# Horse not drinking...



## Ladybird (14 September 2009)

Also posted in NL.

Just looking for ideas/experiences, I have an 11 yr old tb mare, she has a slight swelling in front of teets and is sore on her back above this area (I believe kidneys are in this area?).
Have been monitoring her water consumption since wednesday and it's not good.

She hasn't drunk anything in 48 hrs and probably a total of 20litres (absolute max.) since weds.
She's absolutely fine in herself, poo's fine and her apetites not changed.
Had vet out today to look at her and she's said swelling is fat deposit (TB that lives off fresh air), put soreness on back down to muscular soreness.
Temp normal at 37.9C, droppings normal and urine slightly concentrated.
Took blood and will get results tomorrow so will know more then. Also gave condition score of 3.5 (is overweight but losing it's easier said than done).

Vet didn't seem overly worried and said 'she could just be very efficient with her water'...

Only liquid going into her has been 0.5l in her dinner, and this morning gave her some soaked hay (before this all hay has been dry) to get some fluid into her, paddock has v. little grass in it so isn't getting much moisture from grass.

So has anyone had any similar experiences and if so what am I likely to expect etc.

Thanks for reading and sorry if it's babbled


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## magicgirl (14 September 2009)

I had a pony who had suffered a milc colic bout and then wouldn't eat hard food or hay or drink water. I turned him out for short periods on some long lush grass which he eat and I used a large syringe to get water into his mouth which he would actually swallow. Hid droppings were normal.  I had to this for a week before he started drinking normally and it took a furthr wek to start eating. He was fine after all that.


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## bailey14 (14 September 2009)

Maybe you could tempt her to drink by giving her apple juice or mixing apple cordial with water to taste.  You could do the same with peppermint cordial (I think  off licences sell these type of things).  Does she like speedi beet, how about giving her lots of sloppy speedibeet, or even speedibeet water?  Test how dehydrated she is by pinching her skin on her neck between finger and thumb, the skin should bounce back to normal but if she is dehydrated it will stay out for a second or two, depending on how dehydrated she is.  Her urine will be concentrated because it is not being diluted with water, ie the more you drink the more your urine is clear coloured (best way to check with humans to see if we drink enough is to look at the colour of your wee)


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## SO1 (14 September 2009)

I am presuming her paddock does not have an automatic water trough and that you put buckets in her paddock so you can monitor her water intake in the field too.

I presume she is out on her own in her paddock as well. 

Is there any possibility that someone could be topping her water up for you whilst you are not around if they see that is has got a bit low?


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## Box_Of_Frogs (14 September 2009)

If she hadn't drunk anything for 48 hours, she'd be in shock by now and not producing any urine. Can't remember the exact figure but horses need gallons and gallons of water every day. Imagine how you'd feel if you didn't have a single drop to drink for 2 days. You'd be in hospital on a drip. More likely is that ned is craftily drinking from somewhere. If you do the pinch test it might reassure you. Somewhere on her shoulder, grab a good pinch of skin and draw it up a few inches into a tent. When you let it go it should smoothly slide back into the rest of the skin. If it stays for ages up in the tent shape, your ned is dehydrated and needs the vet.


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## paulineh (15 September 2009)

I agree with applecart14 about using sugar beet water.

All mine get very sloppy feeds, which makes them take in extra fluids.

Syringing some water in us another way.


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## Couloir (24 September 2009)

We have a ridiculous mare who only has to look at a bucket of dry feed and she colics! She never, ever drinks, her water buckets are scrubbed out daily and re-filled, and she is such a hooligan that she is in a tiny tiny paddock with a bucket, so we know she doesn't drink out there either. We've found the only way to get water into her and stop her colicking, is to give her bran mash soup! She get's her normal feed (Castle Show and Condition Cubes, Mollichaff Showshine and supplements) with one scoop of bran on top, and 1 and a half scoops of water for every scoop of feed.
Give that a try! Maybe try it slightly less sloppy at first, and if she likes it, build up a bit, you could also try mixing some molasses into the water first to make it tastier.


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