Question

The old adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” describes my endurance horse perfectly. How can I get my endurance horse to consume more water?

Answer

Encouraging horses to consume water during competition can be difficult. Several different strategies may be used with the degree of success dependent on the individual horse. To get horses to drink out of natural water sources including rivers, creeks, and ponds, horses must be previously exposed to them. Under the pressure of competition it is difficult for some horses to drink from a source of water they may have never seen. In other words, horses that drink from automatic waterers their entire lives may not quickly understand that a creek is also a source of water.

These horses would rather rush through the water and continue on the ride. Horses should be conditioned to rest when water is available. Many endurance riders will slow horses when approaching a water stop to allow the horse to relax, slow its heart rate, and to promote drinking.

Consumption of hay or grass stimulates horses to drink. In research studies, water intake is linked to the amount of dry feed consumed, with water ingestion increasing as more dry feed is eaten. Endurance riders often try to couple feed and water intake by wetting feed prior to feeding. Soaking hay in water and adding water to grain mixes does enhance water consumption.

Finally, it is thought that feeding salt increases water intake. Horses that consume large amounts of salt will drink more water, but unfortunately feeding salt does not seem to stimulate horses to do it immediately. Further, giving electrolytes (salt) to horses that are dehydrated is not recommended.