Summer is here, bringing sun, fun, and very hot days. Whether you’re working in the heat or relaxing in the shade, it’s important to stay hydrated – and that goes for your horse, too! Fruit-infused water can help up your horse’s fluid intake and is a refreshing enrichment. Water flavored with fruit is appealing to your horse, and it’s easy to make. Here’s how to make flavored water for horses.
What is Fruit Flavored Water for Horses?
Fruit flavored water for horses is made like fruit infused water for people. To create this enrichment, slice any equine safe fruit or vegetable and gently infuse the flavors into cold water.
Starting with a few cups of fresh sliced fruit, you’ll end up with up to a gallon of fruit flavored water for your horse. It’s deliciously scented and delicately flavored with the essence of the citrus, melon, or berries you used to make it.
Fruit-infused or fruit flavored water for horses isn’t the same as fruit juice. Fruit juice is made from pressing fruit to produce sugary, strongly-flavored juice. Fruit flavored water for horses is more subtle. It has the flavor and scent but almost all the sugar stays in the fruit.
This makes the fruit flavored water enrichment perfect for metabolically sensitive horses. If your horse can’t eat sugary fruits, fruit flavored water can give them all the flavor without the health risks. And since most horses absolutely love fruit-infused water, it’s a great way to encourage hydration.
The amount of fruit and the combination of flavors you choose are up to you (and your horse’s preferences). More fruit means a more flavor-forward infusion, and using less creates a very subtle scent and flavor. Because this enrichment is so simple to make, you’ll be able to experiment and find your horse’s favorite flavors.
What Horse Behaviors Does Fruit Flavored Water Encourage?
Enrichment for horses is all about encouraging natural behaviors and providing variety. Your horse will really enjoy the different fruit flavors! This equine enrichment is perfect for giving your horse some easy, calm sensory stimulation.
Your horse will get to enjoy:
- Drinking
- Using the senses of taste and smell
Why Flavored Water for Horses is Good Enrichment
Fruit flavored water is great horse enrichment because it encourages drinking. How much and how often your horse drinks is incredibly important for health, but easy to overlook.
Fluid intake deserves plenty of attention especially during temperature extremes. Horses that are sweating in the heat need a lot of water. And when it’s cold, many horses don’t drink as much as they should. By using enrichment ideas like fruit flavored water, you can encourage your horse to stay hydrated.
Image by Ebowalker from Pixabay
You want your horse to have good drinking habits. Ideally, horses should drink a generous amount of water per day (5 to 10 gallons, depending on the individual and their diet), and accept water from different sources. Water is crucial for keeping the digestive system working, avoiding colic and other gastrointestinal problems. It’s also vital for cooling your horse in the form of sweat.
Fruit flavored water for horses makes water more appealing, with a subtle flavor and deliciously fruity, botanical scent. Since the combination of flavors is pretty much limitless and you can make fruit infused water at a variety of strengths, there’s endless variety to keep this enrichment fresh and engaging. It’s also a great way to encourage a horse to drink unfamiliar water, like at a show.
This enrichment is also excellent for horses with metabolic sensitivities that can’t have a lot of sweet, flavored items in their diets. Fruit infused water has the fruit removed, taking the sugars with it but leaving the essence of the fruit flavor. This enrichment can allow insulin-resistant horses to experience the flavor and smell of sweet items that are off-limits for health reasons.
How to Make Fruit Flavored Water for Horses
Making fruit flavored water for horses is really simple. It’s identical to making fruit infused water for yourself. The main difference between making the water for horses versus people is in scaling up the amounts – most people don’t make gallons of fruit-infused water at a time!
This recipe makes a small bucket of flavored water for your horse so that you can experiment to find flavors that they like, but you can scale up as needed.
You will need:
Two to four cups fresh fruit, use one type or several, such a strawberries, apples, peaches, plums, citrus
1-2 quarts fresh water
Large jar, jug, or bucket
Kitchen strainer or spider strainer
Optional equipment
Infusion pitcher
Net bag to hold the fruit for easy removal – like this inexpensive set from Amazon
Horse Fruit Flavored Water Instructions
First, pick which kind of fruit to use. Any horse-safe fruit is usable for this enrichment, and you can use combinations like strawberry melon. In these photos, I’m using strawberries and oranges. You can use any melon, berries, apples, pears, or other fruit that’s edible by horses.
You’ll want anywhere from two to four cups of fruit, depending on how strongly flavored you want the finished water to be. One cup per quart is a good base to start with, and you can always make future batches with more or less.
Slice the fruit into quarter inch thick slices. Remove cores or pits. It is not necessary to peel fruit before slicing – the peel of some fruits such as oranges actually adds flavor and scent.
Put the fruit in a jar, jug, or bucket and let it infuse for 4 hours or overnight. Strain out the fruit and give to your horse.
That’s the basic method, so here are specifics on two ways to make this enrichment depending on whether you want to prepare it at the stable or at home in your kitchen.
Making the Fruit Infused Water at Home – Concentrate Method
Decide how much water you want for your horse, and prepare enough fruit for that amount of water. For example, if you plan to give your horse a full gallon of the fruit-flavored water, cut 2 to 4 cups of fruit. Put the fruit into a container that will fit in your fridge, or an infusion pitcher, and add enough water to cover, about a quart or so. Refrigerate overnight to give the fruit’s scent and flavor plenty of time to infuse into the water.
In the morning, strain out the fruit and pour this highly-flavored water into a jug or bottle to take to the stable. Pour the concentrate into a clean water bucket, add fresh water to make the desired amount, and give to your horse.
Making the Fruit-Infused Water at the Stable – Bucket Method
Cut the fruit as before, either in your kitchen at home or at the stable. Add the cut slices to a clean water bucket, cover with fresh water to the amount of water you’d like to give your horse, and let it sit to infuse for up to four hours. Remove the fruit by using a colander or spider strainer, stir, and give it to your horse.
Offering the Fruit Flavored Water to Horses
The fun part is giving your horse the bucket of fruit flavored water and getting to see how they like it! You can offer it to them slightly chilled or at room temperature. Try out various temperatures to see if your horse has a preference – some like the water cool and others may prefer barn-temperature water.
Depending on how your horse likes the scent and flavor, you might see enthusiastic drinking, the Flehmen response (when the horse’s lip curls upward as they experience a new or interesting scent), or lots of licking and tasting.
If you used a small amount of fruit to make the water, you can also try offering the water with the fruit pieces still floating around. This provides a different sensory experience by creating a “bobbing for apples”-style activity in addition to the flavor of the water. To do this safely, make sure that the amount of fruit isn’t excessive.
Safety Notes
This is a very safe enrichment activity. Since it’s just a bucket of water with an interesting scent and flavor, fruit-infused water can be offered without supervision. There are just a few safety points to keep in mind.
Because this enrichment uses fresh fruit, it is perishable. Use your fruit-infused water promptly after making it or keep it in the refrigerator. It’s important not to let the water sit out too long before giving it to your horse to ensure that it doesn’t spoil, especially in the summer heat. If your horse doesn’t drink the fruit infused water, discard it at the end of the day.
Make sure that your horse also has plenty of their normal, unflavored water available at all times. If they don’t care for the fruit-flavored water, you’ll want them to have access to water they prefer so that they stay hydrated.
Making flavored or fruit infused water for your horse is an excellent and refreshing way to give them sensory stimulation and encourage drinking. On hot summer days we could all stand to be a little more hydrated! With so many combinations of flavors, you’re bound to find something that your horse enjoys.
Have you made fruit infused water for your horse? How did it go? What were their favorite flavors? Tell us about it in a comment!