Ok but it’s not really like they’re out there just snacking on the snow. When it snows, the hay is usually really wet and that absolutely hydrated them. Not enough, no. But that explains why they might drink less.
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Is your hay getting wet when it’s out in the freezing rain? That would also explain why they’re drinking less though.
Salted peanuts in the shell? I never heard of this before. Your horses liked them? Huh!!! How much did you add to the feed?
No judgement, I just never heard of this before and am asking questions.
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I read about salted peanuts in the shell here and yes, the horses love them and eat them whole. Never tried soaking them though.
How much do you add?
J-Lu, I add only a handful (about half a dozen) of peanuts to the horses’ evening “snack”. My horses are easy keepers and their diet is almost totally grass and hay. I give them forage balancer morning and evening to be sure they’re getting their nutrients, and the peanuts are a way to add a little interest to their meal. They also like peppermint, pretzels, celery, watermelon rinds, and peach skins. Now that I’m soaking their forage balancer, I put the peanuts in just before I feed them so they will stay crunchy.
Equkelly, hay is not getting wet. The horses eat it in their stalls at night. I only put some out by their water tank because I was hoping it might encourage them to drink. We’re expecting snow starting this weekend, and if it gets too deep I’ll put some out where they can get it. We don’t get a lot of snow here, and most of the time they have way too much grass to eat.
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Oh yeah, I totally agree! Just throwing that out there - I know some people feel that snow is an adequate replacement this time of year, when in reality, it’s not realistic that a horse would eat enough snow to stay hydrated!
My horses have access to the heated water trough outside. 40 years of observation have shown me that they drink less outside when there is snow on the ground.
Another fact, salt blocks are beneficial for cows because their tongues are much rougher than horses. A horse will not get enough salt from licking a block. I feed 1 tablespoon of loose salt with their morning mash which consists of a vitamin/mineral mix, 1 cup of ground flax along with their salt.
The amount of water they drink inside varies.
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The fact is that cows( goats & sheep too) also need loose salt and loose minerals because they in fact, cannot get the adequate amount from blocks alone.
Blocks are a convenience for the owner because then we don’t have to remember to fill the loose mineral feeder.
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Unless it is one of those horses that decided salt blocks are candy! I can’t use flavored salt blocks anymore, the big guy will simply stand there and eat it. ALL of it! He bites them. I learned that the day I put out a flavored block at around noon, (standard brick size), that evening it was gone. He didn’t have help either. Cue one panicked call to the vet.
In seriousness, I think you are right, most horses really don’t like the salt blocks all that much, perhaps because of that rough texture. I’ve known some that simply will not touch them at all. The measured loose salt avoids either extreme.
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I have to jump in on the alfalfa thing and tell the story of my mare. Gave her soaked alfalfa cubes to help coat her tummy and within hours she was WIERD and spooky. Knew no more alfalfa cubes but didn’t think much more about it until… during a skin test for allergies wouldn’t you know alfalfa came back with the highest mark for allergic response.
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This is what I do but they get this year around. We are super cold here in the midwest and a nice warm mash makes me happy. Scant scoop beet pulp with a heaping scoop alfalfa cubes, Cocosoya, supps and a ton of warm water , let sit 30 min. They greet me at the stall front with anticipation. I dump a little grain on top as "crunchy topping’.Happy boys!
Another vote for warm “tea”! I put 2 handfuls of forage cubes which dissolve quickly in a bucket with a kettle full of boiling water, That sits in the warm tack room during my ride. I boil another kettle while untacking, add it to bucket and top up with cold tap water. Give it a stir, and mare will drain the whole bucket without coming up for air.
Aah- nothing like a nice cup of tea after a workout!
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Just wanted to update and tell everyone how much I appreciate all the great tips! Horses now get warm salty soup morning and evening and a gallon of warm tea midday, and they love it. We have a lot of snow on the ground now and I’m sure they get some moisture digging through that. I would still like to see them drink a big slug of fresh water on their own, but at least now I’m not quite as worried about dehydration.
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They’re only eating hay at night? Eating dry matter will make them thirsty and drink. The more hay they eat all day, the more they will drink.
That’s what I thought too. I put out hay for them on top of the snow, next to their water tank. They ate the hay and then walked off. I put salt in their evening meal and gave them a big bunch of hay. . . nope, not gonna drink. I finally started making warm soupy mashes for morning and evening, and “tea” for mid-afternoon, and they loved that. Now the snow is melted, temperature is in the 60s, and they’re back to drinking normally. Thank goodness! I was getting tired of hauling warm water through foot-deep snow three times a day!
My farrier works with the local equine vet, and he told me the vet stays pretty busy treating colics this time of year. It’s worth it to keep the horses hydrated, whatever it takes.
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As others have mentioned Horse Quencher! My horse LOVES it. I do less than the packaging says. My horses “treat” is usually a small amount in a bucket. My horse also is obsessed with warm water so i do fill one bucket with warm water if he does not get his “treat”.
My older horse will drink water immediately after a peppermint. So he will get 1 peppermint and then I refresh his water bucket and he drinks over half the bucket.
Horse quencher is like crack to my pony, I always use it in the vet box when we come off marathon and at home after fitness works. I also use less than the directions, just a 1/2 cup for a small bucket and maybe 3/4 cup for 3-4 gallons. The key is to let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
And even though both of mine are pretty good drinkers, I add water to their meals. This is a bit easier for me since dinner is a ration balancer with beer added and the AM meal is just alfalfa cubes with oil. I have a hot water kettle in the feed room and add hot water at night so the cubes soak overnight, then I’ll add some more water in the am if necessary to make it a bit mushier.
Last but not least… the warm water thing… For decades I used water buckets because they were in a stall all day or all night (out the rest of the tine, but now I have a trough since they have 24/7 access from stall to dry lot). In winter I swapped out one of the regular buckets for a heated bucket in each stall so there was always access to drinkable water. Granted this is small sample size of about 5-6 horses over the years, but EVERY one of them preferred the non heated bucket! The only time they used the heated bucket was when the other one froze completely. I’m in Georgia, so that only happened maybe once during the year. Since then I’ve read some research that indicated this preference isn’t unusual. Now I get if you are in northern climates, you are stuck with heated buckets and troughs, but if you are down here where frozen buckets are infrequently needed, I think the best option is to have both heated and regular available, or in my case, a trough. With that option, I’ve found if I keep it full for cold snaps and bucket out the ice as much as possible, it barely freezes (I have a trough heater but it hasn’t been necessary for years).
The Triple Crown flavored tea is the bomb! Good for horses that need water vs. more feed. Some horses do seem affected by alfalfa pellets so I just substitute Timothy pellets and beet pulp, shredded or pellets.I
What do you guys do with supplement powders. I let the mash absorb water, then portion out some, stir in supplements and feed that first. Am I being OCD?
