Re: [RC] [RC] Horse won't drink water when offered - Ed and Wendy Hauser
Horses can learn to drink, but it should not be at
an end. ride.
Fieja, my older son's mare out of ND by Truck,
apparently had never seen water in any form other than in a tank or
bucket. On her first trail ride she went 36 hours before getting up enough
courage to drink from the creek. After that she never was fussy
again.
My first endurance horse, Sketer, always was OK
until one hot day on the Camp Courage Wagon Train, he thought the water supplied
by firemen at a small town smelled funny. He would not drink. It was
12 miles at 3.5 mph to the next water stop. He was pretty dehydrated by
that time. He drank! and drank! During the next 10 years he always
drank, even if only a little, every time we found water on the trail or in
camp. Something had clicked in his horsey brain and he didn't want to
dehydrate again.
Both of these incidents are much to dangerous to
plan on, but do illustrate that horses can and do learn how to care for
themselves.
Ed.
Ed and Wendy Hauser 1140 37th Street Hudson,
WI 54016 715.386.0465 sisufarm@xxxxxxxxxx
