Iron rich water

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Humphrey

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We rent a cottage with its own private water supply - the water is iron rich [it turns the cobbles red] and has to be filtered/softened to make it drinkable for us.

I am hoping to set up stables on the field next door but am not sure whether the water will be good for the horses long term?

The landlady seems to think it would be allright but she naturally doesn't want to pay for another water filter!

assuming that the horses will even drink it - will the water do them any harm?

I'm thinking I can either set up rain water butts instead [we used those at my livery yard for a year or two - a bit laborious but perfectly serviceable].

Or I can try the water company and see if I can get water from the mains - but its very rural and I don't know how easy thats going to be and how grumpy the landlady is going to be about it.

Anyone got any similar experiences and/or advice please?
 
Water with high iron content should be fine for your horses. Its not good for people because it makes the water cloudy which in turn either 'clarts' up filters, or if you have a uv filter for bacteria it means it wont work properly. The other downside of high iron is that it can stain your washing etc.

I would double check the filtration system. You should not be drinking softened water. You have probably got an iron filter and a UV or carbon filter for bacteria. Water softeners are to take out the hardness - white staining on the draining boards etc. If you are in doubt about the potability for yourself contact you environmental health department - your landlady has a legal requirement to have a potable water supply (for humans). Dont even go their with the mains.

You horses should be fine, if you use water tanks you may find the iron will precipitate out when it meets the air and sink to the bottom. Water buts would be fine with the present climate, an alternative would be to run a hosepipe out of your window to the field to fill up a good sized container.
 
Yes they all drink it fine! They are all fit and healthy. When people come up though you have to explain that your not giving your horse dirty water!
 
I kept horses for years on the site of an old open cast mining site. The water was full of iron oxide, actually it looked like raw sewage at times, but it never harmed the horses that we noticed.

Hopefully, the fact that most of the geldings were raging sex monsters that would cover any mare was purely coincidental, or down to some other factor on the land.

Here our water is highly sulphurous, it stinks, the horses happily drink the untreated stuff. Everything we drink goes through a filter system with salt added, a filter on the tap and then through a filter machine as well. I spend a fortune on a product called CLR (Calcium,Lime,Rust) which removes all the staining and residue from baths, toilets, washing machine, kettles etc.
 
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