Maintaining Hydration in Horses: The Roles of Water and Salt

Learn how to quench your horse’s thirst to avoid potentially dangerous scenarios, such as severe dehydration.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Maintaining Hydration in Horses: The Roles of Water and Salt
Provide fresh, clean water in clean troughs or buckets at all times. | Photo: Photos.com

The old adage is accurate: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” That’s especially true for severely dehydrated horses in medical crisis. But there are ways to keep your horse well-hydrated from the start and avoid these potentially dangerous scenarios.

First, provide fresh, clean water in clean troughs or buckets at all times. Check frequently for dirt, debris, manure, dead animals, or other contaminants. (These truly are deterrents: I have seen horses dehydrated and colicking in a paddock because they would not drink water from a trough with a dead opossum in it.) Scrubbing dirty troughs and buckets and refilling them is part of the nitty-gritty of horse keeping–don’t overlook this important first step.

In cold weather horses drink less water, especially if the water is cold as ice (or literally is ice). Warm up the water in the wintertime by regularly adding hot water or by using bucket or trough heaters. Studies have shown that horses prefer drinking water that is around 50°F

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Mary Beth Gordon, PhD, is the Director of Equine Research and New Product Development for the horse business group at Purina Animal Nutrition. Her duties include research, analyzing data, scouting for new products, reformulating older products, and working to improve the health of the horse through nutrition.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
300 votes · 300 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!