07/05/2026
Has anyone tried a “water buffet”. What did you offer? What were your results?
Top: Our previous water buffet options remaining after the horses had made their choices.
Bottom: A newer buffet that kept some favourites and introduced a few new options.
Since “dirty” water and electrolytes are consistently popular, they stayed in rotation. I did however place them to the BACK to see if where they are located influenced their decision to drink.
This time we also added:
Watermelon water: some of it juice and squeezed with additional chunks added (which I’ve learned seem to float at varying heights, which is great it doesn’t all sit at the top)
Blueberry water: I had some mushy blueberries that I didn’t want going to waste so this worked great!
Cinnamon water: I’ve actually used this for insulin regulation so this is a good option for the EMS horses. I steeped cinnamon sticks in water overnight and removed the sticks before serving.
Pale drank 80% of the cinnamon water in the first 5 minutes of having it available, so this was a winner already!
Notes on what I rotated out:
Salt water & Clay: This one is usually very popular but I don’t think it’s something they want in a heatwave, same with the clay. Because these tend to be what is drunk first, so this was interesting to me!
Raspberry leaves: this is something I should have probably steeped in hot water. The leaves sat on top and then after the top part was ingested they were interested in it anymore.
But regardless all good information!
One of my favourite parts of offering a water buffet is that the horses tell us what they enjoy. We keep some favourites, learn from past mistakes experiment with new options, and let their preferences help guide future buffets.
As always, fresh plain water is available alongside every option.
