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Urine over load, lots of water, stall problems!

3K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  Idlepastures 
#1 ·
Levi drinks alot of water, about 40-50 gals a day. Then pee's out twice as much. ARGH. Add in rain, and we get soupy stalls. Its sooo gross :(

Currently I'm using shavings and the wood pellets to soak up what I can, but its not enough. Any tips?

Should I be terribly concerned? Is there anything I can do to make him pee less?!

And the vet has checked him out by the previous owner, and they said he's always been a big drinker/urinater, and has always made a messy stall. However, I am going to run some blood work in the near future again when the vet comes out for the house call.
 
#2 ·
That is a LOT of water. The average horse at rest drinks 5-10 gallons a day. More in heavy training or in very hot weather. But I can't imagine going over 20 gallons a day. I'd have his kidneys checked, that is a LOT of urine to make.

Are you sure he's whizzing it out? Maybe he is playing in the bucket out of boredom?
 
#3 ·
Previous owners had him checked out several times, and he's always come back healthy. But I'm going to do it again. Now, we are in Texas, and prior to this week it was on average 100 degrees.

And I thought it was him playing too, but I have the buckets rigged so he can't tip them over. He has two 18 gal plastic buckets in his stall, and he will drink both of those in a day. Plus some.

I also thought it was his neighbor that was dumping his water bucket into Levi's stall. Moved that bucket, and it helped a little bit, but not enough to warrent that being the cause of the super wet pen.

I though it was boredum. I gave him stall toys. Didn't help. I also put his hay in a hay bag to help give him something to do. Neither helped.
 
#7 ·
That and what types of shavings. I added hoops, milk jugs, and jolly balls to our stalls. No luck. Also took his hay and put in a hay bag, no help.
 
#8 ·
That stinks :-( hopefully the blood work comes back normal. After all I did with Mickey, I tend to think that just like people, some horses drink more than others, and it doesn't neccessarily mean something is wrong, health wise. It's been really hot this summer too. One thing that the vet said is to use several smaller buckets rather than one large one because it changes their focus and they can't stand with their head down and drink 30 gallons at a time...
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#9 ·
Thats a good idea, MicKey! He's been checked out several times by the previous owner, and vets have always said he is fine. But I do have a few small buckets I could try.
 
#10 ·
Are you feeding Alfalfa? Alfalfa causes horse to drink more than usual and then of course they pee more.

My horse would flood his stall and half the barn but he always pees in the same corner, so I put a huge pile of shavings there. He has an extra water bucket as well as it's important to make sure when feeding Alfalfa that the horse can have as much water as it wants/needs.
 
#12 ·
I thought my Dancer was drinking that much, and was getting awfully worried...until I watched her one day. She never touched the side of the trough, but she would plunge her whole head in the water and fling it everywhere. She would still her head in so deep she'd get water in her ears!

She still does it. I just have to make sure we keep the stupid water trough filled. (She also likes to roll in the mud she makes when she plays in the water!)
 
#13 ·
I thought that too. But I watched him. He stands there and sips water veryyyyyyy slowly. And will drink 5 gals at a time. But he does it over like 20 mins. Siiiippppppp, siiiiippppppp. Like sucking a thick shake through a straw slow!
 
#14 ·
I've had some heavy drinkers/pee-ers. They were in pens though, not stalls, but it's still a mess. I've also had some that played in the water & that was quite entertaining to everyone that saw it. If they do it by the gate, I try to get them to move it, or I try to run a little furrow to channel it elsewhere.
 
#15 ·
First , make sure he has free access to salt. I use a mineral salt lick. My horses puddle water, they splash it out, fill up their mouths and drop it , paw the 50 gallon barrel and splash it out. Amazing what they will do when they get hot in order to cool off. Is he nostrils flared and reddish ??
secondly, does he have a thick or long hair coat ? Could be cushings. It is treated with Pergolide. Usually a treatment fo 100 days shows a marked difference in hair coat, water consumption, urination, etc..
 
#16 ·
He has access to mineral and salt. I gave it to him thinking it would help with his boredum. It didn't, and he barely licks on it. But he does lick it some.

His coat is normal, short APHA coat. He doesn't overly sweat, or undersweat. He isn't short of breath or flare his nostrils. He does snort often, but not alot. Usually when he's pissy about something.

He has a normal activity level. In during the day, his stall/pen is about 10 ft wide by 30 ft long. Out at night in a large pasture. He's given 3-4 books of a hay of day. Some days finish, some days doesn't. He's on a 12% protein, 4% fat pelleted food, and on smart paks SmartGut and SmartShine supplements.

Its been hot here, around 100 a day, but for the last week its been about 90-95. His pen is half shaded, and he hasn't been seen 'playing' in his water bucket.
 
#17 ·
also stall kept horses many times get gastric ulcers. If he were mine he'd be out on pasture 24/7. But that is just how I keep my horses. I would have him scoped for an ulcer. He may be drinking to relieve stomach pain.
 
#20 ·
I'd love to have him out to pasture, its my choice as well. But its not an option at the current time. His 'stall' is more than a regular 12x12 stall. Its a small trap pen. ~10ft x ~30ft long. But still lacks in the walking around, etc, that pasture provides. I will bring this up to my vet next week when I talk with her about all this. Do you think I should add an ulcer medicine and see if it helps? My friends TB has ulcers, both gastric and colonic, and he doesn't drink but about 5 gals a day. But he is on supplements for it.

There were usually 3-4 buckets lined outside of her stall and one inside, so maybe 20-25 gallons a day?
He has two 18 gal plastic tubs in his pen now. I saw someone the other day suggest smaller buckets, and I'm going to rearrange the buckets this weekend and see if that helps.

You said he sweats fine?

Just wondering about his sweat patterns since this is often one of the hidden symptoms in anhidrosis.... Instead of sweating out some of the water they drink during hot weather, they pee it.... Just a thought.
Sweats fine, I think. I don't come out to a sweaty horse in the middle of the day, but he does produce a good amount of sweat when I work him in the round pen or on the lunge line. When we ride, he sweats, but not as much but I don't push him as hard when we ride. When we do work, he sweats where he has tack, under the saddle, under his headstall, etc.
 
#18 ·
There was a horse in my barn like that- they ended up taking the automatic waterer out of her stall and exchanging smaller buckets of water throughout the day. There were usually 3-4 buckets lined outside of her stall and one inside, so maybe 20-25 gallons a day? She had been vet checked thoroughly beforehand and they decided it was just boredom, even though she had toys.

I think after a while they were able to put her back on the automatic waterer without her going back to over-drinking.
 
#19 ·
You said he sweats fine?

Just wondering about his sweat patterns since this is often one of the hidden symptoms in anhidrosis.... Instead of sweating out some of the water they drink during hot weather, they pee it.... Just a thought.
 
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