using a bathtub as a water trough?

lincolnlady

lincolnlady

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hi everyone can you give me some advice ive been given 2 bathtubs to use as water troughs as my boy on 2 acres but sectioned off to save some grass, so i got some bath tubs but where the plug hole is the metal bits have been taken out so there is just a big round hole (about 2 inches wide?) do you know any way i could seal this up?

also do you think i should maybe attach it to fence to stop it being knocked over? any more advice would be massively appreciated x
 
It is dangerous to use bath tubs as field water troughs for horses. They can seriously injure themselves if they kick at them. (neighbours horse broke a leg). I would suggest that you buy two Paxton plastic field water troughs as they are designed for horses.
 
Now this is just getting silly.... Have used baths in the past and have had no problems... And no injured/dead horses :rolleyes: no ideas on how to fill the hole up thiug
 
You need to have the plug hole covered with a sheet of metal and then welded.

I'm not sure I'd go with a bath myself (troughs are inexpensive). But equally I don't remember hearing of any terrible accidents with them.

However if you do use one make sure it is absolutely stable, and can't be moved.
 
Could you fill a plastic bag with cement and add water to fill the hole up - obviously once bath is in situ. I think once set it would be fine for horses to drink from.

Baths wouldn't be my first choice for a trough, but I see a fair few in horses fields, when it comes to horses, they could damage themselves in a padded cell filled with cotton wool if given half a chance!
 
weld a sheet of metal to the hole

i used to loan a mare that had a bath in her field and she caught her back leg on it when someone was trying to feed them over the fence and she skinned her back leg on it and exposed the tendons... wasnt very nice... i dont like them but i do have one in my field
 
Baths used to be normal as troughs at some of the old yards I was on and the best I saw had a plug with a brick over it so it could be drained for cleaning and a float coming from the overflow so it was self filling. float had a board bolted to the rim of the bath so the horses could not play with it and flood the fields. it had sides so the horses could not bash their knees on the rim so must have been on some sort of frame as well but it looked really well thought out
 
I have a bathtub in the summer field and the and fieldowner put a rubber plug in and used sealant type stuff so it wouldnt come back out.

Never leaked etc, but please take the taps off so they wont get caught o rugs/headcollars etc :)
 
plastic bag filled with cement is one quick way or you can go into B & Q and get a bath plug assembly. Make sure there are no taps left on the bath though as these can get caught in a horses headcollar. Have used them for years with no problem although we did have one livery horse for a while use to turn them upside down in they were empty.
 
It only takes one terrible accident to put one person off doing something for life - that's only natural when you have witnessed the accident.
I have seen baths used extensively since being involved with horses over the last forty years, only one fatal accident that I have heard of and that was when the taps were left on the bath. My friends' friends horse caught it's headcollar on the tap, couldn't get away, panicked and dragged the bath halfway around the field and smashed it's legs trying to get away from it :eek: so don't leave the taps on it and don't leave head collars on in the field.
I once used a stiff piece of plastic cut much bigger than the hole and used some strong waterproof glue around the flat edges of the hole and stuck the plastic disc to it, forming a waterproof seal over the hole.
 
Try and box the bath in if you can to prevent the horses coming into contact with the edges. I used to look after a horse for someone who had a bath for a trough, fine for a while then tore its foreleg open horribly on a corner. Was a sensible old hunter, not a loopy horse at all.
Assuming the taps have already been removed, seen some scary sights with them too in the past :eek:
 
Just had mine removed from bottom field, it was there for 20 odd years and filled by rain water from roof of old building. I was not happy to leave it in field with youngsters.

You do need to make sure water remains fresh, (found a dead squirrel in ours one time) and make sure if there is a sharp edge at the top that you fill in so that if the horse gets too close or kicks, they do not scrap their legs as said previously.

At one time there were a common sight in fields, but now there are much better options available at a reasonable price, I feel it is better to have a proper trough.
 
you sound like a sales rep for paxton, owlie185. i use a bath as a trough and have never had any problems in my 15 yrs of ownership, horses can injure themselves on anything and everything. Example - someone posted a thread this morning of their boyfriends horse with a nasty headwound which happened in the stable with no obvious reasons of how it did it. how it did will probably remain a mystery. As long as the taps are removed or covered over, the general shape is no different to a normal metal field trough. A horse will seriously injure itself if it kicks out at a metal water trough too.

anyway, to actually help the OP with the question....
I had the same problem with my bath, i used concrete to seal the hole which has worked but makes it a real pain to clean! mine had the brackets left on it on one side where it was originally fixed to a wall, i used these to hook it to the fence.
Hope that helps.
 
