My Annual Water Blog PSA

It is only early May, and for the first time, I had to dump and refill the buckets in the barn multiple times, and it isn’t even Mother’s Day/my birthday weekend. When I stuck my hand in Gabe’s water bucket at 8:00 PM and felt how hot it was, I wanted to throw myself to the ground and have a tantrum. I had already mowed the parts of our farm that couldn’t be reached with the rider and required the push mower- and was in a foul mood as a result. But having to dump the buckets for the 4th time in one day was enough cause to send me to the looney bin.

I know I have blogged about the importance of water before, but people just don’t seem to get it and it bears repeating and updating! Consider this your PSA to start checking your buckets! Here in north Central Florida, we are already experiencing record heat, and the forecast for the summer is not looking good. I barely survived last year’s record heat, but it at least wasn’t truly miserable until July.

As children, we learned early on that water is one of the most important nutrients a living body requires. This goes for all mammals, not just humans.

So why then, when it comes to horses, is it such a neglected part of horse keeping?

One of my biggest pet peeves is the lack of concern when it comes to providing clean water for horses. I have been in more barns than I care to count, where the buckets are empty, full of warm to hot water, or are slimy with algae. Workers fill buckets in the morning, sometimes not even dumping them out first, and then forget about them until dinner. Water troughs are rarely dumped because they are big and clumsy, and they might be cleaned once a month if that. Many barns that I have been to have a policy to just let the hose run while the trough overflows, creating a muddy mess and while temporarily clearing the algae out, it does nothing to clean the sides, and the slime returns within hours.

The typical horse drinks between 8 and 15 gallons of water a day. They prefer cool water...temperatures between 50-65 degrees. Horses need to drink plenty of water, not just in the summer, but during winter months as well.

Every winter, it seems that there is at least one sad story of a horse that died because they did not have access to clean, fresh and cool water. Even here in Florida, it seems that after a freeze, there is always a senseless death because the owners did not break the ice on the bucket and the horse coliced as a result of dehydration. I wonder how many summer colics are also related to lack of water intake?

It is a very simple horse management rule. Ask yourself if you want to drink the water from the bucket which you expect your horse to drink. Is the bucket clean or is it full of algae, slime, dirt, and other debris? What is the temperature of the water? is it freezing cold with a layer of ice or does it feel like sitting in a hot tub? If a horse does not drink, death can occur within 3-5 days. Often the signs leading up to death are colic and kidney failure. A dehydrated horse will be lethargic. A good way to test for dehydration is the skin fold test. Simply pinch a fold of skin. The neck is a good location to do this. If the skin immediately returns to its original state, all is good. If the skin stays rigid for 2-5 seconds, he is dehydrated and skin that stays rigid for more than 15 seconds indicates severe dehydration and immediate vet care may be needed. When riding on hot days, it is a good idea to perform a skin check periodically. Upon dismounting, offer your horse water immediately and rinse off with cool water to combat heat stroke and dehydration. The water will heat up as it comes in contact with the heated skin of the horse, so it is important to scrape the water off while you are rinsing the horse. Horses should also be offered small amounts of water while being ridden.

Many factors impact a horse’s water consumption. Horses that are primarily on pasture have less water requirements than a horse that is stalled and fed hay and grain, as grass has a moisture content of 60-80%, whereas grain and hay are low in moisture content. In addition, horses fed a high protein or high sodium diet will have a greater urine output, and thus have a higher water consumption rate. Lactating broodmares will also have a higher need for water intake.

Temperatures also play a role in water consumption. Horses tend to drink more on warmer days and less on colder days. Because they tend to drink less in the winter, that makes it all the more important to make sure that they are getting enough fluids. If you find your horse drinking less water in the winter, a wet mash is a great way to encourage them to get more fluids, as well as adding some table salt to their grain. Feeding a wet mash every day for lunch is a good way to ensure water intake, regardless of the season. Insulated buckets will help keep buckets from freezing and a bucket heater is a good economical way to heat water up.

Another factor that may affect your horse’s water intake is travel. Some horses will not drink strange water at a show venue. One way to solve this is to acclimate them at home to water with Gatorade added to their water. By adding Gatorade to their water while away from home, they will usually continue to drink. I once had a horse that would not drink strange water, even with Gatorade. We would travel with extra water from home and mix it with the water from the show location to encourage him to drink.

So how do you ensure that your horse is getting enough water?

Buckets and troughs should be dumped daily and cleaned as often as needed, whether daily or 2- 3 times a week. Even running your hand inside the bucket before dumping will provide a light cleaning. I keep a scrub brush near my hose just for scrubbing buckets. Not only are water buckets cleaned, but feed tubs are cleaned daily and my feed buckets are cleaned at least once a week. My barn design, which is a shedrow, allows for easily dumping buckets. First my feed tubs are removed from the stalls, the water from the buckets is dumped into the feed tubs and feed buckets and I muck stalls while the buckets soak. After all barn chores are finished, I clean and hang the buckets and tubs back up. Barns which are not designed in such a manner to allow easy dumping can come up with creative solutions, whether dumping buckets out the back window or door or dumping the water into a wheelbarrow or into the manure spreader. Names on buckets or a color-coded system will ensure that the correct buckets are returned to the right stalls.

A barn that simply adds new water to a half filled, dirty water bucket every morning, is not practicing good horse management. It is a good idea to hang more than one bucket in your horse’s stall if they are stalled for any length of time. I always hang 2 buckets of water, and if I have a hay dunker, I will provide a 3^rd bucket away from the hay.

Troughs should be treated the same way. I prefer using muck buckets instead of big troughs, as they are easier to dump and clean daily. If you are in an area with water shortages, providing smaller amounts of water more often will reduce the amount of wasted water. Leave a branch or rope to provide an escape route for any animal or bird which may fall into the trough. Having something for them to climb onto will save their life and prevent contamination of the water. While you are filling up with fresh water, take the time to look around your paddock or fields, checking for broken boards, toxic weeks or for any trash that may have blown into the field overnight. It is all part of practicing good stable management.

In areas of extreme heat or cold, water temperatures should be checked often throughout the day. It is not uncommon for me to dump and re-fill my buckets 4-5 times a day during extreme heat. Filling buckets and troughs half-way will prevent waste of water, but it is imperative to check the water level frequently to make sure that your horse has not depleted the water. When the temperatures are extreme, test the water temperatures often by sticking a hand of finger in a bucket. A good rule of thumb is to check the water every 2 hours.

Providing clean, fresh water daily can be a lot of work during certain times of the year, but it is imperative to make sure your horse is getting that very important nutrient! Remember, it’s all about the horse!