my girl is fussy about cold water, so I give her a full bucket of warm when I arrive, which she drains, and another full bucket of warm water before I leave.
this time of year, when we do not have water in the paddocks and before we get snow to quench a bit of the horses’ thirst, always worries me.
This is completely an anecdote. I first started eventing with (wait for it) a 6 yo OTTB stallion in my late 20s. First horse I ever bought and got him for $500. I was competing at a well known venue and my horse was a little forward in warmup. A big name trainer and competitor walked up to me and said that I should withhold his water for at least a day to score better. The appalled look on my face must have convinced him that he was way out of bounds giving me that advice. BTW, AIR we were 7th after dressage, which was a major victory for me! And the next time BNT spoke to me was to compliment me on something we’d done. That stallion was a wonderful horse. I could breed him and compete him on the same day, and no one realized he was a stud. But he was enthusiastic under saddle!
It seems that some people are unaware of the scrutiny that happens now in FEI stabling.
The loose stallion that injured the mare was something that the FEI did not want repeated, and now the administration of meds or fluids without the knowledge of the rider or owner (remember Nicholson’s lack of anger management towards the vet and the kerfuffle surrounding that, and now the recent death of Chromatic the jumper) have resulted in changes.
It took a long time to get the rules to address those wrongs, but the requirement of food and water have been on the list for quite awhile. If the stewards miss it a fellow competitor will notice.
When I did night check for the barn (USEF shows), I did as @endlessclimb does. Looked at every horse on both isles. When I was the only one there, it didn’t take that much longer than just tucking up ours (we had at most 8) and lack of water would certainly be noticed.
No water in the paddocks? That’s tough.
In my area that used to be a thing once the freeze set in. Turnout hours would be shortened and horses learned to drink inside.
I personally didn’t like it, but didn’t have any problems (colic nor anything else) with any of the horse’s I worked with. My current horse chooses a similar drinking schedule. Outside as much as possible in warm weather using her inside buckets for emergency drinking only, and the exact opposite in winter. I thought she may change this year with having heated water outside (as opposed to busted up ice water), but nope.
I’ve rarely seen horses drink outside in the winter when stalled at night. When doing weekend barn chores at one barn, I used to dump full buckets out at the end of the day, despite breaking ice and adding warm water. It always seemed to me that, given the option, they preferred to just consume a bit of snow alongside their hay (which of course is not enough water by itself) and then have a big drink in their stalls.
The horse in the video was removed from his care as soon as the video surfaced.
Ok, I stand corrected. My FEI stabling experience is 20 years out of date. I suppose even then lack of water would fall under stewards’ jurisdiction, though it never crossed my mind to withhold it. At the time, we were far more attuned to the enforcement of quiet hours — we had to leave the barns and could not check on the horses overnight. Now, with the short format and FEI app, many in my area don’t even stable at FEI competitions, and certainly not at USEA HT. I really don’t think that there is a robust system for monitoring access to water for most competitions, though I take the point about FEI stabling.
One of the horses was removed. More than one horse was shown in videos.
Honestly this is very common, especially when horses are out 8 hours or less in the winter. Some barns feel it’s easier to provide water inside, and they don’t have to heat tanks outside. I have a heated tank outside for my horses but they seem to only drink inside.
Night Check really seems to vary by discipline. When I’m at a horse trial eventers are out at 10 doing night check and handwalking their horses. When I’m at a dressage show barns are gone by 6 and don’t return until 6 or later. They usually leave an extra bucket of water and extra hay. I’ve seen a lot of dressage people that will do their early ride then grain later because they don’t get to the showgrounds until 8. Breed show people and HJ people seem to employee Night Watch services which I bump into doing my own night checks but I don’t see a lot of other people around.
Not totally accurate. One of the horses in the videos was already home by the time videos surfaced and had only been in Andrew’s care for a few months.
The others have remained
The problem with supervision in FEI stabling lies with how the eventing rules are written. Unlike FEI jumpers, where all horses are required to be in secure stabling, there is always a steward presence in the barn and there is a requirement for an appropriate number of stewards (minimum four plus a chief steward), eventers are not even required to be housed on site until 4Long. 4 Long and 5* must be in secure stabling and the bigger events are better about hiring enough stewards to do all the jobs required of them. But often times we are three at best, covering warmups, competition equipment checks, gallops, jump schools, sometimes more than one phase at the same time and it’s hard to be a presence in the barns as well. But when we are in the barns, we do look at water, bedding (like one person who never mucked out the stall), illegal activity (administering legal meds outside of a treatment stall or illegal stuff at all), non approved therapies, clipping legs. . . As well as making sure horses are comfortable, not in distress and don’t have access to to electrical cords, aisleways are clear, no gas engines in barns. . . I can go on, but think we need to get back to our regular programming.
What’s wrong with clipping legs? Most upper level horses show with clipped fetlocks/pasterns.
It’s funny, all of ours drink outside first thing in the morning. They definitely drink throughout the day too then big drink again when they come in. They have heated water though.
So interesting! Mine drink a tonne outside.
I was also curious so found this article:
"Horses competing under FEI rules are no longer allowed to have their legs clipped while on site at a competition.
The change is an update to the FEI’s policy to help combat “hypersensitive” or “hyposensitive” areas of the body of equine athletes."
Correct. Body clipping is allowed, just don’t touch the legs when you are at the venue!, or whiskers.
Just to clarify, nose whiskers, never (or as long as the horse is actively competing). Legs just not during competition.
(I know you know that but it wasn’t totally clear)
What is wrong with clipping legs?
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