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[RC] Re; Watering - Jim & Drin BeckerApril wrote "I am planning to drain my water troughs and teach my horse to drink from a bucket when offered. I don't want to hurt him, obviously, but I think this will be more effective in the heat of the summer. How often do I have to offer water? Will offering water twice a day be sufficient? Every 12 hours or there abouts? If he doesn't drink for 2 days, should I freak out or just keep on? (He does get soaked beet pulp 2x daily amounting to 1+ gallon of water per day; plus he's on pasture with a large hole that has water after it rains.)" April I do not know why more people don't take your approach to training horses to drink out of anything and everything . I start this program when the foal is born actually by hauling water to "mom" with different buckets everyday . I continue on at weaning time and everytime I bring that foal/yearling/horse in to work I am always watering them out of something different . I have had new horses go as long as 4 days without water (BLM 2 year old) until they finally gave in and drank . They will drink , some just take longer than others . I have a friend who can't figure out why her horse won't drink at ridecamp before the ride , mainly because all she waters out of at home is automatic waterer's , her horses have known nothing else and they all have a problem staying hydrated before a ride . I really don't think you need to offer the water , just put some buckets in and when he drinks well out of them start changing things around . But I would make the buckets your only water source so he has no other choice . To me it is just a common sense approach to training before you get to a ride . Drin Becker Mtn Region =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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