dehydration

Question
Dear Corlena,
I have a problem with my thoroughbred racehorse. He is dehydrated almost all the time. He sweats a lot and it's always snow white cream, not liquid. He is not nervous even a little, actually he is too peaceful, so it is not nerve problem. My vet sad that to put him more electrolytes, but my horse drinks small amounts of water even then. And before the races we give him a lot infusion so he doesn't suffer benefits...but I would like to help him during training to made him to drink more water. During summer we give him watermelons to eat cause of fluids. But always on dehydration test on his neck it shows not positive resaults..so do You have any advice how to made him to drink more water except of salts and elecrolytes?
Thank You

Answer
Hi Tajana,

Thank you for your question.  Your dilemma certainly is an interesting one.  Your vet is right in that the most common way to get your horse to both drink more water AND retain it, is to feed either salt (and in this case I'm referring to feeding loose salt, not just a block) or electrolytes.  The problem in feeding either the salt or electrolytes is that fussy eaters won't eat them readily so adding them on top of feed just keeps the horse from eating their food.  The trick I use on these horses that sift out the salt and leave it in their buckets is to dissolve the salt in a small amount of water (the amount that would completely soak the grain without making a huge mush) and once the salt is completely dissolved, I add the grain and let the grain completely soak up the water before feeding (which only takes a few minutes if you are feeding a pelleted feed).  This evenly distributes the salt and hides it quite well.

Horses can be very fussy about the taste of water and will often take time to adjust to a new tasting water.  Fussy drinkers that change venues frequently, or that simply don't like the water where they are, will not drink enough water in a day in protest of the taste.  One solution to this particular problem is to flavor the water to disguise the taste that the horse does not like, or disguise the change in the taste of water.  There is some research being done on the best way to flavor the water, but 2 that I have used successfully in the paste is orange Kool-Aide or apple cider vinegar.  The secret is to start flavoring the water before you anticipate a change in water taste (which for you means start before your horse goes into training) AND to only use a very little amount. I would also suggest that all water sources your horse has access to is flavored, which means buckets in the stalls as well as troughs in the paddocks. The flavoring should only be enough to mask taste...not to create a strongly flavored drink.

Horse's don't necessarily have to drink water, any water they eat (as part of their food) counts towards their daily water requirement...this is why horses eating fresh pasture don't drink a lot of water...because the grass is 80% water.  So if you truly can't get your horse to drink enough water, perhaps you can trick him into eating his water.  This is done by soaking his food...and you can soak both the hay and grain if you want.  Just keep in mind that hay soaked for more than 3 hours will loose valuable energy as soluble carbohydrates leach out of the forage (which is great for horses that need to loose weight, but not at all good for your racehorse) so be sure to soak hay for no more than 1 or 2 hours before feeding.  It is surprising how much water you can get into them using this technique.  Feeding soaked Beet Pulp in the diet is an absolutely fantastic way of getting water into your horse because beet pulp absorbs so much water in soaking.

I hope these tips come in handy in getting your horse to drink.

Thanks, Corlena