Automatic water drinkers

Michen

Michen

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Those of you who have them, do you like them?

I have a horse whose had/has raised livery enzymes that reoccured. The ONLY symptom was excessive drinking. Absolutely nothing else he looks the picture of health. It's proven useful again as the issue returned a few months later and he needed to go back on antibiotics. As it is it's minor, but if it had been ignored and got to the stage where other symptoms were showing I'm not so sure it would have been.

It's made me think twice about whether I'd ever use them if I ever moved yard. I also like knowing if they haven't drunk as much as they should when it's cold etc.

Seems most pro yards have them though as standard and they are becoming more and more common, convenient for sure but I'm surprised yards don't want to know what the horses are/aren't drinking...?
 
I have them although the ones I have are the very large ones that take a good two buckets of water. My horses are kept at home and all go out in the fields together which have self filling troughs so it just isn't possible to accurately each horse's water intake.

They certainly save time and when it freezes I turn the water off to them and use buckets.

If you had single turnout with troughs that had to be filled manually then I can understand the argument of monitoring water intake.
 
We have them at work and that’s handy as filling loads of buckets would be a nightmare. We do clean them out daily and once a week I go round with a screwdriver and take them apart to clean properly.
They didn’t freeze this winter but in the past have and the thaw split pipes over every stable ?
I had them at home for a while but like you wanted to know if something stopped drinking or was drinking more than usual.
I did away with them, I’d rather buckets for my own really. Also had one kick out and break one, resulting in very very flooded stables!
 
I agree that self filling troughs at turnout time muddy things, but if you have horses stabled at least part of the time then you do get a good idea of what is normal intake in that time.
I have had the big ones before, i don't like the little ones at all. but I prefer big buckets and a hosepipe tbh for the stabled ones.
 
My yard has a mixture of stables with automatic water drinkers and those without.

Personally, although I like the time and labour saving aspect of them, I am not a fan of them for every horse. I find that they are often located too high up on a wall for ponies and I think they can be quite an unnatural angle. The ones where I am can be turned off to allow water intake to be monitored thought.
 
eggs said:
I have them although the ones I have are the very large ones that take a good two buckets of water. My horses are kept at home and all go out in the fields together which have self filling troughs so it just isn't possible to accurately each horse's water intake.

They certainly save time and when it freezes I turn the water off to them and use buckets.

If you had single turnout with troughs that had to be filled manually then I can understand the argument of monitoring water intake.
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Mine are turned out during day with self filling troughs but I could still identify he was drinking more water in his bucket overnight than normal. And it correlates exactly to the enzymes going up.

When I was a bit on the fence about it I stabled him for 24 hours to be sure. But I’d never have known there was an initial problem if he’d had auto filled in his stable.
 
I have them in my field, but not my stables. I wouldn’t trust mine not to knock them off the wall. I’d also worry that they’d freeze in the winter. I also like to clean water buckets daily and find that the field ones do need a clean every few days (they aren’t big troughs, but smaller black ones).
 
I have them and love them, but they do all have their own individual taps so if needed I can turn them off. The bowls are also huge so I turn taps off in winter so they don't freeze but the horses have plenty to drink :)
 
ElleSkywalker said:
I have them and love them, but they do all have their own individual taps so if needed I can turn them off. The bowls are also huge so I turn taps off in winter so they don't freeze but the horses have plenty to drink :)
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Interesting. I just can’t imagine I’d ever feel comfortable using them now given what excessive drinking could be hiding.

I know it’s probably rare and unlikely but I think it was very lucky that Bear was indicating something was wrong so early.
 
I saw a genius idea the other day. Someone had posted photos of their new stables on facebook. Each stable had its own water supply but it was just a tap right above where the water buckets were. The tap wasn't a normal tap, it was a plastic turny thing (technical term :p) that didn't stick out much from the pipe so was less likely to get broken. Best of both worlds I thought, ease of water in each stable but able to monitor intake.
 
