Ice in troughs

[emilykerr747]

Hi everyone. I wanted to find out what everyone used to prevent ice in their horses water troughs during winter.
Due to the hours of my new job I will be struggling to come up to the yard and smash ice regularly when it’s cold and am worried that my horses could go without water.

I have considered using an Aquarium heater to prevent ice however I’m concerned at how safe these are (electrocution etc).

We live in the highlands of Scotland so there is some times during the winter where it can reach temperatures of -10 to -15.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Apparently a tennis ball floating in the trough keeps the water moving and can help prevent it freezing. Not sure it would work in those sorts of temps though!

 

[Widgeon]

Apparently a tennis ball floating in the trough keeps the water moving and can help prevent it freezing. Not sure it would work in those sorts of temps though!

I was going to say similar, a couple of those really big tennis balls you can buy for dogs - but I've never experienced those kind of temperatures for more than a day at most! I'd probably start by fully insulating the trough by strapping insulating panels all the way around it if you can.

 

[planete]

Apparently a tennis ball floating in the trough keeps the water moving and can help prevent it freezing. Not sure it would work in those sorts of temps though!

Tried it last year. Did not work.

 

[windand rain]

i am pretty sure you can get pond heaters that should keep some of it ice free you might need to house it in a horseproof box in the trough though https://horticulture.co.uk/pond-heaters/

 

[AmyMay]

Presumably you’ll be seeing to your horses twice a day so providing you smash the ice during that time, you should be ok.

 

[Meredith]

I put a plastic? rugby ball in the trough. The ponies soon learned to move it to drink. The wind kept the ball moving too which helped.
If it was really cold it was easier to break the ice starting from where the ball floated.
I have heard that a bottle with salt and a little water in it floating prevents all the surface freezing but I would be worried in case the bottle split.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Back in 2010/11 we had over a fortnight of sub zero temps here in the SE. (-10 at night)
I broke the ice 1st thing before work and got a couple of non horsey friends to pop in around 10 and 2 to do this again before I returned in the evening for a few days when it was at its worst.

Have an empty trug beside tank to pop the ice into.

I managed to put one small trough into one of the field shelters which helped with the icing a bit.
Yard tap gave up after a couple of days, so lugged big containers from home. Every bit mattered and anything from stables that was usable went into the field troughs, fresh went into stables.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

In the states they use heaters on their water troughs as it can be freezing in winter for long periods. As long as wired properly and I presume it would be to some sort of battery so not mains. I can’t see it’s an issue otherwise everyone would be electrocuting their fish.

 

[emilykerr747]

Presumably you’ll be seeing to your horses twice a day so providing you smash the ice during that time, you should be ok.

yes I will be. I’ll be up at 5:30am and back at 6pm. However last year we had to smash the ice midday sometimes on the very cold days.

 

[Carrottom]

I have found that breaking the ice and then fishing it out ( a plastic colander is useful for this) then if possible add a bottle if hot water, stops it freezing yard again for a few hours.

 

[Gloi]

Yes. Fishing the ice out if you can helps it stay liquid longer. The best thing though is a wily native that has learnt to smash the ice with a well aimed hoof

 

[teddypops]

I put a 2l plastic bottle of salty water in my troughs, it floats around and helps prevent freezing.