# My horse keeps eating SNOW!



## Chuckieee (2 March 2018)

As the title says, shall I stop her??


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## Keith_Beef (2 March 2018)

Explain to her to not eat the yellow snow.

There was an article on the Horse and Hound site about eating frozen grass, and the opinion was that it's harmless. I don't remember it mentioning eating just snow, though.

January or February 2017 we had a couple of weeks of icy weather, over here, and I noticed that some of the horses during our lesson were trying to get chunks of ice from the ground, to crunch on them. I wonder if it is the texture, that they particularly like?


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## Chuckieee (2 March 2018)

Yes avoid yellow snow please lol

She has eaten all the snow on her gate and now just eating it from the ground. Odd ball. 

I&#8217;ve been putting hot water in her troughs. Maybe she doesn&#8217;t like the taste so is resorting to eating snow......


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## Shay (2 March 2018)

Very probably.  There was a great article in H&H a few months ago - the vet / research slot - where someone had done research on water type horses prefer and they found that if given a choice between an ice cold bucket and a tepid bucket they would go for the cold one every time.  But in terms of volume drunk they would actually drink more from the tepid one.  So it is quite possible she isn't overly keen on the tepid water and since she has a choice she is exercising it.  I certainly would not stop her - at least she is consuming fluid which can be quite a struggle in this.


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## JFTDWS (2 March 2018)

Shay said:



			Very probably.  There was a great article in H&H a few months ago - the vet / research slot - where someone had done research on water type horses prefer and they found that if given a choice between an ice cold bucket and a tepid bucket they would go for the cold one every time.  But in terms of volume drunk they would actually drink more from the tepid one.  So it is quite possible she isn't overly keen on the tepid water and since she has a choice she is exercising it.  I certainly would not stop her - at least she is consuming fluid which can be quite a struggle in this.
		
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They didn't talk to my mare about that - she won't touch cold water if there's warm on offer.  She's a little weirdo though.


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## DabDab (2 March 2018)

JFTD said:



			They didn't talk to my mare about that - she won't touch cold water if there's warm on offer.  She's a little weirdo though.
		
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Mine too - discovering warm drinking water this week is the most excited I've ever seen her :lol:


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## Snowy Celandine (3 March 2018)

One of my rabbits is loving drinking hot water  The horses are snuffling round in the snow and digging to get the grass so I think they are probably eating a fair bit as they are not drinking as much as I expected, despite getting through a lot of hay.

Edited to add that the rabbit is, of course, drinking warm water, not hot. Goodness, he'll be demanding a cup of tea next


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## Mule (3 March 2018)

All 3 of mine are eating snow.


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## Chinchilla (4 March 2018)

Snowy Celandine said:



			One of my rabbits is loving drinking hot water  The horses are snuffling round in the snow and digging to get the grass so I think they are probably eating a fair bit as they are not drinking as much as I expected, despite getting through a lot of hay.

Edited to add that the rabbit is, of course, drinking warm water, not hot. Goodness, he'll be demanding a cup of tea next 

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My rabbits DO get tea (fruit tea, not the stuff with caffeine obviously, )...the guinea pigs get it too, lol. 
The phrase "spoiled brats" springs to mind, couldn't think why...

OP to keep it vaguely on topic - the NF was nibbling snow yesterday and she's still here, being a bad tempered cowbag...so I guess your horse will be fine.


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## hopscotch bandit (5 March 2018)

I've been giving my horse liquorice dissolved in boiling water and allowed to cool down.  Goodness knows how much sugar she's taken on board this week when they have all stopped in due to the frozen ground but its better to get some water in them somehow in this cold weather to prevent impaction.  She has had about a pint and a half a day.  Clearly loves it.


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