Would you be worried if your horse suddenly drank loads?

Jessey

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
My water tank is about the size of 2 baths, was overflowing last night as I forgot the hose was on, this afternoon it's down to 2/3 and I can't see a leak.
Jess was the only one with access to it, I rode 10 miles this morning (that's a normal ride for her at the moment) it's not exactly warm out and when I got back she went on the grassy paddock, noticed the tank about 4 hours later, for the life of me I can't remember how much was in there before we rode.
She does have cushings but would normally drink far less than that, perhaps 15 gallons on a bad day but generally maybe 5 gallons. I did notice last night when she pee'd it smelt very strong, she had her normal hay (soaked) over night on a bare paddock. She is peeing and pooping normally and seems happy enough.... She has had swollen glands for a few days but had put it down to the grass.
 
My boy had a bladder infection and drank loads, but he also weed a lot and stopped as though he needed to wee a lot too
 
I was going to say did she have Cushings but you said so and you normally know what she drinks because of that. When I noticed Storm drinking a lot last year I captured some in an empty bottle and the vet analysed it - but it was happening a lot and as it turned out she did have some kind of virus / infection (still don't know what exactly). I would just keep an eye on her for the next few days and if you can monitor how much is going down in her buckets. If she seems well in herself I wouldn't worry too much!

Also wanted to add; Storm was weeing quite a lot too. But as I said it did go on for about a week.
 
I would probabley call the vet and advise your findings, perhaps monitoring levels , I would expect your vet would ask you to do that also. Any such excessive changes to do with intake wether it be lack of or more of food/water should be watched with caution. It is handy in circumstances like these to be actually able to monitor levels, as with automatic watering systems things can easily go un noticed, therefore any sort of possible infections or changes in health can be picked up in early stages.
 
Oh no hope she's ok.

Just a thought did you leave the end of the hose in the tank?

I did this once and the water drained back out through the hose!!
 
I would obviously monitor her, but wouldn't be too worried if it's just a one off. My horse comes in for a few hours per day and normally doesn't touch his water, but sometimes he will drink the whole bucket (and it's a big one).

My advice is to watch her carefully over the next few days but try not to stress too much. If she carries on like this for the whole week then call the vet for advice.
 
I have a lot of faith in horses self medicating and if her pee was quite dark the previous evening and she has cushings and she had ridden ten miles and she was peeing and pooing and acting normal, then I'd just keep a close eye and hope that she was just regulating her own intake. Hope she's ok x
 
Thanks all, I was thinking I'd watch closely and see if it carried on, the only other time I've notices her drink tons was when she got back from a 5 day stay in hospital with an undiagnosed infection so a little paranoid! The tank was a bit green and grungy on Friday, i do it every few days but it doesn't take long to get like that, I wondered if she hadn't drunk a lot because of that then when I freshened it up played catch up.
Polly I did leave the hose in but it was still connected to the tap at the other end, will be going to check if the ground is wet there this morning now tho.
 
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