Horse Care: Providing water in the winter

Hi Dear Reader,

I hope this finds you well.

We have entered into the challenging part of the Minnesota winter. It is dark, cold, and windy. In fact, the winds are pounding the side of the house enough the windows are rattling.

Horses seem to fall apart when the weather gets like this. One of the most common problems is maintaining access to fresh water and making sure the horses are drinking enough of it to maintain hydration. Some horses don’t like to drink cold water. Or the water tanks or automatic waterers freeze because the heaters can’t keep up with the cold. The heaters do well most of the winter, but if it is windy and the wind chill is low they can't keep up. Or if the power is lost, the tanks and automatic waterers freeze. Some horses will “punch” through the layer of ice with their noses to get to the water, but many won’t. I had one horse that would do that while the others stood back and waited for me to come and break the ice. Another possible problem is that the tank heater or heated buckets develop a short and electrify the water. Humans can’t usually feel the electric charge but horses can. They will boycott the water until it is fixed.

If horses don’t drink enough water, they become dehydrated and can develop impaction colic. This is severe constipation and is very painful. It can be life-threatening. I wrote a previous article about colic if you are interested.

So keeping water available during long cold, winters is a challenge. There are a few different ways to help. Heated water buckets are 5 gallon buckets with a heating element within them. They plug into an outlet. They prevent the water from freezing but if the water does freeze in them (like the power is out) they take forever to melt the ice. There are also heating elements that can go into large stock tanks or in automatic waters. Other people carry hot water to the barn several times a day to mix with the cold water so the horses have warm water to drink. I spent many years growing up hauling hot water to the barn, even though we had tank heaters. Some of our horses would only drink the warm water.

I also recommend to my clients to add salt or electrolytes to the horse’s feed. This will encourage them to drink. Also, a warm mash is sometimes appreciated. This is when hot/warm water is added to hay pellets, beet pulp, feed, or rice bran. It makes it a soupy oatmeal consistency feed that a lot of horses love. It is a nice way to treat the horse and get them to drink more water. My horses love it with alfalfa cubes, beet pulp, senior feed, applesauce, and shredded carrots with a dash of salt. 

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Stay warm and hydrated this winter.

Hugs,

Allie