Water trough options for one horse?

[EJ87]

I have recently moved my mare to a smaller field that is more suited to her greedy nature but unfortunately there is no water supply in or near it. I currently supply her water in a half barrell tub which i change and fill daily which consists of carting five 10 litre water bags down to her in a wheel barrow every morning (approx 300 yards). Although I dont mind doing this as Id do anything for my horse I just wondered if anyone knew of an easier way of supplying her water?

A neighbour has offered me an old bath but I dont know how this would be of any help? surely it would still need changed and filled every day? and would be alot more difficult to tip over and fill?

Just wondered if any inventors out there knew of a way of possibly using rainwater to make an automatic filler (lets face it we get enough of it!)? There is also a small burn that runs a few metres away from her field could I do anything with it?

 

[dollymix]

I'd consider using an old bath, and have done so myself in the past. If it's filled to the top, the water will stay clean enough for 1-2 weeks. Once a fortnight you could let it run right down, tip the remaining water and give it a scrub.

P.s personally, I wouldnt want to use water from a burn. There is no way of knowing if there is a dead sheep further up-stream or if there is any run-off from a field that's been sprayed with chemicals etc. I know in the wild they would drink fro ma stream, but I'd prefer to know what they are drinking

 

[CrazyMare]

I wouldn't be tipping it out every day - topping it up most days then emptying it once a week or so.

Mine have access to a huge self filling trough, and that gets scrubbed out once or twice a year. They seem most put out when I scrub it out - they seem to like the water green!!!

 

[Enfys]

Hi,

Use the bath, they have plugs for a reason! Just take the taps off and block the sides in with wood or breeze blocks etc. No need to clean everyday, you are simply making work for yourself. If you do have to carry water, use a little trolley/cart that you can pull rather than push, or a sled in the ice/snow makes life easier

Do you have a field shelter? If so, put guttering up (if there isn't already) and collect the water in large containers, preferably with lids so that you can stop leaves/wild animals falling in, we actually used to have water troughs that were fed from the guttering. Fine when it rained. I am quite sure that someone here will come up with a way to create a self filling trough, have your collection butts raised and a pipe running into the bath with a simple tap on the pipe. Or, create a giant chicken type water feeder ? OK, until it freezes of course

http://www.atkinsonbrothers.com/Drinkers.html

Maybe try to get some sort of hard standing by the trough, oh, and I am a bit of a softy about this but float a plank of wood in the trough so that birds/squirrels etc can climb out, it won't interfere with your horse being able to drink. It is pretty awful to fish drowned animals out, poor things, horrid way to die

 

[EJ87]

Hi,

Use the bath, they have plugs for a reason! Just take the taps off and block the sides in with wood or breeze blocks etc. No need to clean everyday, you are simply making work for yourself. If you do have to carry water, use a little trolley/cart that you can pull rather than push, or a sled in the ice/snow makes life easier

Do you have a field shelter? If so, put guttering up (if there isn't already) and collect the water in large containers, preferably with lids so that you can stop leaves/wild animals falling in, we actually used to have water troughs that were fed from the guttering. Fine when it rained. I am quite sure that someone here will come up with a way to create a self filling trough, have your collection butts raised and a pipe running into the bath with a simple tap on the pipe. Or, create a giant chicken type water feeder ? OK, until it freezes of course

http://www.atkinsonbrothers.com/Drinkers.html

Maybe try to get some sort of hard standing by the trough, oh, and I am a bit of a softy about this but float a plank of wood in the trough so that birds/squirrels etc can climb out, it won't interfere with your horse being able to drink. It is pretty awful to fish drowned animals out, poor things, horrid way to die

Thanks so much for your reply I maybe will have a look at the bath may work better. Iv been changing it everyday as she had colic a couple of weeks ago and as we dont know what casued it im ott with her food water intake. Slightest water discolour and its out and scrubbed but maybe im just taking it a bit far with doing it everyday?

 

[mandwhy]

Every day is extreme! I have three big buckets and scrub one on rotation every couple of days, so there is a selection of clean to green! I really don't need to do it that often but since one will end up half full I figure I might as well tip out out before refilling.

Guttering is a good idea, I used to line up buckets to collect water when I had a shelter with guttering.