lead a horse to water....

[Keimanp]

but does anyone know any tricks to make him drink?

I have a minature Shetland named Sparky, he is continuously hungry and gains weight by breathing air. I think he is more thirsty than hungry and his urine is particularly strong to the point of burning holes in the grass (not on immediate contact but within a week the grass is dead, luckily he only chooses a couple of places to go and revisit's them)

I would like to see if making an effort to get him to drink more would reduce the strength of his urine.

He is up to date with his annual check ups etc. He doesn't appear to be dehydrated with skin pinch tests. The vet isnt concerned about it and he appears to be generally healthy.

The trough is cleaned regularly and he doesn't seem to have a preference as to the age of the water. Warming the water doesn't appear to be any more appealing.

I have also taken a pinch of chaff and mixed it into half a bucket of water to try and entice him. He just swills the water round lets it settle and then licks the chaff off the side of the bowl.

Any other ideas on how to get a horse, or even a minature one to take on additional fluid would be appreciated.

 

[smiffyimp]

my horse is bugger for drinking after comps when he really needs to drink. I use HorseQuencher and it really works!

 

[AFlapjack]

http://www.horsequencher.co.uk/

 

[ladyt25]

I don't actually have anything useful to add as my horse is one who really likes his water. However, my youngster is being a companion to my sister's horse who is on paddock rest at moment so my youngster is in a larger paddock next to him. My sister chpped some apples to put in her horse's water as an extra thing to keep him amused and she put some in my youngster's water. My youngster will normally drink about half a big bucket of the water in the day. However, he obviously worked out the best way to get the floating apples was to drink ALL the water in the bucket!!! I thought it was pretty clever!

Maybe you could try that with yours although tricky if he only has a shared trough.

 

[starryeyed]

I've heard really good things about HorseQuencher, I'm going to be buying some in for winter because I have a horse who refuses to drink and it always makes him poorly so I'm hoping this will do the trick!

 

[Honey08]

I He is up to date with his annual check ups etc. He doesn't appear to be dehydrated with skin pinch tests. The vet isnt concerned about it and he appears to be generally healthy.

I wouldn't be that worried then.

Is he on decent grazing? My two have just gone onto their winter field this week, which has good green grass (and its rained). They have gone from drinking two full buckets of water while in their stables at night, to not drinking hardly anything - as they are getting water from the grass and rain..

 

[Blitzen]

I may get shot down here, but have you tried adding a bit of sugar free cordial to his water? My mare would never drink after competing, until one day I left an open bottle of fanta on the trailer ramp as I was untacking her. She picked it up with her teeth and slurped a bit (though really just tipped most of it on the floor) and started looking for more, the minx. I now put a dash of sugar free orange squash in her water after comps,and she loves it! Maybe not an everyday solution, but it works when I want her to have a drink before we box up to go home. X

 

[Miss L Toe]

Try adding some electrolyte to her feed, or salt, I try a drink of water plus sugar beet nuts, my boy likes to suck up the dregs! Is the urine concentrated, ie dark or normal ie light and clear.

 

[merry mischief]

Try putting some apple juice in his water and feed speedibeet mixed extra watery, how long has he been like that?