# Just showing off my Mares & a ? for horse owners



## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

We got a lot of snow on Wednesday and so I went down to take photos of the horsies.

Mylie, my new mare, she's 4 years old, a Fresian x and I love her to pieces. She's very wary of me and spooky, but I'm working with her and we are making some progress!























































And my pony lady, Luna, she's 8 years old and has bad conformation/arthritis but we love her anyway  She's my rescue.




























And just for fun, the goats looking kind of miffed that I opened the door and brought the winter in with me. Mione was just getting up and you can see Cissy's great bulkitude in the foreground in one LOL.



















And a question. My pony won't drink any water. She may have been in a situation at her old place where she had no water or hay and ate snow on a huge acreage. I put out hot-cold-freezing-scalding, it does not matter. What do you guys think I should do? Someone suggested putting some apple juice in her water to encourage her to drink. What worries me is that she knows the water is there and laps at it trying to 'feel' it but she loses interest after a few seconds and goes back to eating snow.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

how long have you had the horses for?

Maybe she doesnt like hot water but prefers it cold. I would try cold water. If not then I wouldnt sweat it - she is getting liquids through the snow.


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## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

We've had Luna for almost a year, and Mylie for 2 months, but I've been riding and have owned horses for about 14 years. We didn't have horses for a couple years as my gelding went out west to live with my trainer and then went to a horse rescue/companion horse placement program to be placed in a home where he could live out his days in peace. 

Mylie is my project. She's got a lot of potential, great comformation, and a kind eye. She's really sweet under all that spook.

I'm just worried Luna is going to colic if she doesn't get some water in her. I've tried, hot, cold, freezing, scalding, luke warm, nothing seems to work. It's like she doesn't understand. She was fine up until 2 days ago! Before the storm!


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

:ROFL: ok , your goats pictures and commentary are hilarious!!!


beautiful horses! I dont know what to say about the water, I know up here the musk oxen dont drink any water in the winter, though that cannot be said for horses. try the apple juice.


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## ProctorHillFarm (May 15, 2008)

Yeah goats love warm water- but it seems like the horses prefer cold. If I hang a heated water bucket and a regular bucket- they almost always will drink down the regular bucket first and leave the heated bucket unless they are really thirsty they will drink that one too.

Apple juice in the water could help, so could molasses or gatorade, its worth a try.
But if she isn't showing any signs of dehydration, I think she is probably getting enough through the snow, and the few laps she does take from the water trough.

Also- do you have a big stock tank? Or small buckets?
Sometimes horses can be finicky about clean buckets/tanks
I usually scrub my buckets with Simple Green- give them a good scrub and refill them and see if that peaks her interest at all


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

Ah...I'm a sucker for dapples.


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## Trace (Dec 29, 2008)

Maybe she just likes easting snow?

I would make sure she has good gut noise and watch her poop for the next few days - if it gets dryer - the you might have to pull her in and stall her out of the snow so she cant eat it.

I would say that if she is making nice hot steaming normal piles of manure then she is getting enough water.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Pretty horses. And those goats faces are just priceless.. :ROFL: 

Anywho are you sure she's not getting water some other time. She might just be to shy to come up and get water while your there? My horses LOVE warm water and will usually drink a 50 gallon trough down if I take the water out there. I have 9 horses. I have never heard or seen a horse choose to live off the snow rather than to just come and get the water. It's possible though, if she's lived off snow during the winter for a long time then she may just be used to it. I know for most horses it's really hard to get enough liquids just from snow to survive the winter.


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## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

Luna is the kind of pony that will drink from the bucket as you're pouring it in LOL. Actually I went down to do horsey chores this morning and there was a hole in the ice in her bucket meaning she drank lastnight (she knows how to break the ice in a 16 gallon muck bucket, she's very talented  ) so I poured out a bit of the cold water after breaking the rest of the ice and put in some hot, and she took a big gulp so we're back on track here! I think the problem was that by the time she was thirsty the water had already frozen over thickly and she couldn't figure out why her tongue wasn't touching water. Now the nasty wind is gone, the water takes about 3 hours to freeze over even a 1/4 inch. 

I finally let all the small animals out today. The chickens are dustbathing in the shavings by their popdoor, the EE chickens are on the porch as usual scarfing cat food, the cats are wrestling in the snow, and the goats are well...yelling at me because I opened their door and the woolly mammoths (formally known as Cissy and Mione) are NOT happy about the snow.


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## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

ProctorHillFarm said:


> Also- do you have a big stock tank? Or small buckets?
> Sometimes horses can be finicky about clean buckets/tanks
> I usually scrub my buckets with Simple Green- give them a good scrub and refill them and see if that peaks her interest at all


I use 16 gallon muck buckets, the big mares field had a 100 gallon stock tank in it in the fall as we can fill with a hose but I let her empty it more or less and now it's frozen to it's spot in the field LOL so it's staying there this winter.

This is the heated bucket I bought...

http://www.alliedprecision.com/heatedbucket2.html

Cost $105 but it was well worth the money, Mylie's water stayed liquid all night.

I bought two of those, but only one is out right now.
My big mare has a heated 16 gallon muck bucket and I'm moving her to the field next to the one she's in so Luna can come up for heated water too, they'll both have heated water eventually. My mares are seperated for training purposes and they seem happy enough  They don't spend most of the day hanging out at the fence, they actually go about their own business. I hope to put them together eventually, but we're working on ground manners with both of them and trust, leading, etc. so going together right now is not an option. lol.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Lovely animals.....  beautiful.....

As for the water ...your pony is getting it through the snow....when it is summertime and there is no snow....... the pony should drink from the trough....unless you have a pond or other means of water sources the pony is getting it from..... As long as...... your pony isn't dehydrated.......... then it should be OK.... :thumbup: :greengrin:


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## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

Luna is drinking again so I think we're good  I'm just about to pick up another round bale for her. I had to put out a small square today cause she ate the rest of her hay last night. 

I'm just happy she's drinking again.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

That is wonderful news.....sounds great....... :greengrin: :thumbup:


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