White bits in bottom of water bucket...

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spotty_pony

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I have noticed when washing out one of the livery horses at works water buckets, there are small white grains in the bottom of it. They look a bit like salt, but it isn't salt if that makes sense.
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The buckets are all washed out daily and none of the other buckets ever get this in the bottom of them... just this one.

Does anyone have any idea what these grains could be? Could it be a sign the horse is lacking in a certain vitamin?
 
Sounds like limescale. I have no idea why the others wouldn't have it though.

Is somebody adding electrolytes to that bucket that you don't know about?
 
what about feed? my horse is forever chewing his feed over his water bucket and dropping bits in. they just swell and fall to the bottom.
 
My old cob used to get that when he had a runny nose (COPD). Little white bits in the bottom, which then used to stick a but and leave white marks on the base which had to be scrubbed off or hosed off with force!! But guessing this horse doesnt have a virus/cold/ROA(COPD)
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Persephone - Yes it is a mystery!
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YO even tasted it to see whether it was salt or not!
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x_miss_buffay_x - It could be feed... I didn't think of that!

Snowysadude- Nope, he doesn't have a virus and is perfectly healthy.

Hmmm perhaps I should try giving that particular bucket to a different horse and see whether the white bits still appear, that way I would know whether it was the bucket or the horse causing the white bits...
 
Wash them out in a product made from Grapefruit extract:

http://www.highernature.co.uk/ShowProduc...CFWlr4wod513HJA

Also available in Holland and Barretts.

You might think I sound like a fruitcake but honestly it'll kill off any bugs in the buckets. It won't harm the horses and it's great for making the buckets shiny and new again, it takes off that slime layer that even everyday scrubing can't remove, you only need a few drops. (FYI i'm not OCD!!)
 
Might be a silly suggestion but is that possibly the coldest location for a bucket on your yard? I live in a hard water area and when my ice cubes melt some of the limescale seems to freeze out if that makes sense? (Or at least I'm assuming it is the limescale...). Is it possible that his water is (partially) freezing overnight and you're seeming white bits post-thaw so to speak?

Perhaps you'll have to try different buckets, different horses and different stables too!
 
Thank you for the advice tickles and maizy! I am not sure it is caused by the ice though as the white bits were there before the big freeze, and the horse's stable is in the middle of the stable aisle so I would have thought he has the warmest stable if anything.
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Anyway, today I swapped the horse's water bucket with another horse to find out whether the white bits are coming from the horse or the bucket. Will let you know what happens!
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