Horse refusal to drink water

Question
I have a 7 year old, 14.1hh American Bashkir Curly Horse.He is paddocked with a matted stall and he is very hardy. We are currently feeding him 2nd cut timothy and he is wormed. He is ridden for about 1.5 hours, 3-5 times a week (jumping, trail and english pleasure.)

The vet came out and couldn't figure what was wrong...As instructed We have rescently been giving him bran mash, apple juiced water, electrolytes, salt, vitimins, occasionally soaked hay.

Q: Why in the last 2 weeks has my horse not drunken any water and is still peeing, pooping and acting normal????

Answer
Hi Elizabeth,

First, timothy hay is not enough to sustain a horse with this workload.  Second, I recommend removing the bran mash.  I believe that there is no place in the diet of horses for bran mashes.  Wheat bran binds calcium and stops the horse from being able to absorb it.  Why does he need it?  I would assume a 7yo would still have all his teeth?  

Also the apple juiced water - why??  All that is doing is adding unnecessary sugar to the water which could also dehydrate him.

The reason he isn't drinking as much is that he's getting water from his feed.   

Why are you feeding both salt and electrolytes?  A horse with this workload doesn't need both.  A tablespoon of salt in the feed is enough.

I would suggest giving him a daily feed of (approx amounts only):

500g lucerne/alfalfa chaff
500g oaten chaff (or equivalent)
200g RICE bran or a horse & pony pellet
Salt
vitamins
dampen with a little water or weak molassess water

Plus plenty of timothy hay and unflavoured water.

Your horse should be back to normal in no time.  If the problem persists, I would suggest having your vet carry out some blood tests to ascertain if there is some physiological problem.

Good luck!