How do you stop dehydraion in a horse?

Question

My horse is dehydrated and does not finish weel.

Answer 1

Supply your horse with plenty of FRESH COOL CLEAN WATER.  Many people don't wash out the water buckets well and a horse will not drink. Also put two buckets in the stall one with water and one with water and electrolytes. Hope this helps.

This is a must in the summer.  http://www.allivet.com/Horse-Dehydration...

Answer 2

maybe try putting some electrolytes in it....get the flavored kind...when your horse finally get used to it you wont have the problem of them not drinking when you haul somewhere....

Answer 3

you know what they say, you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink...

Answer 4

The truth is, you can't.  Dehydration is the natural course that follows when a horse sweats excessively.  When a horse exerts himself he begins to sweat which is the bodies natural method to cool itself off, the body draws moisture from several different locations to do this, the blood, the gut and the space in between the cells.  If exertion continues the body can run out of moisture and the ability to sweat fails, with this comes a dangerous spike in temperature.  Outward signs of dehydration are fatigue, listlessness and thick, dark urine.  To help prevent dehydration overwhelm him you can try several different actions.  Many horses have preferences for the flavor of their water just like people do and it's not uncommon for a show horse to stop drinking because the water at the show is not the same as it is at home.  Using electrolytes to flavor the water will mask any other natural flavors of the water and make it all taste the same to him as well as having the added affect of replacing the electrolytes he looses each time he sweats.  You can also try adding pedialyte to his water since it is basically the same idea.  Provide a salt or, better yet, a mineral block for him at all times, again to replenish what he looses while sweating.  Another trick is to sprinkle his feed with salt, just like eating potato chips, this makes you feel thirsty when the salt draws moisture out of your mouth in a process known as osmosis and will encourage him to drink.  As a word of caution, never use any of the previous methods if the horse for some reason doesn't have access to water, this will actually dehydrate him further!  For severe, chronic cases of dehydration it is often necessary to use an IV to rehydrate the animal, and hosing repeatedly with cool water and scraping it off will not only help lower his body temperature but help replace valuable water to his system by absorption through his skin.  Make sure to hose and scrape, the water will act as an insulate if left against his skin as evaporation is what causes cooling, by scraping off most of the water you will speed this process rather than hinder it.  Horses left to dehydrate can begin to suffer from heat exhaustion even in the dead of winter, and thumps, tying up and heat stroke can follow.