Water - the essential nutrient

Water - the essential nutrient

WATER! Water is crucial for every function in your horse’s body from their respiratory tract to their digestive system. Horses drink an average of 5 to 10 gallons of fresh water a day.

 

Water serves four major functions in your horses body: regulating body temperature, transporting nutrients, removing waste, and digesting, absorbing, and using nutrients. Horses that do not drink enough water are at risk of poor performance, poor organ function and colic.

 

A horse deprived of feed, but supplied drinking water, is capable of surviving 20 to 25 days. A horse deprived of water may only live up to 3 or 6 days.

 

All horses need clean, good-quality water at all times. Outdoor water troughs should be kept clean and clear of debris and algae. Still water buckets should be emptied and rinsed daily.

 

Water consumption during winter months is just as critical to our horses health. The body of an adult horse is approximately 62-68% water (about 70% water in foals). Proper hydration is essential to horse’s fluid balance.

 

Like every living system, water balance is a matter of constant regulation, fine tuning and replenishment. Water loss, for whatever reason, needs to be matched with water intake, and it is the rate of loss which ultimately drives the system. Too much intake is relatively easily sorted – increased urination – but too little creates a while range of problems and degrees of severity.

 

Watch here how it works!

 

Bespoke Equine Testing

We have gone to the very well respected equine laboratory of the Irish Equine Centre to have additional efficacy testing carried out. 

We have commissioned testing done to unusually low contact times across various dilution rates. These tests were carried out using an equine serum as an interfering agent under clean and dirty conditions