Stable drinkers

[YummyHorses]

Little bit of advice please....just about to purchase automatic drinkers for my new american barn and wondered which ones people would recommend? So the good, bad and the ugly?

Want to purchase ones that will last but at the same time not to costly. Have 6 stables to do which is enough but not that many to get a massive discount from any supplier.

Thanks so much.

 

[popeyesno1fan]

Firstly, I have automatic water drinkers in two of my stables, have no idea what make they are, as i'm renting a house that has land and stables, and they were already in. Dont know what part you live in, but the "big freeze" of the last few winters froze my water drinkers solid. I had a spare recycling bin, which i had to bring into my kitchen, fill it with a suacepan and drag it down to the stables, bucket the water out into the stables and refill. Total nightmare. Which ever ones you chose, make sure the water pipes are doubly insulated, so you dont have to do what i did. You have no idea how much horses actually drink until you have to bucket it out of a wheelie bin,

 

[Goldenstar]

Firstly, I have automatic water drinkers in two of my stables, have no idea what make they are, as i'm renting a house that has land and stables, and they were already in. Dont know what part you live in, but the "big freeze" of the last few winters froze my water drinkers solid. I had a spare recycling bin, which i had to bring into my kitchen, fill it with a suacepan and drag it down to the stables, bucket the water out into the stables and refill. Total nightmare. Which ever ones you chose, make sure the water pipes are doubly insulated, so you dont have to do what i did. You have no idea how much horses actually drink until you have to bucket it out of a wheelie bin,

One winter I did this for ten it nearly killed me .

 

[emma.is]

We have silver ones that say Fisher on, they're good but make sure they're properly insulated. Ours only froze for a few days this year! If I was to pick new ones I'd get ones with plugs at the bottom, much easier to clean

 

[hoggedmane]

Make sure the bowl is big enough - I have a shire x mare who wouldn't use them because the bowls are not big enough for her nose.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

They are the work of the devil. You will never know how much your horses are drinking. Unless you check them several times a day you will never know if one has got blocked or frozen. The yard I was at before had them as a time saver and I know of at least 3 incidents where it's a miracle horses weren't colicking due to blocked automatic drinkers. Use a water trug and make sure your hose reaches all stables. Ta da.

 

[PeterNatt]

I have the larger plastic Paxton corner water drinkers which are excellent. They have a drain plug so that it is easy to drain and clean them out. When plumbing them in have a plastic stopcock fitted close to each one so that you can turn off the water supply prior to cleaning them out.

 

[Dry Rot]

I live in the Scottish Highlands and temperatures can nudge towards 20 below! I've struggled with frozen water troughs for years and finally cracked it!

I fit an over flow pipe into the side of field troughs and am about to do the same for stable drinkers. The pipe is fitted below the fill line and led to the nearest ditch or soakaway. Cost is under £20 per trough. We don't pay water rates up here so I can just let the water run away to the ditch.

When the temperature rises, I lift the end of the pipe and the water stops running! (I put a tap in the first pipe, but that's not needed and it will freeze and block anyway). I got fed up running around on the quad every day with kettles of boiling water and the propane gas burner and now I don't have to! Bliss!

 

[thatsmygirl]

I would never use them. All stables are kitted out with them but every winter we get flooded stables. They freeze and seem to build ice up underneath the float and so they keep filling up. 4 winters in a row I ended up going up either in the morning or after a long day at work to find water pouring out the stable doors, horses stood in a complete mess and all bedding lost. We have switched them off now and gone back to good old water buckets.
Oh and each one was corner fitted with a purpose build box to the ground filled with insulation but the drinker itself you couldn't stop freezing.
Hate them

 

[el_Snowflakes]

Box of frogs....why not just press the button everyday to make sure they are working? That's what I do. It's a lot less hassle than karting buckets about & you never have to worry that they will run out of water- simples

 

[thatsmygirl]

I don't feel they get enough water from them either. The ones fitted in our yard before we switched them off were quite slow filling really and the horses would stand just waiting for them to re fill all the time. Plus I don't like the fact u can't monitor what they are drinking. And anyway now I'm carting buckets about I don't need the gym anymore

 

[BSloper]

All our 22 stables have automatic drinker. They have a drain plug in the bottom - makes cleaning easy. Obviously when the water pipes to the stables freeze it's a problem. The valves in the ball cock have small plastic washers which become damaged due to ice, then when the pipes thaw the ball cock won't turn off when the bowl is full. We deal with this by being pro-active. If we think the temp will be low enough to freeze the pipes (for us below about -5), we just turn the supply off at the stop-cock and use buckets that night, then turn on and check in the morning. Last winter we did that for about two weeks.

Please make sure you buy a bag of spare valves to keep ready. Don't be conned into buying a whole new ballcock set up if one goes. The valves are pennies, the ballcock mechanism about £13.

If they do get poohed in or the valve jams shut, your horse may be without water until you next check the water, however if your horse is in you'll be in and out of the stable at least twice a day so he will never be without water for long.

Recent research of wild horses has shown that they can naturally go for days without a drink, so one night won't cause any harm. The time you save hauling buckets you can spend doing something more productive and enjoyable with your horse.

Definitely get them I say!

 

[YummyHorses]

Understand all the comments around freezing - cant stop that from happening. And with regards to the amount taken - I have mixed views. I do feel that there are other ways to judge whether your horse is dehydrated or not but I do appreciate they are not quite so visual. You can tell immediately with a bucket whether they have taken any water or not.

I guess I am coming at this from a practical perspective - I am recovering from a broken leg and ankle and I find carrying heavy water buckets almost impossible so drinkers would be a massive help.

I will have a look round. I will certainly want to get the ones with a plug for cleaning as I will want them cleaned daily. Thanks for the advice. Any more thoughts welcome.

 

[L&M]

We have them and they are fab. Sadly I can't tell you the make as already intsalled before we bought the property, but they are large sliver ones that contain over a bucket of water.

They have plugs and individual stopcocks so easy to clean and maintain on a weekly basis. If you have a large yard they are a life saver.

In 2010 when we had the 6 week freeze I turned them all of and used water buckets from the house. Even the water buckets would freeze overnight, so did not expect the feeders to work. Yes it was a pita to lug buckets for a few weeks, but was only short term, and the benefits outweigh for the rest of the year.

The only ones I don't like are the small plastic ones that they have to push with their muzzles to re fill - we had them at RC camp and neither of my horses would drink from them, so would personally avoid those.