horse advice please!

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I have had the flu since just after Christmas, so my outside farm chores have been done by my son. Yesterday he came in and said that he didn't have to water the horses because the tank was still full. I was concerned, but too sick to go outside and look. This morning I woke up and looked, yup still full. They hadn't eaten either. The water looked slimy, so I dumped the tank.... all four horses started sucking the water off of the ground, and it finally clicked in my head as to what might have happened. A few weeks ago my drain plug heater had gotten broken and started to leak, so I threw in an old submersable tank heater. After some volt checking, it turns out the poor horses were getting shocked when they tried to drink

So, I brought in a few buckets after attempting to get them to drink from the tank and failing, and they are still afraid to drink from the buckets... My husband and I were outside most of the afternoon with horses drinking from our hands and we would slowly bring them closer until they were finally drinking from the tanks instead of our hands, but they still won't chance the tanks without some serious human help and coaxing.

My question is has anyone had this happen before? Any advice on helping them overcome this fear? I just went out again before bed and coaxed them to drink a bit more before bed. The friesian and shire seem less afraid, but the mustang and pinto are very leary, and I am worried.

For now I will continue to coax them to drink and hope they slowly figure out that water is safe again. I am aware that they may need a few days, but I hate seeing them so tormented by something as simple and necessary as drinking water

 

[IcyWolf]

Could you put small baking pans or something in with them for them to drink out of? Something they have never had water in and that they won't make the connection to being shocked? I grew up with horses and I know how smart they can be. We have had horses that after only a few months of being in an electric fence wouldn't come within 3 feet of a non electrified fence for fear of being shocked. For now, I would try and find something they will drink out of, even if it's small and needs refilled often, and I would try to play in the water in front of them, horses are herd animals, if they see you in the water and not being harmed, it may entice them check it out themselves. I'm glad you realized the problem before something bad happened to any of them though. Good luck and keep us posted as to their progress. It may even help to get some advice from a behaviorist, someone who knows how to deal with a trauma like this and to help get them over their fear.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I gave them water in their grain buckets as well, and I'll see what tomorrow holds. To help prevent colic from not having enough moisture I hosed down their food (hay) that I pitched today. I'll try to find someone to help, but I live in a place that still uses 1950's dark age horse breaking tactics, and they don't believe horses need shelter or clean water, so I am not going to hold my breath for help locally.

 

[Mayden]

Horses are smart, you just need to give them positive reinforcement like birds. Keep coaxing them to the water and eventually they will learn that the tank is no longer ot be feared, their reward - nice water. You're doing a good job on your own, don't beat yourself up, you've been sick and your horses are being cared for now before anything too serious happened.

Hope you're feeling better9 and good luc=[ with the retraining :+)

(ps. hi from merlin too=,)]lk

 

[roxynoodle]

Thankfully I haven't had this happen and I do use tank heaters in my outdoor stock tank. Pretty much all horses get excited by the sight of the grain scoop. You might try giving them water out of that. And maybe after they drink some, put it in the bucket and offer it that way. If you keep trying that I think they will eventually understand it's safe. I don't know if trying a different color of bucket may help as well. They can see some colors.

As you know it's imperative that they get water so they can properly digest and not colic.

My horses all like Gatorade, too. If I had trouble getting them to drink strange water at a show, giving them Gatorade, or putting it in with the water usually did the trick. They also have a tendency to like soda pop, although it's awfully sugary. Molasses is also pretty popular and I mix any medication a horse might need with molasses in the syringe. Maybe putting some of that in would encourage them, too.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[merlinsmom13]

Bad time of year for this to happen. Are there any ponds in your pastures? I like the idea of watering in the grain scoop. Plastic kitchen bowls?? Since they will take water from the ground, any chance you could make a small temporary pond to get you over this situation. Can you move the trough to a different location? Just throwing ideas out there.

Horses are smart, but a little more intelligence would help in this situation. They got shocked & to them the shock is constant, they dont think it will change. I've found that pigs are smarter, they know that electric fences can be off, so check it often.

Good luck, its so hard for us to outsmart our animals. A hard, full-time job. lol

 

[roxynoodle]

I've been told that horses can smell the electricity in a fence to know if it's on or off. I think that they might be able to do that. I don't know though that they can smell it through water.

The problem with digging a small hole in the ground though is that it won't be a lined pond. It's possible there are spores in the ground from animal droppings. Sometimes during construction projects these spores can get into the air and then infect the lungs of workers or others who are in that area a lot. And of course stagnant ground water can grow bacterial or fungal infectious diseases.

They do sell those little plastic gold fish ponds that are like 1.5 feet deep and you dig and put it in so the lip is at ground level. You might find one for a good price on CL and could try it to make them think the water is on the ground. You could even try it I suppose with your stock tank.

 

[PetoftheDay]

Yes, different vessels for now, and "flavoring" it with Gatorade or apple juice might help, then transition gradually back to the old system. Poor things, it's not fair when the water"bites back!"

 

[roxynoodle]

It actually happened to me when a heating element shorted in the hot water heater. I could feel it when I took a shower, but my ex husband kept telling me I was crazy. I was like, no, put your hand in this water! There's electricity zapping me! Finally he agreed and I changed it.

But, the poor animals don't know what happened. I guess it's good at least I wasn't showering with a bird when I discovered it.

 

[melinda]

Had the same thing happen to me. I ended upmoving the water tank 30 feet down the fence line worked great for me.

 

[roxynoodle]

So how are things? Have the horses returned to drinking out of the stock tank, or at least the buckets?

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

Well, after several days of using grain buckets and our hands, the light horses realized that if the drafts are drinking from the big bucket it must be safe. So for now we are up to a 30 gallon bucket and hopefully they'll start using the stock tank again soon... (we moved it, but none of the horses will touch it yet ).

I do feel horrible that the water "bit back", and it was agonizing watching my 4 very sweet well behaved very easy going horses be afraid of something so much. I felt worse for the mustang, because she was rescued from a place out west that had 220 starving horses... poor girl was found standing over her mothers starved dead body (in a pen full of dead horses), so we take extra care to make sure she never suffers again.... poor thing I felt like such a moron for not noticing the day before.

But for now they are drinking It's 2am and they are back to their night time runs on well lit nights. I can hear them run from my bedroom window, I use to run out and check to see what they are afraid of, but after a while I finally noticed that they would run to one end of the pen and rear up and chew on eachother playfully and then run to the other side and do the same thing... they play a lot on nice nights, and I'll take that they're doing right now as a good sign of them feeling better and carefree again

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm glad to hear they are at least drinking, and are back to playing again. I'm not sure what else you could do to the stock tank to disguise it. Lean some bales of straw up against it? You could also try vinyl wrapping the outside. They sell sheets of vinyl in different colors and patterns and people have used that to "wrap" their cars and motorcycles instead of painting them. It is moldable I guess to different shapes. The vinyl might be expensive though, and if it works, great. But, if it doesn't, it's money tossed down the drain.