Water Feeding

Before and during prolonged exercise, the horse should be allowed and encouraged to consume as much water as it will drink. However, following exercise, the horse should be cooled down before being allowed to drink as much as it wants. Consumption of a sufficient amount of water by the hot horse after physical exertion may cause colic and acute laminitis or founder. However, at all other times adequate quantities of good-quality palatable water should be readily available. Whether the horse drinks before or after feeding does not affect feed digestibility, but it does affect feed intake. Thirsty horses will reduce their feed intake, or not eat at all, if water isn’t available before or during feeding.

This article is from Feeding and Care of the Horse, second edition, by Lon D. Lewis, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1995. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

Submit Your Question