Michen said:
Interesting. I just can’t imagine I’d ever feel comfortable using them now given what excessive drinking could be hiding.

I know it’s probably rare and unlikely but I think it was very lucky that Bear was indicating something was wrong so early.
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Drinking a huge amount was one of the signs an old horse I had had ulcers, when they flared up again some months after treatment and scoping clear it was the drinking that rang alarm bells
 
Yep I think it’s got to be important. Hence surprised by their widespread use. I suppose professionals have routine bloods done on the horses perhaps, so would pick things up that way.
 
Michen said:
Those of you who have them, do you like them?

I have a horse whose had/has raised livery enzymes that reoccured. The ONLY symptom was excessive drinking. Absolutely nothing else he looks the picture of health. It's proven useful again as the issue returned a few months later and he needed to go back on antibiotics. As it is it's minor, but if it had been ignored and got to the stage where other symptoms were showing I'm not so sure it would have been.

It's made me think twice about whether I'd ever use them if I ever moved yard. I also like knowing if they haven't drunk as much as they should when it's cold etc.

Seems most pro yards have them though as standard and they are becoming more and more common, convenient for sure but I'm surprised yards don't want to know what the horses are/aren't drinking...?
Click to expand...
we had them installed a few years back.. not every stable due to accessibility and position, but they sure make my life a lot easier, so yeas I like them.
 
I like them for the convenience and because I can drip feed them in winter to stop them freezing because the resident handyman has fitted a drain hose with a tap on it. The inability to monitor water intake is a drawback, and not one I had thought seriously about before.
.
 
Annagain said:
I saw a genius idea the other day. Someone had posted photos of their new stables on facebook. Each stable had its own water supply but it was just a tap right above where the water buckets were. The tap wasn't a normal tap, it was a plastic turny thing (technical term :p) that didn't stick out much from the pipe so was less likely to get broken. Best of both worlds I thought, ease of water in each stable but able to monitor intake.
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i had that at a previous yard, it was useful but I think my destructinator would probably still manage to mangle the tap.
 
I've just moved yards at the weekend and now have one, so convenient but water intake is a huge concern with her recent colic episode. Poops are fine so I'm hoping things will be ok moving forwards
 
milliepops said:
i had that at a previous yard, it was useful but I think my destructinator would probably still manage to mangle the tap.
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Yep Bog would itch his arse on it. The one at yard by tie up now has a metal roof around it because of him ..
 
I don't like them. Not in stables nor in the field troughs. In stables I like to know what water they are drinking and in the field I like the option of cleaning them properly and having clean water to drink.
 
Michen said:
Yep Bog would itch his arse on it. The one at yard by tie up now has a metal roof around it because of him ..
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they were quite low at the place I was, probably 6" above the top of my huge water bucket so probably 3' high. Millie was fine, she's quite trustworthy with stuff in the stable, I can see Kira making sport of it though! she would be a pain with drinkers too tho.
 
I have them in some not all stables, they are grim if not cleaned regularly (hay seems to get in the filler bit at the back) and they are a pain to clean (I scrub buckets every other day and the time saved filling is almost used cleaning the dam things)

I haven't disconnected the ones I have but I wouldn't rush to put them in the other stables (mine live out most of the year though so only doing water a few months a year)
 
Most of the yards I’ve been on have had them. The current ones are huge and have only partially frozen once in the last decade. I’ve never had a problem. I think there are a lot of ways you can take notice of your horses behaviour without the need to give bucket water. For example how much they wee, how dirty the water is as to whether they are using it, general demeanour. Some of my paddocks have trugs and some automatic filling troughs the trugs I know what they are drinking, the troughs not so unless I turn off. They always prefer field water even if I’ve given them a trug in the stable in addition to the waterers.
 
I had to block one off because my big lad thought it was a great height to itch his bottom on and I could see it moving. Visions of coming in one morning to a flooded yard. I also like to see how much they are drinking and I'm lucky because its easy to fill up trugs for water where we are.

