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[RC] dehydrated horse or worse - kramspottThank you everyone for the awning advice. It is definitely a relief knowing its no big deal. I recently took on a horse to board. Since this group of folks is so knowledgeable about horse hydration I thought this would be the best place to ask. The horse: Gelding, 16hh quarter horse 10 years old, seems to be a pasture ornament. I told the owner I will be putting weight on him because even with a winter coat I could see his ribs. The previous boarding location closed down and had been short on hay I was told. I'm concerned because he got to my place on Saturday. He had not had mineral salt block where he had been boarded. Anyway, my arabs might drink an inch or 2 of water out of the 18 quart feed type bucket I use in the stalls at night for water. This quarterhorse for the last 3 nights has drained his water bucket at night AND drank during the day. The water tubs I have in the pastures are typical ones. I have 2 for 4 horses. I used to only need to top off twice a week with my 3, last night I had to completely fill both after only 3 days. I have been giving him coastal hay, 1/2 lb of omolene 100 2x a day ( he had only been getting fed once a day so I'm slowly working the grain up) and last night started him on 2 cups (wet) soaked beet pulp thinking it will help with weight gain through the winter. I'm assuming these introductory amounts are small enough. I'll ramp up slowly of course. Is this horse just licking the mineral block like crazy then gettting crazy thirsty or could there be a real problem? He just came to me on Saturday. It was warm on Saturday and Sunday but seasonal yesterday. He is not high strung and doesn't pace and even on Sunday when the arabs were running and playing he barely got a trot going so its not like he got all sweaty and needed that much water due to exercise. I'll have the vet out because he definitely needs his teeth floated but until then I thought I'd see what you all thought, if maybe it was serious enough to have the vet out sooner or if it should be a 'wait and see' for a while first. Any other signs I should look at? He is current on coggins and supposidely on all annual shots. Thanks in advance. -- Kathy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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