How Much Drinking Water
Does Your Horse Need?
By Helene McKernan, Equine Research Associate • Email: [email protected], Phone: 570-660-3150
T
emperatures are soaring in many parts of the country, it’s
important to remember how crucial water is to keeping
horses healthy. Always ensure your horses have access to
fresh, clean water at an appropriate temperature, and ensure
they’re drinking the fluids provided.
Have you ever been frustrated by a horse that refuses to drink
water? A metaphoric idiom that dates from the 12 century and
was in the proverb collection of John Heywood in the year
1546 states: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make
them drink.” The idiom can be interpreted to mean you can
provide someone an opportunity to do something, but you
cannot force them to actually do it; or people, like horses, will
only do what they have a mind to do. Horse owners may think
of this saying when experiencing a horse that refuses to drink.
The comparison could be more than a message, for the lack of
intake by a horse is an immense concern. Water consumption
is extremely important in the digestive process to avoid colic
impaction, dehydration and other life threatening ailments.
How much water does a horse consume in a day? The average
horse will intake 5 to 10 gallons of fresh water per day. Just like
humans different horses crave or need different water amount
intakes. A horse deprived of feed, but supplied drinking water,
is capable of surviving 20 to 25 days. A horse deprived of water
may only live up to 3 or 6 days. After lacking water intake for
two days a horse may refuse to eat and exhibit signs of colic
and other life-threatening ailments. Just like humans, in the
heat of summer, a horse will enjoy cool, fresh water, but in cold
winter situations, difficulties arise in providing water that is too
cold or in a semi-frozen state. Humans enjoy a cup of hot tea,
coffee or chocolate to warm their internal system and needs
in the winter. Horse owners have discovered that warming the
drinking water for their horse during the winter will lead to the
horse consuming more water.
Domestic horses depend on the consumption of forage
consisting of a variety of grasses and grass type feeds. In the
summer if the horse has the advantage of daily grazing on fresh
pasture grasses they will be able to consume water through
the intake of grasses, which contain large amounts of water.
This could reduce the desire of the horse of obtaining water
through drinking. In the winter the horse depends upon the
forage of dried grasses or hay, which has a lower amount of
concentration of water. Therefore, a horse may need an increase
of offered water in the winter months, more so than in the
grazing periods.
Just like the availability of water during the different
temperatures of the seasons, the usage of a horse by humans is
reflected by the seasonal weather conditions. Horse owners do
not [