I'm surprised people haven't had problems with them freezing. I can remember having to fill buckets when I was last on a yard with them and friends were moaning a few weeks ago when we had that cold spell.
 
Esmae said:
I don't like them. Not in stables nor in the field troughs. In stables I like to know what water they are drinking and in the field I like the option of cleaning them properly and having clean water to drink.
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My field ones are only 50 litres so get emptied every few days for cleaning. I wouldn’t have a large trough either, but these suit as I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve left the hose on and gone home ?
 
Mine has automatic in the field and then bucket in stable. She used to also have automatic in stable at the old yard and I hated it. It was so small and if she had a real thirst she actually had to stand around waiting for it to fill back up.

I like being able to monitor her water intake at night (or day in the summer when she swaps round). I hadn’t thought about the fact I don’t know what she’s drinking in the field but then she’s on herd turnout sooo unless I stood and watched all day I wouldn’t know anyway ?
 
Their convenience is obvious - but personally i dont have them nor would i, as like you, water intake monitoring can catch health issues early.

many horses colic in winter and i have found my 2, if the water is ice cold - drink less. So i top up their 40ltr x2 trugs with 10ltrs bucket of hot cistern water - theyre at home with me. They drink lots more of the ‘warmed water’ than they do of the winter ice-cold hose water, sourced from a underground mountain spring. One trug empty next morning in comparison to being half-full.
When temps get to consistent nights of 0 degrees and less, i start adding hot water and notice the difference to their intake.
 
Esmae said:
I don't like them. Not in stables nor in the field troughs. In stables I like to know what water they are drinking and in the field I like the option of cleaning them properly and having clean water to drink.
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I clean my self filling trough out easily enough
Sussexbythesea said:
Most of the yards I’ve been on have had them. The current ones are huge and have only partially frozen once in the last decade. I’ve never had a problem. I think there are a lot of ways you can take notice of your horses behaviour without the need to give bucket water. For example how much they wee, how dirty the water is as to whether they are using it, general demeanour. Some of my paddocks have trugs and some automatic filling troughs the trugs I know what they are drinking, the troughs not so unless I turn off. They always prefer field water even if I’ve given them a trug in the stable in addition to the waterers.
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I have really not seen any difference in the amount he wees from when he’s drinking lots to when he’s not. Maybe if he was stable 24/7 I would. Who has dirty water fillers though to check whether they are drinking them!?

Like I said, no others symptoms. Hunting, fit and gleaming at all times.

There is no way I’d have known until another symptom showed.
 
I've just moved stable at my yard, from one with automatic water to one without. When the stables with automatic water were built, most horses were on full livery so I can absolutely understand why, from a labour pov, the owner went for automatic water. Doing one or two water trugs is fine - doing twenty or thirty is a LOT more work.

I moved because of stable size - from a 12'x12' to a 12'x18' - but I'm also quite glad to get away from the automatic water. I don't think Blue was a huge fan because, although she would drink in the stable, she'd always go straight to the field water trough on being turned out. Since moving, she doesn't.

I think the dream would be the design Annagain mentioned.
 
My old yard had them in the stables and, like others said, it saves a lot of time if you’re mucking out a lot of stables. However, it was slightly too high for my boy. He couldn’t do anything except dunk his chin in it which then caused an overflow and a very wet corner of his bed. Plus it was a bit of a hassle when it came to removing his water for his scope.
 
We have just taken them out of a couple of the stables as Finn kept knocking his off the wall . I came down to find the entire block flooded ... twice ? so Finn has a tap in his stable instead ( plastic type with removable pipe when buckets filled up) this actually works really well and I’m considering changing the rest over .
 
With mine at home I don't have automatic waterers and don't personally like them. Field troughs are manual bar the winter field but I can clean it out quite easily.

I have one who would push or pull it off the wall, the Shitland couldn't reach and the TB pooped in his water so have now emptied the one he poos in and put another water tub in the other corner where he never poops -strange creature.
 
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