North 40 Life Magazine | Page 27

food. Without enough water, they may not be able to eat enough. Winter weight loss is primarily due to dehydration—horses, like people, can live longer without food than they can water. While winter has its own special challenges, horses deprived of sufficient water all seasons of the year, run the risk of impaction, colic and constipation. That means simply put, “Water your horses in the winter.” Use a heated watering system (SEE OUR SELECTION) to haul it from the bathtub, or drain your hoses every time you water—make winter more bearable, and keep weight on your animals by watering. HACK When you travel or change water sources often, sometime horses won’t want to drink because they are not familiar with the taste. How do you fix this? During the summer months when we were competing and staying gone for longer periods of time, we would put unsweetened Kool-Aid in the water.Then, when we had to use water somewhere else, we would add the Kool -Aid. This way the water was always familiar and horses wouldn’t quit drinking. 27