Horse not drinking

So once again Lizzy has decided to give me a headache. She decided that since Monday night she was not going to drink water. My bm will be checking her this morning to see if she drank any last night. She also didn't drink Sunday night but I'm hoping she did while she was turned out Monday. It was too cold yesterday so she stayed in, hence how I can monitor her water intake. I added about 1oz of salt to her feed yesterday morning in hopes of her drinking but as of last night still nothing.

I have rinsed out the bucket and change the water each feeding even if she didn't drink. It is not freezing in the barn. The only thing I can think of is she won't drink out of the red bucket. I have had this issue before but not to this extent. I will be putting a different black bucket in her stall tonight and I'm hoping she drinks while she is turned out.

So do horses have preference on bucket color?? Her tank outside is black.

Also I need to order her a new vitamin/mineral supp and I was wondering do I order electrolytes or is adding salt to her feed just as good? Salt is much cheaper so I would prefer to do that. Should I try adding a gatorade to her water?

She had many pee spots in her stall yesterday morning so she had to have drank water when she was out on Monday. Poo wasn't overly dry either, pretty normal looking.

What is she on for feed? If it is something that can be soaked that is a good way to get some water into them.

Oh, poppy, you seem to make sure that I don't run out of commenting, lol

Offer her tepid water whenever you're there. If there is no hot water, take a bucket, put a plastic bag in it, fill it with hot water, close with twist tie and add it to her water to make it tepid, in her favourite bucket. My horses all drank the whole bucket when it was cold. And I did a lot of carrying

Her feed is soaked so I know she has been getting some water. But it's less than 3lbs dry so not a whole lot of water there.

No hot water, and in some tanks no water at all lol. Pumps have froze so lots of hauling water out to other tanks already. Luckily all her water supply comes from the barn so it works just not anywhere near warm. We have a half working microwave that I could try warming up small amounts of water in feed pans.

I go straight from work to the barn so unfortunately I can't bring water with me, although I can on the weekends. But the cold doesn't stop her. I watch her poke a hole through the ice to gulp down water. (her tank heater was tripping breakers so for a day she got really cold water until we could get it fixed)

You have hot water at work?

My then 21year old was also an ice breaker, until one winter, not even cold cold, he colicked. We couldn't figure out why, no changes in feed or routine. Until the dentist, of all people, suggested it could be the lack of drinking due to too cold water. That's when I started giving tepid water(what a fight with folks who wanted to wash their horses when I butted in demanding to leave me some hot water lol), and he never colicked again. All three of my horses drank the whole bucked when tepid.

Hydration is one of the main reasons I feed beet pulp. It soaks up SO much water, I know my boy is "drinking" at least a bucket-full. You have to be sure to let it soak until there are no hard pieces left. I didn't appreciate exactly HOW much water it soaked up until Christmas Eve, when I decided to soak it at home before I took it out to my boy. If you don't mind the smell (I actually like it, but that's because it's a horsey smell to me!), you could even do kind of like I'm doing and soak it at home/in your car while you're at work, then it's ready to go by the time you get out to your horse! My horses will eat as much beet pulp as I give them, plus I add any supplements to it that I want.

As I noted later in that thread, I do beet pulp in the winter for exactly the reason you're describing, as well as in the summer to keep him hydrated on endurance rides.

Why not buy a bucket heater? If it ever gets really cold here, I have to put a heat source in the water trough or they don't drink. I have had horses colic when their water consumption goes down due to the cold if I don't heat the water.

So far, it hasn't been cold enough to worry about it this year.

http://www.statelinetack.com/item/he...ucket/E002891/

http://www.statelinetack.com/item/k-...eater/E000343/

Hehe yes hot water at work but I take metro and I leave work at 315 and I don't get to my car until 4. So not only will people probably give me a problem about hauling a bucket of hot water onto the bus but it will probably be cold by the time I get to the barn lol. And if I go home first I lose a half hour minimum so then it is dark by the time I get to the barn and cold mind you since nothing is heated. I will try warming some up in the microwave and see if she drinks.

I really think it is the bucket though. It took me months to get her to even take a sip out of a bucket and this one is new and red.

Edit: She gets beet pulp but its the crumbles and doesn't soak up a ton of water just enough to make it mushy. I can't soak anything in my car, it sits outside all day and it was 3 this morning and only supposed to get to the low teens.

Tanks have heaters in them but it is above 32 in the barn. She has an outlet in the stall, which I find odd and a fire hazard so I am worried about using that.

Poor microwave.....
And if you get the biggest Thermos you can find and fill it at work...it should be still good enough by the time you arrive at the barn.

Just a note on the beet pulp - if you use the pellets, it REALLY soaks up a ton of water! Case in point - this was my mistake the other day: Soaking Beet Pulp

It's cold enough, I highly doubt the beet pulp would go rancid. What if you put (pelleted) beet pulp in a bucket with water when you're there, left it somewhere safe, then later your BO could give it to her or even you could let it go the full 24 hours and give it to her yourself?

Not going to lie, the beet pulp is my colic-prevention plan at the moment because my horses are outside and their water can get so cold and even frozen over. They're still drinking, but I just worry. I know the beet pulp is a fail-safe for them, which is why it could be a good temporary (or in my case, permanent) back up regardless for why she's not drinking and/or getting enough water.