Strange drinking behaviour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ali27]

Wonder if anyone has any ideas????????
I kept Rhia in on Friday night and took her to a show on Saturday where she was a bit on the lethargic side but otherwise seemed ok - drinking eating OK! Took her out for a hack yesterday and she was quite quiet on the way out but perked up coming back through the fields but just walked as we were with a nervous rider. As we came back through the farm, she tried veering off to the pond (which she has never seemed to notice before and I thought she was testing the steering powers of her bitless bridle) and then coming into the yard, she tried to literally climb into the flower bed to get to the water feature (which was empty). I then gave her a bucket of water which she gulped down. She ate her feed fine and I turned her out after checking that the water trough was full.
I brought her in this afternoon to ride. I stood by her drinking a cup of coffee which she tried to get her head in (again strange as she has never done this before)! I then tacked her up and again she nearly climbed into water feature. Decided to untack and offer her water and she again had bucket of water in one go.
I have left her in tonight with a big trug of water and one small bucket to see how much she has during the night. I made her tea quite sloppy and she gulped that down really quickly making disgusting noises and she then had another gulp of water.
I will see how she is tomorrow and call out vet if she has drunk more than her usual half a trug.
I have googled excessive thirst and it does suggest diabetes.
She has also been a bit clumsy over the last few weeks and actually went down on her knees and grazed them badly so I'm wondering if this is connected!
Soooo worried but wondered if anyone had any ideas!
Thanks!:sad-no:

[XenaWarriorPrincess]

:( poor thing, thats wierd. Does she drink out of the trough in the field??
We have one at work that wont drink in the field for some reason, when she comes in she drinks at least one bucket of water :/
Is she sweating lots when ridden?
Hope you find the cause soon!

[Ali27]

Thanks! She has always drunk out of trough in field before!
However someone did say that it was emptied a few days ago and filled so maybe she doesn't like the new water in it!
She is a naturally sweaty horse and is already getting a fluffy coat!
It just seems weird this obssession with climing into the flower bed to get to the water feature. I'm going to go down in a bit to check on her!

[CityLights]

is she a bit dehydrated, have you tried doing a pinch test on her and checked her membranes, really odd behaviour

[XenaWarriorPrincess]

Perhaps try giving her some electrolytes?? Poor thing!
xx

[Ali27]

Nope not dehydrated - I did the pinch test earlier. I'm just going down now to check on her!

[Bay Chaos]

Thats really odd. I know it's still alittle early, but if you are planning on clipping her maybe go ahead and do the first clip now, and see if maybe she is just getting really really hot. Champ has an incredibly thick coat already and will be clipped in the next couple of weeks.

[Betseyboo]

Very odd. My first thought was diabetes but I'm sure there would be other signs too. Hope you find the cause soon......keep us updated xxxxxx

[Tnavas]

Have you checked the trough for dead birds or animals - sometimes they do fall in and drown.

[My Crazy Clan]

Maybe shes just hot and thirsty, I wouldn't have thought drinking to much was harmful?

[Teej]

I posted a thread a couple of weeks ago about Chip's strange behaviour after a hack when he seemed fine but then about an hour later, started to hyperventilate, nostrils flaring. It gave me a fright and I walked him down the drive and back to his stable where he gulped down his water. He never drinks water outside the stable and hardly ever touches much water even when he's in the stable. He was fine after that. Another lady on the yard noticed that her horse was doing a similar thing to Chip and he was also really thirsty. We decided that it was probably due to the fact that they are getting their winter coats but the weather has been unusually hot which is also making them moult.

I expect that you will just need to keep your eye on it and if it doesn't improve, get the vet.

[Ali27]

Just been to see her! She seems ok in herself and she had drunk 1/3 of trug in 2 1/2 hours. She did one small wee while we were there and she had done a few poohs but they were quite small and hard.
I will see how she is tomorrow! I might try putting some fresh water out in a large container in her field to see if she prefers that.

[Loony]

Sounds really odd. I have no idea what it could be but I hope it's not serious xx

[Ali27]

Well she was fine this morning and had only drunk half a trug through the night! Turned her out but she wouldn't go near the water trough and kept snorting! Think she has water trough phobia now! So filled a container with water! I have just been down and ridden her in the school and she was back to her normal, lovely self! She still won't go near the trough though!
Thanks for suggestions!!!!! I got myself a bit worried last night when she was acting so strangely. I am going to clip her over the next few days because she is getting very sweaty when ridden.

[Teej]

Are the others drinking from the trough? The reason I ask is because we have electric fencing at our yard and one of the liveries noticed that her horse was extremely thirsty when he came in and he would not go near the trough in their field and kept snorting at it. It seems that there was a loose strand of fencing touching the trough and shocking the poor horses when they tried to have a drink. Just as well she noticed it because the other horses were out 24/7 and their owners probably wouldn't have realised their horses were dehydrated.

Even when the problem was fixed, some of the horses wouldn't take the risk of drinking out of the trough and they had to have buckets of water in their field for ages after that.

As soon as I turn my horses out, I always tell them to have a drink and they know exactly what I'm saying because if they walk past the trough and I say it again, they turn back towards the trough and have a drink. If only they listened to everything else that I tell them to do :D

[My Crazy Clan]

If shes not going near the trough there must be something in it, it could be berries or bird poo, mine is cleaned out ever 2 days, If mine will not go near it there is always a reason why.

I would give it a good clean, make sure whoever cleaned it out last has not used and detergents like washing up liquid etc.

[Ali27]

The other horses seem to be using it OK as they didn't come over to drink the water that I put out this morning.
Tracey - I think you could be right about the electric fence as it is half way over the trough so maybe she has got a shock off it - the trough is shared between two other fields. I think it may also have a leak as last night it was full and today it was half full and filling up again. I think I will just keep filling a large muck bucket up with fresh water as a precaution but hopefully she might start using the trough again soon.

[Ali27]

Yeah Rhea, I might clean it out myself just to check it is ok!

[cackleberry]

I don't want to worry you, but excessive drinking coupled with coat growth and heavy sweating are all symptoms of Cushings Disease.

How thick is her coat? Is there any sign of curling, especially when wet/sweaty?
Does she moult in a normal fashion?

edited to say...
Sorry, probably over reacting!! A bit paranoid about the 'C' word at the moment!!

Hope it is as simple as a random electric shock!

[Ali27]

She is 10 so too young for Cushings I think! She seemed back to normal today! She has always had a very hairy coat and sweated lots even when she was 4.
However I'm going to keep a very close eye on her over the next few weeks!