Advice Please.
So Blue is not drinking much. In his stall he has a heated bucket and in the pasture he has automatic water. His bucket was full to the brim last night when I check him before I went to bed (around 11) and then this morning was only about an inch below the lip of the bucket. I thought about turning off the auto water in the pasture and putting out a bucket so I can be sure he is drinking. I aslo added some warm water to his grain this morning just so he would get something in. My older QH King used to take about 24-48 hours to really drink if we were at a show. I always ended up hauling water with us because I would stress about it.
Any ideas of how to 'lead Blue to water and make him want to drink'??
posted by Polka Dot Ponies @ 12:44 PM
3 Comments:
Electrolytes! Mix some into his feed, or into a bucket of warm water. Or, you can do the fun thing and drop an apple into his water bucket - watch him dunk his head trying to get it! XD My horse NEVER falls for that one, but then again she drinks like nobody I've ever seen without an IR problem, so....
add some salt to his grain and if he'll eat it wet down his hay and grain. you can also try adding soaked hay cubes or beet pulp to his grain to get even more fluids in him. i'd do as much as you can to get water in him to avoid a colic.. better safe then sorry right? is he used to being stalled at night with a water bucket i know of a few farms that don't keep water in horses stalls at night (horrible i know!) but he might not be used to it and turning off the auto water might be a good idea because he could just simply be getting his fill out there. good luck!
At a sale barn where I once boarded, the owner--who really knew horses--insisted most of them did not drink much after dark. I do know if I fill my water tub at night, it is still full in the morning with my three Boys who have full access to it.
I have been soaking the morning grain myself. The salt is a good idea. Could be he is drinking just fine but with the auto system you don't know it. Maybe you could leave him in one day with the bucket and see how much he drinks???
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