I would like to test this out and would be really grateful for your experiments/feedback. I have recently read "Horse Follow Closely" - Gawani Pony Boy and while I do not necessarily agree with everything verbatim there was one thing in particular that fascinated me. He talks about leadership being at the heart of everything (which we all subscribe to as Monty-ites!)but he did something I have never heard of. We all know of horses reluctant to drink water in strange places or newly dispensed from a tap. The latter issue I find if you leave it to stand for a day, the "sterilised" smell evaporates and they will drink it. Monty talks about adding electrolyte mixture to water at home so that you can add it to water when you are away so that it tastes the same for the horse. However, there may be a third way. 'Gawani' goes to the water, takes a drink of it himself and then moves aside which tells the horse(s) to go ahead and drink. I tried it with two different ponies over the last two days (not really expecting much and feeling a bit daft scooping water out of their buckets!) but each time I stepped aside, they moved in and drank. Now 2 is hardly scientific evidence, which is why I'm asking you all (if you are willing) to give it a try and let me know what happened :-)
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Hi. We are in Scotland so have very soft water - that's me, 5 ponies who live out all year round & Zack, the dog. In winter the troughs are automatic but the ponies use puddles as cattle have made deep ground round the troughs. In summer they move fields & I have to water, with hose. They love the hose & spray me & each other given the chance. Zack, the dog, uses their trough. Universally, there does not seem to be any hesitation in taking freshly delivered water but it is soft water and it is topping up usually so perhaps that's key.
Our 3 ponies will only drink their water if it's fresh each day or straight from the hose if I don't refill each day they don't touch it and we have self filling troughs in the field which they won't drink from and drink as soon as they get back into the stable
Are they not normal lol?
i might give it a go, sounds interesting! :)
Quite interesting you've read that Vicci, the herd I've been looking after for the last few weeks hardly ever drink the 3 large bath fulls of water so it goes very green very quickly. Now I go in their field every day to poop pick, I first give the water a thrashing to stop it from going stagnant go off and poo pick then go back and using a kiddies fishing net remove the scum that has raised to the top of the water. I also splash my arms in the water and the horses watch me. When the water is put in there fresh I have a drink out of it too, since I've been doing this they've been drinking a bath full within 2-3 days.
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Wendy if you see what you're doing they're waiting for you first to do the water before going to drink it. Try the fishing net with the field trough too and see if they come to drink it when you've been at it.
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When you think of it, we are the herd leaders and the leaders always go first to make sure it's safe for the herd. :D
Good thread Vicci.
x
Thanks for trying it Mel, interesting findings :-)
Wendy and Lola that sounds pretty normal to me, my 3 ponies and 1 horse love water straight from the tap.
Lol my naughty gelding boy likes to have the hose inside his mouth drinking everything for a minute.
Interesting thread, doing Jenny's horses still (oh by the way Winter is now mine) so this is them! Winston will drink from the bucket as you go into the stable with it, Winter & Pheobe don't drink much in the stable at all, they go straight to the drinker in the field which is quite green, Polly isn't really bothered either way. Mine are out full time in the summer & have 2 baths & an old header tank, all of which generally fill from rainwater off the roofs, but at the moment being filled from the tap! So they don't seem bothered either way!
Hi Vicci, can you help me. I've just rescued a mare and foal and have no previous experience of horses but have been tending to the mare for the last year as the owner never came to check on her! I am about to have them moved closer to me and am keen to go on a course in horsemanship but want it to be in tune with Monty Roberts methods as I instinctively feel it's right. I am not interested in riding at the moment - only their welfare. I am in North Wales and am struggling to find like minded people. my email is clarelrussell@hotmail.co.uk
Nice to hear from you Clare - I will email you :-)
That email address has been rejected Clare - can you check it please :-)
Hi Vicki: A related event - the electric braid in the mares paddock where I board slipped off its insulator and contacted the box surrounding the water source for the paddock. My mare while I was there approached the trough and appeared to want to drink then refused to touch the water and began banging the front of the trough with her hoof. I investigated to find the problem and in the meantime provided a few buckets to the mares while I worked on the fencer. Luckily it couldn't have been too long as they did not appear gant and it was early spring/cooler weather. Interesting my mare then refused to approach the trough or drink until I went up to the trough as well and put my hands in it - splashing the water about and putting my wet hands in her mouth until she would approach and touch it.
Very interesting, thank you, there does seem to be some recognition from them to trust our judgement - the communications are so subtle sometimes it's easy to miss them - great story, thanks