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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 425
 
Location: California | So I have a 17 yr old mare, who drinks a ton of water. I have a 55 gallon barrel in her stall that she will drink up in about a day and a half-2 days. In other words, I fill the bucket completely every other day.
Some days, she will drink it a bit faster than others. I don't fill it every single day because it's not even half way empty the next day, plus I like to keep a close eye on it. HOWEVER some days I check & it's completely empty, she will look super sucked up and act like shes dying for water. In realty she never goes very long without it.
Compared to my other horses who have the same size water barrels; they drink maybe half the amount or less than she does.
Is drinking that amount of water even normal anyway? I had heard rumors about horses who drink a ton of water being diabetic, but i've never actually heard of this.
She gets alfalfa and oat hay-no grain, not being ridden now and is in a large paddock. |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| When I feed Alfalfa they always drink more and pee more. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 425
Location: California | That would make sense. Would it be a terrible idea to switch her off alfalfa? We are in CA so I'm already worried about intestinal stones anyway. She's a bit of a hard keeper so I keep alfalfa in her diet.
The other horses also get oat and alfafa, but they don't drink even half as much as she does.
I should probably mention I have had this horse since she was 3-never seemed to be a huge deal but we also had automatic waters at the boarding facility so I wouldn't have noticed |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Wyoming | ccarpe18 - 2017-08-10 11:43 AM
That would make sense. Would it be a terrible idea to switch her off alfalfa? We are in CA so I'm already worried about intestinal stones anyway. She's a bit of a hard keeper so I keep alfalfa in her diet.
The other horses also get oat and alfafa, but they don't drink even half as much as she does.
I should probably mention I have had this horse since she was 3-never seemed to be a huge deal but we also had automatic waters at the boarding facility so I wouldn't have noticed
Talk to your vet, could be diabetic or prone to tying up. Diabetic can be ruled out with blood work done. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | I would get some blood work done, sounds like there could be an underlying problem possibly. OR she just may be a huge drinker. But that does seem like A LOT to me. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 425
Location: California | Thanks for the suggestions! I was thinking about having my vet pull some blood work as well! Wanted to see what everyone else thinks or if they ever had a horse like this?
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 Just a Yankee
Posts: 1239
Location: Some where I haven't left yet | I've had two geldings that have drank water like this.... It was/is a pain thing with both of them. The one gelding if I gave him Banamine - he'd stand quiet and relaxed and water comsumption fell, when he didn't have some sort of pain meds he would pace and drink water. The other has ring bone and when he doesn't have his previcox drinks like you describe. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| The one I had drank like that when he was hot for ulcers. GastroGard sorted him back out and he went to drinking normally. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 920
| I have one like that. I think he has a metabolic disorder. He's a real easy keeper. Check kidneys also. |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| ulcers |
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Defense Attorney for The Horse
Location: Claremore, OK | Sometimes a sign of ulcers. They're trying to get some relief by drinking extra water . Same as some people do with heartburn. Does she have a nibble net filled with hay so she can graze on it 24/7 ? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 425
Location: California | I will definitely look into ulcers, that would make probably the most sense.
I googled cushings and insulin resistance. The only things that don't make sense are she sheds normal-grows a ton of hair for winter, but she has always been like that. I've never been able to blanket her because she will just sweat.
She is definitely not fat-I feel like she could use more weight than anything. It could also just be muscle loss since I really don't work her much, but still. She does get hay in a slow feeder
Other than the weight-she does have sore feet/prone to abscess in her front hooves so that kind of leads me back to the idea of insulin resistance again. Of course with all that water intake, there is a huge mud mess that she made on the inside run of her pen. I've tried to clean it, but it just makes it worse. |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | ccarpe18 - 2017-08-11 12:40 PM I will definitely look into ulcers, that would make probably the most sense.
I googled cushings and insulin resistance. The only things that don't make sense are she sheds normal-grows a ton of hair for winter, but she has always been like that. I've never been able to blanket her because she will just sweat.
She is definitely not fat-I feel like she could use more weight than anything. It could also just be muscle loss since I really don't work her much, but still. She does get hay in a slow feeder
Other than the weight-she does have sore feet/prone to abscess in her front hooves so that kind of leads me back to the idea of insulin resistance again. Of course with all that water intake, there is a huge mud mess that she made on the inside run of her pen. I've tried to clean it, but it just makes it worse.
The weight/hard keeper issues could also be a sign of ulcers. GastroPLUS works great on gastric and hind gut ulcers and it's affordable. Blood work would still be a great idea though at her age. Catching any issues sooner than later are always best. |
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