I'd just buy a new fitment and use that as they arent massively expensive and are pretty standard size wise

This means you can use a normal plug (not on a chain) and be able to empty the bath easily for cleaning and moving
 
Ginge Crosby said:
you sound like a sales rep for paxton, owlie185. i use a bath as a trough and have never had any problems in my 15 yrs of ownership, horses can injure themselves on anything and everything. Example - someone posted a thread this morning of their boyfriends horse with a nasty headwound which happened in the stable with no obvious reasons of how it did it. how it did will probably remain a mystery. As long as the taps are removed or covered over, the general shape is no different to a normal metal field trough. A horse will seriously injure itself if it kicks out at a metal water trough too.
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I don't agree re troughs being the same shape actually, the ones I've had in the past have rolled over edges so there are no sharp areas to get caught on. I haven't seen anyone use a roll top bath for a water trough yet ;)
Many baths have extended corners and edges.

I agree that horses will injure themselves on anything and everything, but to me that is just another reason to try to eliminate every hazard you can *think* of :) And I think it is useful to point this out in case OP -or anyone else reading the thread- hadn't thought of making edges safe or removing taps.
 
Buy a car bodyfiller kit - small patch of metallic mesh and tube of epoxy resin and epoxy resin hardener.

Make sure the bath/lofttank/whatever you're using as a trough is DRY. Then cut the mesh to fit over the hole with a big margin, then "glue" it with the epoxy 2-part under and on top of it.

It will go hot and then set.

Taps off, always.

Metal frames off, always.

You can also use the epoxy 2-part on its own, like a sort of blutack, to cover any little stickyout bits of metal that you can't hacksaw off.
 
thank you all for your replies it will be getting all boxed in and insulation padding inside so no sharp edges ive always had baths as troughs and never had a problem but mind you my boy is terrified of troughs :rolleyes: he stands as far away from them as possible and it literally just his lips touching water lol thanks again guys :)
 
For all those saying to take taps off as head collars get caught in them; I personally think it's far more dangerous to turn a horse out in a head collar than to have them drink from a bath.

(I do however remove all taps and do have a Victorian roll top bath in one of my barns, but use it to store rugs in rather than put it in the field :o)
 
I've used baths as water troughs for ages and never had a problem. We strip all the taps etc and turn up side down fix a plug there with sealant then seal plug in the normal way up. Every so often we undo sealant on both plugs to clean/repair etc then re-plug.

We throw in a couple of tennis balls over winter and break ice with rubber hammer. :)
 
Bahhumbug said:
For all those saying to take taps off as head collars get caught in them; I personally think it's far more dangerous to turn a horse out in a head collar than to have them drink from a bath.

(I do however remove all taps and do have a Victorian roll top bath in one of my barns, but use it to store rugs in rather than put it in the field :o)
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He he, I had this thought :) and op, I also thought of silicone for sealing it up :):)
 
Well.......I have just had to replace all my baths for the plastic ones...because the Water Board came on a spot check (we have ballcock and float from the mains)....and the incoming valve was not now regulation height...and if there was a BWM the trough water could get sucked back in to the mains and contaminate the supply for miles around.
We could have kept the baths and just filled them with a hose....but as we had mains available we replaced them....
The only deaths we had in 30 years was a rat and a toad....wot fell in and drowned.

Bryndu
 
Probably easiest to buy a new metal fitting and silicone it in then you can drain it via the plug hole - a brick over it is a good idea but to be honest none of ours pull the plug out. Obviously taps off and boxed in all round so no sharp edges to catch knees on. Although heavy an old cast metal bath is better than a modern one.
 
A friends horse was itching his leg on the bath tub and gashed his whole leg open, though he was scratching because of mites and it was an old scar he opened
 
we used to have them up our old yard and didnt have problems. I think you would be unlucky for something to happen. Dont know how to seal it, but ours were secured on level slabs to stop it tipping etc
 
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