From: Catherine
Hi Jessica! I've very much enjoyed reading the advice you have to offer, and always come away feeling I've gleaned a bit more knowledge in the infinite learning process that horse-ownership represents! Onto the question: My neighbor has started adding one-third cup of molasses to her horses drinking water to encourage them to drink more as the season becomes colder, and to discourage the colicking that sometimes accompanies this weather change. The horses love it, and have slurped up every drop of the molasses water for the past few days, indeed, they seem to be exhibiting something of the "junkie" behavior of standing by the empty 10 gallon bucket once it's gone and licking it clean, then waiting forlornly until it is filled again. Not only that, they spar over who will drink, as they share pasture, and the whole thing seems a major event for them these days. I should mention that the horses still have the same access to their normal water in their normal trough, but seem uninterested since the good stuff has arrived! Anyway, I am wondering about this practice...does it truly offer health benefits or is it simply like giving your kid chocolate milk instead of normal milk---you know which one will be preferred! Also, is it such a good idea for them to be drinking so much of the sweetened water--are there any negative side effects, or should I start doing it myself!? I'm a bit of an "If it aint broke don't fix it" person when it comes to my horse--she drinks alot of water already and LOVES her salt lick! But I am curious nonetheless...any info would be appreciated! Catherine
Anything that encourages horses to drink more in cold weather is a good thing. That said, horses DO tend to become inordinately fond of molasses, and if their fondness results in them refusing all water that DOESN'T include molasses, it's possible that the plan could backfire. Your "chocolate milk" analogy is a good one.
If the horses adore the molasses (normal) and fight over it (also normal) and prefer to drink that water in preference to their normal, untreated water (also normal), the eventual result may be a REDUCTION in their net water consumption. It's very gratifying for an owner to present a horse with a bucket and watch it drink, but... if the horse ONLY drinks sweetened water, and there are two or three horses trying to consume the contents of a ten-gallon bucket, the sweetened water would need to be offered in individual buckets three or four times a day to ensure that each horse would be drinking at least ten gallons per day.
Increasing salt intake and warming the horses' water would be more useful ways to promote better drinking habits in winter - your horse, for example, seems to be doing very well without any additional inducement to drink her water.
I would suggest that your neighbour cut back a little on the molasses, and that she keep a jar of molasses in reserve. Since she knows that all of her horses will drink eagerly if she adds molasses to their water, she'll be able to monitor her horses carefully and add a few teaspoons of molasses to ten gallons of WARM water - and offer that to any individual horse that begins to show signs of dehydration. I say "warm" water for two reasons: the first is that horses will drink much more water in winter if the water is not icy cold, and the second is that - as your neighbour will doubtless discover quite soon - adding molasses to very cold water can have interesting and messy results.
Molasses isn't bad in itself - it's about half sugar, and the rest is water and minerals. Most horses love it, and most horses are already familiar with the smell and taste of molasses, because it's added to so many feeds. Molasses helps keep the dust down, sticks the "fines" together, and makes it difficult, if not impossible, for horses to use their prehensile lips to sift and sort through the various ingredients in their feed. The only objections I know of to the use of molasses in feeds are (a) sometimes it's used to make inexpensive, dusty feeds full of "fines" appear less dusty and thus better quality, and (b) some horses are so very fond of molasses that they tend to bolt feed containing a lot of molasses - this is bad because horses need to chew their feed thoroughly and mix it with saliva in order to digest it properly. All that said, though, molasses is a palatable and popular feed additive, useful in small amounts, and it would be difficult to find a sweet feed or pelleted feed with absolutely no molasses in it. If your neighbour experiments with different amounts of molasses, she may find that a single tablespoon added to five gallons of water will be enough to encourage her horses to drink. Horses have much more highly-developed senses of smell and taste than we do, after all - even a spoonful of molasses will be instantly noticeable to them.
What matters most is for both of you to keep all of your horses hydrated through the winter. If any of them are reluctant drinkers and even warming their water doesn't cause them to drink enough to stay healthy, then adding molasses or apple juice to their drinking water may be a very useful ploy. I'm sure you know the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". Well, that's very true, but... if you lead a horse to warmed water with some molassess or apple juice added, you may be able to convince it that it WANTS to drink. ;-)
Jessica
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