Has anyone tried Chug? Additive to water to encourage horses to drink

My mare is usually a good drinker except when I take her off property for a show or schooling; she’ll turn her nose up at the fresh clean water we bring from home, but if she has the opportunity she will drink out of water complexes or muddy puddles. Or coolers :woman_facepalming:

Anyway, a fellow boarder suggested this:

TIA!

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I haven’t used Chug, but I’ve tried Farrier’r Equine Flavor Fix, which is an additive for drinking water, with so-so success. A veterinarian suggested simply adding a little feed to the water bucket, and I’ve found that a tiny amount of Purina RepleniMash works very well to encourage drinking.

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Interesting – might give that a try, doubt she will be tempted if the feed falls to the bottom of the bucket, though 🫤

When I tried a few alfalfa pellets first, they helped increase water intake a little (one horse – the chowhound type – more than the other). The Purina I add after filling the bucket – it’s dry and floats for a minute on the surface before it adsorbs water and floats down. I’m adding so little that there’s only a tiny bit of residue in the bottom of the bucket.

Have you tried offering her ‘hay tea’? whenever I soak hay all of my horses eagerly seek out the leftover water and slurp it up like it’s the best thing ever.

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Yeah, no – she doesn’t like any of her feed wetted – including hay! Persnickety mare :expressionless:

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I’m not suggesting you feed her soaked hay. I’m asking if she’s been offered the ‘hay tea’ water that is the result of soaking it.

No, if you put water on any of her feed (or put it in water) she just turns her nose up at it and walks away! Which is why I’m wondering whether any of this stuff will actually work for her.

I have a tough time getting her to eat her grain with or without supplements in it; she was on an RB for quite awhile but decided to stop eating it several months ago, so now I have to give her a pound of Triumph (mixed with the supplements) and the appropriate additional vitamin/mineral supplements because I can’t feed her the recommended 7 pounds of it a day.

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My old boy doesn’t care for wet feed, either, but he’s made an exception for a very small amount of the mash, moistened with Guinness, as well as the tiny bit of it added to drinking water.

Good luck with your horse.

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My horse’s dam loves beer - her daughter?

Not so much. She sniffs everything like a dog, and then disdainfully turns her head away.

Oy vey.

A friend has a pony who drinks very poorly at shows. She tried adding Gatorade but no dice. What works for this opinionated little red headed mare is unsweetened apple juice added to her water.

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I use a glug of molasses and a handful of salt in a huge bucket of lukewarm water.

Interesting! My mare loves apples, but when I added an apple flavored electrolyte to her feed, she wouldn’t eat any of it.

:woman_shrugging:

I’m thinking it might be a good idea to hang an extra bucket in her stall with some of these additives and just see whether she is tempted at all – I don’t want to put it in her only water source in case she just decides not to drink.

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I have one that is a terrible drinker and refuses anything added to water or electrolytes in her feed. I dose her with a syringe with electrolytes and that keeps her drinking slightly more.

I have electrolyte pellets, but of course she doesn’t like the taste of them unless I add some grain and push them into her mouth, in which case she spits out less of it. I add salt to her feed and she does eat that during the summer, but will not touch a salt lick.

In the case of hot days and horse trials, I have electrolyte paste that I shove down her throat :joy:

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My horses both love “rein water”. I put one bucket of that (2 scoops per bucket) and one regular bucket and I have to refill that one twice or three times as often, even in the winter. I don’t throw it out every cycle, only every 2 days when I do normal bucket cleaning.

I’m going to see whether I can get my BM to hang another water bucket in her stall; she has in previous summers, but this year there’s just one bucket that get refilled at least once a day.

Replenimash works pretty well. A couple handfuls in a 5 gallon bucket of water
Also a lot of endurance riders make something called sweet tea- a handful of ricebran pellets and a handful or two of sweet feed or oats in a 5 gallon bucket of water

I’ve heard very good things about Gallagher’s Water - https://gallagherswater.com/

Never tried it, but several folks I know with poor drinkers are swearing by it in our current heat wave (11 straight days of 105+).

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I think this is a brilliant idea.

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