Re: hydration

[DreamWeaver <nvrider@home.com>]

At 06:14 PM 09/06/2001 -0600, Susan Garlinghouse wrote:
>I asked if she'd really
>offered the horse water and her reply was that, well, they'd passed a couple
>of water stops, but the horse didn't seem to really notice them, so they
>just kept going.

Okay, so what if (have you missed me asking you questions?)..........

...........you go past a questionable water source and your horse insists 
on drinking and you can't stop him?  I've encountered that a couple of 
times this summer. One time we were riding by a corn field (must've been 
Nebraska) and they had obviously been spraying chemicals.  One of the 
farmers warned us.  Well, wouldn't you know it there we were with puddles 
in the road next to a field being sprayed and irrigated right then....and 
the horse bent down to drink and I couldn't stop him.  I was really worried 
at the time, but nothing bad happened.

Another time we came upon a cattle trough, the horse started drinking about 
the time I noticed a dead/decaying bird in it. I tried yanking his head 
out, but couldn't.  Then last weekend we came up on what the ride 
directions said was a questionable water source, and there was NO WAY I was 
going to keep that horse from drinking.......he's kind of gotten 
opinionated about that.  So what are the risks involved with a horse 
drinking bad or contaminated water, will they really drink something that 
is going to kill them?  btw, a  horse that drank from that one trough did 
colic.

I have another question.  I have one horse that, like clockwork...pees 4 
times before lunch everytime.  At least, for the 23 50's he's done this 
year......then he pees about 2 or 3 more times after lunch.  The other 
horse only pees about once or twice before lunch, usually once during and 
maybe once after......the one who pees less often tends to pee a higher 
quantity.  I kind of know what is normal for one, and normal for the other 
one even tho they are a lot different they both seem to keep their 
hydration up good (at least they keep their weight well on Barney's scale, 
and you've never freaked out at their bloodwork?).   So how quickly will 
the quantity and frequency of the horse urinating be affected by 
dehydration?  Is darker yellow urine better than none at all?  Have you 
found any correlation in hydration levels versus experience levels in the 
horses your testing?  How many questions can I ask before getting 
smacked?  :+D

Thanx,

Karen