Bit of a random question but ... (water buckets)

[Birker2020]

My horse only ever drinks out of his yellow bucket. Never the white one, or at least very, very rarely, yet every evening I duly fill it to the top!

I have repositioned them, so the yellow is nearest the hay bar in case he preferred drinking from the one farthest away but its made no difference.
I have also scrubbed both buckets within an inch of their lives (as I do every day anyway). I know the yellow one has a different angle on the handle, but I can't see him catching his nose on the white ones handle so I don't think its that. Nothing drips from ceiling into it either as i did wonder.

Funnily enough the previous horse also did the same.......spooky. Answers on a postcard please....

 

[albeg]

Might be related to how they see colour. (I know this is about blue being the preference but states they see blue and yellow).

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[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I had too many trugs at one point from hay soaking so did an experiment with my old boy. He would drink out of lighter buckets over darker ones, the light blue was favouite out of them all, then the pink, then the light green. Dark blue and dark green were always bottom favouite, better only than black which he really wasn't keen on. White also wouldn't get drunk from but he would always dip his hay in that one first, no matter where it was.

Sounds bizarre, but I tested all combinations and it genuinely had a very set, and eventually predictable pattern as to which one would be empty and which would have water left in it.

 

[Archangel]

Both horses here like light blue.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

There was a post shared on fb about how horses see colour. It explained few things!

 

[Sealine]

I can understand why a horse would prefer a light coloured bucket over black as it would be easier to see any nasties in the water. My horse has a black bucket for water. Recently a rat had drowned and sunk to the bottom and was very difficult to see in the dark corner in his stable. If the bucket had been a light colour it would have been much easier to see.

 

[MuddyMonster]

Both horses here like light blue.

Mine too now I think about it, I have a light blue and a royal blue trug and mine prefers the lighter blue one!

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

Mine have two trugs out in the field one is a light blue the other is very dark green, they always drink from the blue one first and only go to the green on if the blue one is empty, which only happens when the youngster uses it to splash in and throw about.

 

[Britestar]

I have two buckets in the field. A blue 100kg lick bucket, and a giant black trug tug. They refuse to drink out of either.
The two horses are in a restricted paddock for their own good, and they'll go all day without drinking, then run up to the trough in the main field when they are released in the evening, drink out of it, then calmly come in to bed.

 

[neddy man]

I cant provide an answer but it would be interesting to know the results of doing a handle swop for a week.

 

[Lois Lame]

Maybe it's more noticeable to him.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

My main guess is that it has to do with the colours on the buckets.

However, if I imagine myself trying to lean over and try to drink out of those two buckets, then the edge on the yellow bucket looks more comfortable to lean my neck against, than compared to the edge on the white bucket. But I'm not a horse.

 

[little_critter]

Tentative link.
I was convinced my horse preferred drinking out of the pink trug in the field over the red one. Every day I had to refill the pink one while the red one was hardly touched.
…
the pink one had a slow leak ?

 

[Birker2020]

My main guess is that it has to do with the colours on the buckets.

However, if I imagine myself trying to lean over and try to drink out of those two buckets, then the edge on the yellow bucket looks more comfortable to lean my neck against, than compared to the edge on the white bucket. But I'm not a horse.

You might have something there, the horse two doors down from me has the exact same white bucket, as they asked me where I'd got mine from and they have the same set up as me. There horse has two white buckets, yet will never drink out of the one nearest the door (farthest from their hay). I guess as both buckets are the same design they have to drink out of one or they'd be very thirsty.

 

[Birker2020]

Fascinating answers thank you all, a lot to muse over.

 

[Madd1]

Don't often post but felt compelled to reply as have just had this exact problem . Have a very old yellow large trug for water which had seen better days so bought a brand new light mauve colour one which I replaced the yellow one with. Horses would go over for a drink - sniff the water and wander off. This went on for a couple of days and as it was quite hot was worried about them getting dehydrated I relented and put out the old yellow trug as well which they both continued to drink out of as normal.
Now they've got the two trugs out there but the new one hardly ever get used. Even the dog prefers the old yellow one !!!!! I did thoroughly scrub the new trug before use too.
Thought it was just my animals that were strange but it's obviously a 'thing' as I'm not the only one lol

 

[Horseysheepy]

Mine have 4 identical water buckets in the field, they always seem to drink from one more than the others. Think it's the second one along. Can't work out why!

 

[SpotsandBays]

When my youngster was on barn rest for 2 months due to injury, he had two buckets of water. Wouldn’t touch the water in the dark blue one, he’d only drink from the light blue! Funnily enough the dark blue one was his usual stable bucket (although he’s out 24/7 unless it’s particularly nasty out). Thinking about it, he never really would drink alot from that dark bucket when we was in. I just figured he’d drank a lot outside the day before. Swapped to the light blue for his stable and he does drink noticeably more from that now if he’s in!
In the field we have a HUGE black bucket. All drink happily from there, however I moved the mini shet in that field and she can’t reach it unless it’s very full so I put a couple of smaller buckets out there for her. They now all prefer drinking from the smaller lilac one! Will still drink from the big black one, and none of them touch the small black one.

 

[GreyDot]

I'm feeling the urge to replace my red water buckets now

 

[Lois Lame]

When my youngster was on barn rest for 2 months due to injury, he had two buckets of water. Wouldn’t touch the water in the dark blue one, he’d only drink from the light blue! Funnily enough the dark blue one was his usual stable bucket (although he’s out 24/7 unless it’s particularly nasty out). Thinking about it, he never really would drink alot from that dark bucket when we was in. I just figured he’d drank a lot outside the day before. Swapped to the light blue for his stable and he does drink noticeably more from that now if he’s in!
In the field we have a HUGE black bucket. All drink happily from there, however I moved the mini shet in that field and she can’t reach it unless it’s very full so I put a couple of smaller buckets out there for her. They now all prefer drinking from the smaller lilac one! Will still drink from the big black one, and none of them touch the small black one.

That was cute.

 

[SpeedyPony]

Ours all flatly refused to drink out of the silver trug we had- except the miniature Shetland, who didn't seem to care.
Black/green/blue buckets all get drunk out of, light and dark shades, doesn't seem to matter.
I'd guess that the silver trug reflected the water in an odd way- it wasn't as uniform in colour as the normal ones, had almost swirls of pigment in the plastic.

 

[spacefaer]

So how would horses feel about those dark blue automatic water bowls?
I'm always in 2 minds about auto bowls anyway as you can't monitor their intake, but this would imply that the ones that prefer lighter water buckets wouldn't be drinking enough .....

 

[rara007]

Mine is happy with dark auto waters- if they’re not too noisy. Then his next preference is blue. White is spooky unless he’s really thirsty.