'Automatic Horse Waterer'

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jasmine2009

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Hello

I have recently moved my horse into a vacant stable, when we first moved him in the 'Automatic Horse Waterer' was full of faeces from the previous horse. We cleaned the waterer out with the normal sponge and bucket but he still refuses to drink from it. I think he may still be able to smell the poo that was in there from before, is there anything i can use to give it a thorough clean e.g detol bacteria spray ,washing up liquid...? Getting a bit worried as he will be in through the whole of the winter and im scared he will become dehydrated, i know he definately wont drink from it as he approached it about 5 times to day and just stood a looked at me, so i decided to fill a bucket to see if he was thirsty and he cleared 3 within the hour.

Thanks :-) x
 
Has he used an automatic trough before? If not many horses are wary of them especially as some make a real hissing noise when they drink. Some never get used to them & will always want a bucket, that is until they do not get one offered & then they seem to just get on with it.
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Put a bucket underneath it and jam the lever down to flush it through, use a loo brush to get all the gunk out and keep flushing it, that may help. You could try something like Milton fluid as well.

I'd provide him with a bucket too, give him a choice.

I actually like automatic waterers, I'd be lost without mine (10 litre heated field jobbies) but those don't involve the horse activating them so are probably a bit different.
 
I couldn't live without them and none of my horses ever had a problem (not even Frodo who'd never seen one when we got him).

Try and clean the drinker again and then show him how to use it - maybe it's a different type to the one he's used before and he's not sure.
 
Thanks for your replys..but nothing the waterer is exactly the same as before...i really do think it must be a smell in the waterer so I will try the Milton solution tomorrow and hopefully that will sort it out..as having a tub in the stable that would be a complete no no as our yard owner would not agree and is not flexiable at all
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Tweenie won't drink from the new one we put in her stable. The old one, very similar design, wouldn't stop running over even though we'd replaced all the leakable parts on it.

Anyway, she is terrifed of the new one! I have to put a bucket in her stable. We're going to remove it and just put a tap on the end of the pipework for easy filling of tub trugs instead.

I know why she's scared, but we can't stop it. The design of the bowl is very shallow. When it fills the water sloshes around the bowl and spills out one side. Very bizarre.
 
Patches - have you tried fitting a restrictor on the pipe? Or if you have separate stopcocks for each waterer shut the tap a bit and see if that slows the flow down enough to stop it.
 
Just normal apple juice. Offer him some in a bucket first to see if he's interested, then empty the drinker or partially empty it, and top up with juice. As he drinks it would then get replaced with water. Might not work at first as my boy still thought I was trying to poison him! lol!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Patches - have you tried fitting a restrictor on the pipe? Or if you have separate stopcocks for each waterer shut the tap a bit and see if that slows the flow down enough to stop it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, it has a restrictor on it now. Problem is, it happened the first time we used it (the old ones were fine to be mains fed without restrictors) and she won't drink from it now regardless of the fact it's "fixed".

Silly mare clearly has a long memory. They've lived out since March, so we're hoping she might just use it when they start coming in overnight. If she still won't drink, we'll just take it out.
 
Hi all
Went down to the yard this evening and found he is still not drinking for the waterer, i gave it a good scrub quite a few times and noticed there was rust comming from it!! Managed to scrub off most of the lose rust, and gave him water from a bucket. I have done some research on rust removal products and found these few things 'Vinegar,Baking soda and Coke'.
Does anyone know if any of these are harmful to horses...
Thanks :-) x
 
Hiya
Got some brilliant news...last night we went to the stables and gave the waterer a good scrub with coca cola..couldnt believe the amount of the rust the coke removed (dread to think what it does to our insides!!!
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) We then popped some cut up apples in the waterer and managed to get him to take them out but still couldnt get him to take a drink but at least we were one step on..gave him a bucket of water to drink before we left still pulling our hair out on what to do about the situation. When we drove in to the livery yard this morning to give him his bucket of water we could see him over by the waterer..as he heard our car he popped his head over the door and yes he had been drinking as he had water dripping from his mouth.
What a relief I was getting so worried.
Thanks agin for all your replies
smile.gif
 
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