Re: RC: RE: Horses drinking cold water/colic....

[Teddy Lancaster <Teddy@runningbear.com>]

Why would anyone flame you for your experience?

Many horses actually die every year due to impaction from not enough water to
properly digest food in the winter. A horse can definitely become dehydrated in
winter. It takes energy to heat cold water, so if the horse is eating snow for his
water supply, he needs more roughage to heat it.

I live in a relatively mild climate and my horses sure appreciate water that is
not ice cold.  We have a natural spring which never freezes, hence has water
warmer than snow (snow melts in it) and use tank heaters for other fields.

I doubt a horse would refuse to drink cold water, yet I could not understand as it
is warmer than snow, unless they REALLY need water and have no other choice. It is
not good horse management practice to allow horses to subsist on snow for their
water needs.

Teddy

Lynette Helgeson wrote:

> This is very interesting. Living in North Dakota I have never
> heard
> of horses refusing to drink very cold water, in fact some people
> don't
> water there horses at all and the horses get there water from
> eating
> snow! Now don't flame me, because my horses get fresh water
> every day. But the water I give them I get out of the well and
> it is very cold. I have older horses and have never had a
> problem with refusal. Even with
> a tank heater, at 20 below the water will still freeze. It is
> not that
> I am disagree with this, I am very interested in this. I have
> two older
> horses and one, who is 21, we have problems with keeping weight
> on him. He does not refuse to drink the water, but maybe does
> not drink as much because it cold? It is a possibility. But in
> the same regard the other one who is 19 is an easy keeper and we
> have problems with him getting too fat over the winter. :-)
>
> Just some food for thought.
> Lynette
> is cold.
>
> Snodgrass, Bonnie wrote:
> >
> > Very common problem actually.
> >
> > Bonnie Snodgrass
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: McClain [mailto:ranka@cns-nw.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 10:20 PM
> > To: ridecamp@endurance.net
> > Subject: RC: Horses drinking cold water/colic....
> >
> > I purchased a very nice Qh/BS paint mare recently, and in trying to get some
> > background on her Sire and Dam , I contacted the owner of Jester`s Best [
> > sire ]
> > she said the outstanding Paint stud died of colic a while back, impaction
> > caused from his refusal to drink very cold water, she was out of town at the
> > time, and the care giver found the horse close to death.I was horrified at
> > the thought of how painful a death that had to be.Has anyone ever heard of
> > this water refusal problem
> > in horses before, I grew up on a small ranch and had many horses who would
> > break the ice for themselves to drink.   Sherrie McClain
> >
> >
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--
Teddy Lancaster
AERC# 139422 - Member since 1974
6000+ career miles

Running Bear Farm, Inc.
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Teddy Lancaster, President
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