Water
One of the most important aspects of a horse’s diet is clean water. As every cell in the horse is suspended in fluid and approximately 2/3 of the total body weight is comprised of water, I think you will agree that it is quite important to keep plenty of clean, fresh, temperate, water that is free from chemicals and contaminates, readily accessible to your horses.
Water Sources & Staying Away From Toxins
The best water sources are generally from a deep well or a natural flowing creek or spring. A lot of the water that a horse is forced to drink, while traveling, is water from urban water supplies that has been tainted with chlorine for the purpose of decontaminating, or getting rid of bacteria from the water system, thus rendering it safe for human consumption. Aside from the chlorine being extremely toxic to the vital organs it also has an offensive smell and taste that most horses are reluctant to drink, especially those that have been raised on good water.
Colic and Impaction – Water may play a major role!
A lot of times a horse will not drink from such a water source, as much as they should, to keep their body fluids to a safe level. This makes them susceptible to colic and/ or impaction, because they lack the fluids necessary to digest their food properly. You may be fortunate enough not to be confronted with these problems but may notice a decline in your horses’ performance and a slight cutback in feed consumption, or a lack of, or foul smelling or murky looking urine. If the manure looks too dry and if it bounces when it hits the ground like it is not moist enough you may also be suspicious. These can all be indicators of not enough water, which if not taken care of, can become life threatening issues. Another way you can check for dehydration is to pinch the skin on his shoulder or the side of the neck and watch to see how fast it returns to its original position. If it takes a little time, a couple of seconds, for it to return you are looking at a dehydration issue or not enough body fluids. At this point it is very important that you address this issue as a matter of top priority. If it returns promptly his fluid levels are probably all right, or at least not at a critical level.
What to do when traveling?
The best of all worlds is to take your own drinking water with you when you are on the road. Most of the trailer companies are now furnishing their trailers with a tank that holds a small amount of water, good enough for a horse or two for a couple of days. These tanks will probably have a plastic smell that will make the water smell and taste bad for a while when they are new, so it wouldn’t hurt to run a few tanks of water through them while you are at home to cleanse them before you are forced to use them. Another thing you can do is put a small amount of food grade hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the water if you are forced to water them in a strange environment. This will help to oxygenate the chlorinated water and help get rid of some of the offensive chlorine smell and will also help cleanse the impurities out of the water without any harmful side effects. Lemon juice will also help to neutralize the chlorine.
What is the best container for a horse’s water supply?
Another issue is, a horse prefers a water container made of metal, but these are sometimes potentially a danger of cuts to the horse. If they are sharp or made of a thin metal, you need to be careful by covering the edges with rubber or something of like materials. You will probably also notice they prefer plastic tubs to rubber tubs, especially in the hot weather. I make it a habit to steer clear of fiberglass materials because of the glass fibers that usually find their way into the water or feed. In the winter time it is also essential to know you need to either chop ice out of the water containers or keep the ice melted with some kind of heating device.
Winter Water Supply
Another myth is that a horse does not need to consume much water in the winter time when it is cold and snow is all of the water a horse needs to remain healthy. If it is warming up enough during the day to melt the snow enough the horse can get a good drink every day, he will probably get by all right. But if it is not melting you had better devise an alternate water supplementation. Some of the most severe cases of impaction I have seen occurred in the winter time.
Summer Water Supply
In the hot times of the year it is important to be as aware of water getting too hot or in the winter time water getting too cold, or freezing up. I have had people tell me their horses are not consuming as much water as they should be. I ask them what their water source is. They tell me they have a well that services their house and their corrals. You would think the water would be fine if they are using the same water in the house as they are out in the corrals. However, upon closer questioning, I find the water line goes under ground to the house and to the corrals but when it gets to the corrals it comes up out of the ground and goes along the pipe fence line to the water trough. In this short distance it is traveling along the fence line it is acting like a solar panel and the water sometimes reaches temperatures of 120 degrees. The water troughs in the hot temperatures should be kept in the shade, at very least, and water should be kept under ground until the horse is ready to consume it. Another precaution is to dump stale water from time to time to freshen the water in the trough. How would you like to drink a glass of water that has been left out on the kitchen counter for a week or two? As I said in the beginning, it is pretty important we keep a good water supply in front of our horses.
General Overview
As stated earlier these are just a few general dietary suggestions, but through time, I have proven every point that I have been making to be extremely beneficial to the welfare of most horses. It is my recommendation to remain as natural as possible when dealing with all of these situations. If at all possible refrain from feeding hay that has been raised with chemicals, and refrain from using fly sprays. By doing both of these things your horse’s liver will be much healthier. Seek out the best feed for the particular weather your area is experiencing, this may be difficult, but it will be very beneficial if you do so. If you turn your horse out on pasture, I recommend rotating them for a period of 12 hours on and then 12 hours off. Last but certainly not least, it is of utmost importance to feed your horse a beneficial whole horse supplement like the #10 Training Mix in order to help him out with the vitamins and minerals he is lacking in the everyday feed program.