How important is fresh water for horses? And ways to keep water troughs cool on sweltering days
We as human beings have multiple and endless means of having a fresh and cool drink. Go to the fridge, stop at the gas station, or take with us a cooler full of ice and cold drinks. Take a moment to reflect on the fact that the only food the animals in our care have is the water we supply them with. There are occasional showers or thunderstorms that cool their watering holes and moisten their bodies, but other than that, they depend on us every day for an essential nutrient: water. Yes, water is a nutrient, which means you can’t survive without it. Of course, this is something we all know, but do we realize how vital we are to our horses once we put them in a stable, small paddock or pasture, especially during the brutally hot months?
In the sweltering heat, we and our horses MUST STAY HYDRATED. I don’t know about you, but when I’m really thirsty, the last thing I want to do is drink hot water, hot soda, or hot juice. Well, when you have a fifty or a hundred gallon or even bigger trough filled with water and it’s out in the sun all day, it can get hot or even hot. Now if you’ve just mounted your horse and he or she has been sweating profusely, you give it a bath and don’t ask if it would like some cool water as you ride away, then when you turn it into your pasture, the only water you they have to drink is lukewarm or even hot water. This can be unattractive and there is a chance that your horse will stop drinking and start eating. So now your horse is thirsty, he can stand in the sun grazing and sweat more. The horses know that later at night the water will get cold. The problem is that in sweltering heat, waiting hours to rehydrate can be unhealthy. Dehydration is a serious problem. Humans and horses can become dizzy, disoriented, nauseous, and even pass out. Dehydration can cause many other problems and even death. So my point is that you can take a few extra steps to help keep your watering holes fresh, clean, and attractive.
First, be prepared to have a brush in hand and clean your troughs up to once, twice or three times a week. Slime, reflux from horses’ mouths after they have eaten their grain, insects and bird droppings, among other contaminants, are things that happen on a daily basis. I first scrub all the walls and bottom of the trough as much as possible before pouring the water out. I leave a little in the bottom and finish cleaning the tub or drinking fountain. Then rinse the feeder and fill it. Not so hard. Okay, a nice sparkling hot tub for about a day, if you’re lucky. The next day, after I feed, I check all the tubs to see how fresh they are since the night. If all is well, I check the feeders again around noon to see if they are fresh. If the tubs are hot, I take a siphon hose and draw out half or all of the water, depending on how hot the day is supposed to be and how warm or hot the water is. Then, of course, fill the tub to the desired amount. If you only have two horses in the field and you have a 100-gallon tub, you can probably fill it halfway. Then after I feed in the late afternoon or early evening I check the tubs to see if they are cool again, and if they are not as cool as I would like, then I put the hose back in the bottom of the trough and then let the water run. Water. on top of the trough for a while. Believe it or not, horses appreciate when you refresh the water or clean the tubs. They always come sniffing around, not to mention getting in the way, pulling at your hair and clothes and grabbing the brush, then start drinking as soon as fresh water starts coming out of the hose. When I was at the racetrack, whenever I put fresh water in a bucket, the horse always came to drink. Properly hydrated horses will maintain their weight better, have a much shinier coat, and perform at a higher level. A horse that is dehydrated does not feel well, has a dull coat, may not eat as well as usual, and may become lethargic and listless.
Remember, horses often drink after they’ve eaten, so try to refresh the water before they finish eating their grain.
These actions may seem so trivial, but I can assure you that you will never want to see a horse with heat exhaustion, of which dehydration is the first step in this direction. It’s a horrible sight to watch and can expire in as little as ten minutes. If you try to put your drinkers under a tree, you will have to deal with leaves in the water and a lot of dirt will fall from the trees as well. Once you get into the habit of cleaning your feeders often and refreshing the water daily, this will be just another chore you’ll be doing for the animals you love so much. I would go so far as to say that horses that have clean, fresh water every day will probably in my opinion drink at least twice as much water, if not more. After seeing how much more water your horses drink and how much better it helps them feel in the heat, you won’t think twice about doing it another way.
