automatic refil or water buckets?

[monica987]

well today when i took my girl to her new yard (post in Cr)they had auromatic refil water things and at present yard they have water buckets, i was just wondering which you think are best and which you have
xx

 

[Nuttymanxmare]

Prefer Auto water ones as it means I dont have to fill them up although I use water buckets so I can moniter how much the horse is drinking..

 

[sevenoceans]

I voted buckets cos i know how much my horse is drinking. For peace of mind. He hunts and some days he goes without.

 

[the watcher]

I use water buckets, even though one of mine has an automatic drinker in his stable..had an interesting incident when the hose burst on one of the drinkers and flooded the horse's hemp bed..the stuff that started growing out of it was a bit worrying!

Serious answer - prefer buckets although they are more work..I like to know what they are drinking

 

[moodymare1987]

Mine has water buckets for the sole reason that he hasnt got an auto feeder in his stable, its much less work with a auto feeder, but with a bucket you can keep check how much they are drinking.

 

[EllieBeast]

I prefer buckets as then i can keep an eye on how much she is drinking, also i would panic that the drinker would break during the night, and she would be stuck with nothing.

 

[moodymare1987]

Another problem with some water feeders, is that they can freeze over night and your horse wont have any water, its happened a few times on our yard, but clever me put a water bucket in all through winter to prevent horse going without. And then horse wasnt thirsty when i got up later on the next day, a couple of times all the water has frozen so i got mother dearest to fetch water from home and we filled up peoples waters as noone was aware there was no water and horses didnt have a drink. Im so nice really

 

[monica987]

hehe - well my mare is in a sheltered barn so no frost as it is completely enclosed

 

[moodymare1987]

Your lucky, mine wasnt on show or anything, my water feeder didnt freeze at he same time as everyone elses, mine was the last one to go as it was the one that was covered, but saying that water buckets have had a layer of ice over the top of them so it must have got really cold. Thank god pony was rugged up to eye balls.

 

[madgirl]

automatic refil love em

 

[MillionDollar]

I've got a mix of water buckets and automatics and much prefer automatics, they are so much better.

As long as the pipes are padded it stops freezing, and you can get automatics which have a valve so you can measure how much your horse is drinking and plugs at the bottom for easy cleaning.

 

[clipertyplop]

buckets much better even if it does involve work ....you can moniter what your horse is drinking and i have seen some very nasty accidents involving automatic feeders

 

[Tia]

Interesting that the two voting questions have differing votes.....but they are the same question??

Automatic ANY day! For those bothered about amounts of water your horses drink, just put on a meter on each drinker then you'll know.

 

[Patchwork]

Automatic, for sheer convenience. However, if any horse is ill or has just come back from a day hunting/competing it will have the auto refil turned off and water buckets instead so intake can be assessed

 

[WishfulThinker]

Auto drinkers are a pain! I worked on a yard that had them and one horse used to manage to poo IN it, which of course then ment that he couldnt drink!! And they arent as easy to clean out

 

[paintsplat05]

Auto drinkers are just a pain-they get clogged with hay and then flood everywhere-i switched mine off and used a huge tub trug instead!

 

[Bossanova]

Autos- saves big time on labour, hate lugging water buckets around!!
They need cleaning twice a week but have never caused us any problems

 

[Tempi]

definately water buckets, you can monitor how much they drink, keep them really clean and they dont get blocked up all the time.

 

[JessPickle]

You can get automatic drinkers that tell you exactly how much your horse has drunk each day. Must be blumen expensive though!

 

[Chex]

I prefer buckets so I can clean them etc. However if you asked me while I'm humphing a full bucket of water, sloshing most of down my welly and my leg, I'm sure I'd say I want an automatic waterer!

 

[dressagespain]

I have one auotmatic for the boy who is always in and big bins for the others - I would dearly love to have automatic in all stables but there is just not enough pipes!!

Chex - Why not invest in a really long hose pipe - Thank god i did - I was getting very fed up of having wet legs!!

 

[not_with_it]

I prefer buckets and have always used buckets. They are a pain to fill sometimes but they are easy to clean, are less likely to freeze, you know your horse will always have water (they dont break) and its easier to tell how much your horse has drunk.

 

[Vicki1986]

well... i prefer buckets only because i know lots of horses too scared / clueless to dirnk out of auto waterers !!
i tend not to "lug heavy buckets" just cos i dont have auto waterers. ideally a long enough hose to reach the stables, or we use a trolley that we have on the yard for moving bales