water and riding

[cheval]

I was curious how you guys handle your horses drinking after an intense session. My trainer goes by the thought that an athlete needs to drink water after a big workout but the key is how cold the water is.

So, as the weather starts getting colder, I'm wondering how long you should actually wait before letting them drink the water (when it's really cold out) - or could you let them drink some lukewarm water (we have hot wash rack at our barn).

What do you guys do?

[Equine_Woman]

I only trail ride so I don't really worry too much. If they are really hot and sweaty I let them get a drink (for a limited time) at the trail head, then when we get home they are cooled off and can drink whatever they want.

When I was barrel racing I always cooled Sterling out before I let her drink.

[Arrow]

I trail ride only, and I never work my horse so hard that I really worry about. Arrow comes home cool, or I cool him out--I haven't had any problems just turning him out and letting him take care of it himself.

[cloedoll]

I always let my horses cool down completely when their workout is over, after that, I let them have thirteen gulps of water max. I know whenever I'm hot and just worked out, I always want more water than my body can handle/actually wants and if I drink too much I always have a stomach ache afterward. Since I limit myself, I don't see why I can't limit the horses. They normally never do want more than thirteen gulps of water, if I don't cool them down completely, they normally do. The reason I want water is because I'm hot, breathing heavy and think water is going to make it all better. If I cool myself down completely, I never want as much water as I would if I didn't cool down. So, with the horses if I did my job of cooling them down, they really don't want that much water (no more than thirteen gulps anyways), if I don't cool them down, they are hot, breathing heavy, etc. and want tons of water. So, I think if I do my job of cooling them down properly, they don't ever want a lot of water.

I don't trail ride, though.

[WashingtonBay]

I let my horses drink as much as they want on trail rides. They need it as much as we do when they are sweating and losing water. I think the old wives tale about not letting them drink when they are hot is a myth. Endurance people never pass an opportunity to let the horse drink, or even take a few nibbles of grass here and there to keep their energy up and their gut functioning. I think they probably know what they're doing.

Arrow, that sure is a shivery looking picture.... is it really almost winter?

[Arrow]

It's from last year! I just changed it to a summer pic, though!

[WashingtonBay]

Good... I'm not ready for snow pictures yet! ;)

[JetLagaside]

I let them drink but if the water in the barn is really cold then I limit them a little and let them come back in a few min. but once it starts to get cold out we have heated water buckets so no worries there :)

[shynbvs]

I always let my horses cool down completely when their workout is over.

Thats what we do. After they are completely cooled out, water really isn't an issue. We also have a water bucket in the arena. If a horse is thirsty while I am riding I will let them have a few gulps but not a lot. Then walk a lap and continue riding. This helps a lot, especially with this pony I ride. How would you like it if you had to run around but you could have some sips of water when you were thirsty? I think it makes her happier too.:)