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  Discussion on New boarding stable & horse isn't drinking & becoming dehydrated
Author Message
Member:
ynotgold

Posted on Monday, Mar 17, 2008 - 1:05 pm:

I moved my horse to a new boarding stable two days ago and he has only drank one bucket of water. The first day he looked fine,no signs of dehydration (there are auto waterers during daily turnout & buckets in the stalls)so I didn't think much of it. This morning I went out to check on him and he looked physically different. His flanks were sunken in, his gums weren't slobbery & you can see the long muscles running along the length of his belly. He is noticeably thinner today then yesterday. He had good gut sounds a temperature of 101.5 and his heartrate seemed fast but I didn't have a watch to be sure. His stool seemed a bit dry but not very much different than normal. I gave him some electrolytes with some Senior to hopefully encourage him to drink. Is it common for horses moved to a new location to not like the new water and stop drinking? You would think he would drink when he got thirsty but it's to the point where he is becoming dehydrated. He had colic surgery 10 months ago so I don't want him to colic again. Any advice on how to get him drinking again? I am going to clean out his buckets really carefully because they may stink to him but I don't know what else to do at this point.
Member:
canter

Posted on Monday, Mar 17, 2008 - 4:09 pm:

Christine, have you tried adding flavored cool-aid or gatorade to his water to tempt him and possibly hide the taste of the water at the current barn?

Another thought is to see if the previous barn will let you take a a few gallons of water (perhaps in empty & well cleaned milk jugs) so that you can mix the water of the two barns, starting with a higher ratio of old to new water and gradually reducing the old water & increasing the new. This would obviously work with his bucket but not with the auto waterers, at least until he starts to get used to the new water.

Also, my mare has a favorite bucket to drink from when I show. I always hang 2 when we are away from home, but she always drinks from the blue bucket and not the black (don't ask me why). If yourhorse has ever shown a preference, now would be the time to indulge him.

Good luck.
Member:
scooter

Posted on Monday, Mar 17, 2008 - 5:55 pm:

Hi Christine, When I worked at a boarding barn it was actually quite common for new horses not to drink. We always gave them a day to see if they would, but when the ganted up as you describe we would try numerous things. Here are a few things that worked for us.

Put an apple or carrot in his bucket....give him a bite first and make sure he sees you put it in the bucket...sometimes we would hold our hand in there.

Salt in the feed.

If your horse will drink from a hose and most think it is fun! try that.

If the bucket is hanging try putting it on the ground...I don't know why but some would drink then.

Are you sure he isn't drinking outside?
Good Luck
Member:
ynotgold

Posted on Monday, Mar 17, 2008 - 6:41 pm:

I know he didn't drink during the night because the water level was the same in the buckets in his stall. We turned him out in the morning in a roundpen that didn't have an auto waterer and gave him water in buckets. I went back out to check on him at my lunch after giving the electrolytes a chance to kick in and he drank a whole bucket. So, I guess the electrolytes are working. He was still gaunt looking but his temp had DrOpped and gut sounds were increased so I think he will be fine. I'll keep a close eye on him in the next few days since I can pick up on subtle differences much quicker then people who don't know him yet. He never licks a salt lick so I am going to start giving him some salt in his normal grain ration. I think my horse just likes to scare me so I come out and see him more often. Thanks for the advice.
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