Water of course, you would say. Yes, no water no life, making sure equines always has access to water sounds simple enough. But considering the average horse consumes between 30 and 50 litres a day and up to double than that in hot summers, you would really want to know what is in that water, if you want a healthy horse and a perfectly balanced diet.
Water can become toxic!
Algae
One of the most common concerns is algae, the blue-green stuff, developing in standing water troughs and in the dishes of automatic waterers. The warmer the weather the more there are.
Algae produce toxins leading to myriad of health issues. They may not show up in a dramatic way, but can silently mess with your horses live and nervous system.
The solution is simple clean as often as is required and latest when the first signs of algae emerges.
Nitrates
The source of your water can help determining the risk. Nitrogens fertilisers, including nitrates, are common, so where there’s agriculture the ground and rain water are likely contaminated. High Nitrate levels affect oxygen supply needed during blood transport, and can cause tummy upsets, watch out for diarrhoea.
Sulfates
A high concentration of sulfur is easy to detect, because of its foul smell of eggs gone bad. Indeed, sulfates originate from the decayed plants and animals. Horses aren’t overly sensitive to higher levels of sulfur, but it can again cause diarrhoea. The other downside is the smell, horses may well refuse to drink said water.
Bacteria
Your horse could well be contaminating itself. E-Coli bacteria as in humans is naturally present in horse intestines, but should not be left to run amok. Horse manure contain these bacteria. Paddocks need to be cleaned regularly to avoid additional soil contamination with said bacteria.
Water can also house CFUs (colony forming bacterial units) originating from mice and rats and insects.
Bottom line is that bacteria and nitrates can affect your equine friend’s overall health. The only way to know what is in your water is to regularly test it.
Minerals
We can balance our diets looking at hay and feed as much as we want, but without knowing which minerals abound in the copious amounts of water they drink, optimising can never be perfect.
Calcium and magnesium need to be present at a certain ratio in the diet, to prevent a host of malfunctioning of the equine system, so the need to know is relevant. We may, or may not, absolutely have to include the pair in a water test.
It can be gauged from knowing if your water is hard, or not, indicated by limescale, a product of high calcium and magnesium concentration in your water.
Iron already tends to be high in equine diets, pasture, hays and cereals present high levels of this mineral. This is important as iron competes with other essential minerals, calling for supplementation to help them do their job. Horses cannot expel iron, accumulation in the liver can silently lead to disease.
How do you know there is a lot of iron in your water? A metallic taste and reddish brown residue in troughs will give it away.
Manganese also belongs to the minerals needing to be present in the correct ratio to avoid competition with others.
Fluoride is another undesirable appearance in water, toxic in high amounts to horse.
Electrolytes
Equines need electrolytes, such as sodium and chloride aka salt, as well as potassium to survive. Electrolytes deserve a dedicated post, but just to clarify the role water can play in this picture.
Water can contain low to high sodium levels, meaning we would like to know to balance our electrolytes. High sodium levels also make the water taste salty with the potential of horses turning their noses away once again.
Water Acidity
The acidity (PH) of your water can provoke the same behaviour. Lower than normal PH levels, aren’t an equine favourite.
Establishing your equine friend’s water intake
Automatic waterers are great to ensure constant water supply of clean water. It doesn’t allow us though to calculate the exact amount they drink to establish a baseline. Taking the trouble to provide water by buckets for a a few days in winter and summer could solve that to detect any palatability and potential health issues. Yes, there is also drinking too much, indicating metabolic disturbances, including disorders like Cushings.
Providing Clean Water Is Possible
Whatever way you provide the water, apart from clean troughs and bowls, a water filter could ensure its purity, should a water analysis (recommended for all the reasons mentioned above) indicate a need to do so.
If you can’t, or don’t want to, send water in for testing, the DIY solution are available test strips. Contacting your water company if the water doesn’t come from your own well can establish a certain base, but don’t forget water travels through tubes, metal and plastic, yet again affect water quality. What comes out at the end is what counts.