# Best way to provide water in the winter?



## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Since my heated underground water line went out a couple years ago, I have had to hall water to my horses (by the bucket). So I am asking all you who dont have heated underground water line, what is the most efficeint way to haul water for you horses? Or how do you do it? Also what is the most efficiant way to store the water? Last winter I insulated my trough with styrafom insulation and put a small water heater in it, it worked great uness it was colder than -30C wich was half of the winter -_- So what are your idea's? Has anyone triend heated water hose?

http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=2392&gclid=CLL0wLGy2rgCFShxQgod8lgATw


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I've used the floating stock heaters at -40 and colder without a problem. In some of our older troughs, we've built a simple fire box that also works well but is a bit more work.

What part of the province are you living in??


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I used a heated hose last winter and it was great, as long as you remember to take it off the spigot when you're done. We're close to the BC border so don't get quite as cold as Alberta, but have hit -30F and our underground water line is not heated but it is fairly deep. We use heat tapes on pipes above ground which come on at certain temps.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks wr I have been thinking of using one, how big is your trough though, will it heat a large one? Im in central Edmonton area, so it stays pretty cold all winter. 

Thanks Lisa, I'll will probably get one this winter.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

we have 6 horses and I have found it works best to use a small tank, in summer with a float and in winter we just fill with hose and keep a smaller bucket heater in it. i never go anywhere in the winter so it works here. with filling it so much, the tank and water are always clean and fresh


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Hamzakian, I've watered cattle for many winters with a good old fashioned regular garden hose (you just need to roll it up well enough to drain and store in the basement or someplace semi warm) but the heated hose seems like a really nice option.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Since we don't have a hydrant in the pasture we hook a regular garden hose up to the closest frost free hydrant. It takes a lot of hose and some work to remove the water after each use but it is a heck of a lot easier than hauling water. We have a heated trough in the dry lot but the horses are never there. I would love to get hubby to move that tank into the horses' pasture. We don't give them any water when they are in the pasture with the creek unless it freezes over.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Hamzakian, a single heater is fine for small to medium sized troughs but I use two in the big ones. If you haven't used them before, be warned, they do ugly things to your electric bill.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks guys! I will look into using a normal hose and draining it. I agree wr it does ruin the bills!


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## rod44 (Jun 17, 2013)

I am lucky. Have water lines buried 5-6 feet deep and have a Bar-Bar-A waterer and have good clean water summer and winter with no additional electricity. We have -40 winters some days here in Wisconsin.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Jealous! I have never heard of that.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

my mom has those and oh yes, major want here too. they work well and she's in iowa...brrr.


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## Grey Mare (Jun 28, 2013)

We have an outdoor plug in on our barn by the large water trough that we were putting a floating heater in to keep tepid in the winter. We would fill it by putting a hose to the outside faucet we cover and filling it that way then rolling it up and storing it in the basement to keep it from freezing. 

This year we went through 3 floating heaters and thought my Percheron mare Trixie was nibbling on the cord that was plugged in, one time you could see the scorch marks and burn on the cord...found out it was the squirrels who were going to the float, standing on it to get water and nibbling the cord. I want to get a trough you have the heater under the water near the bottom but the hubby says it won't keep ice from forming on the water...anyone know if that is true?


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

We, and everyone we know, winters their horses with snow. Before you all flame me, I will add they need to be acclimatized to this method, but we have zero issues with it, nor does anyone else I know. 

Think about it. Moose, deer, elk, antelope, etc. in cold areas all live on snow water for 5 months of the year. They are adapted to it. If your horses are brought up this way, they thrive...

Just another option...


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Grey Mare, I use the drain plug heaters and they are wonderful. No ice forms on top at least not in the 100 gallon tanks, and the horses cannot throw them out (which mine dearly love to do with the top floaters) or get to the cords. I prefer the ones specifically made for the Rubbermaid tanks. This one:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07427-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

Agree with the garden hose and draining it. The flaoting heaters are fine if you run them an hour or so, but if you leave them on you'll lose your home to the power bills.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Bret4207 said:


> Agree with the garden hose and draining it. The flaoting heaters are fine if you run them an hour or so, but if you leave them on you'll lose your home to the power bills.


The electric bill is why I carry buckets of hot water to the barn twice a day. I dilute it with cold until it's tepid and the horses drink very very well. 

I'd never (as in never ever) use snow in place of water in the winter. You can fill a 5 gallon bucket with snow, let it melt, and only have 2-3 inches of water in the bottom. The cold of the really large amount of snow needed for hydration decreases core warmth as well forcing the horse to eat more just to stay warm. More dry roughage with decreased water is how impaction colic occurs, and it's ugly.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

We have 50 gallon tanks in each stall (I think they're 50 but whatever, they're fairly big) and we keep a submerged heater in each one. Our electricity is pretty inexpensive here and they don't seem to add much to our bill. Also, we get credits from the power we feed back into the system from our solar panels in summertime so we never have a very big power bill.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

farmerDale said:


> We, and everyone we know, winters their horses with snow. Before you all flame me, I will add they need to be acclimatized to this method, but we have zero issues with it, nor does anyone else I know.
> 
> Think about it. Moose, deer, elk, antelope, etc. in cold areas all live on snow water for 5 months of the year. They are adapted to it. If your horses are brought up this way, they thrive...
> 
> Just another option...


Actually, if you watch livestock, most will eat a certain amount of snow, even if water is provided but it only works if you have enough land to provide sufficient snow.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

farmerDale said:


> We, and everyone we know, winters their horses with snow. Before you all flame me, I will add they need to be acclimatized to this method, but we have zero issues with it, nor does anyone else I know.
> 
> Think about it. Moose, deer, elk, antelope, etc. in cold areas all live on snow water for 5 months of the year. They are adapted to it. If your horses are brought up this way, they thrive...
> 
> Just another option...


 I completly agree with you, my neighbour uses snow as water source. There is nothing worng with it...my Mare will often prefer snow over her water trough, and a creek in the summer when she has a clean water trough.


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

We put our water tanks, metal, into insulated wood boxes. The cords are to submerged heaters, and we run cords thru PVC pipe so nothing can play or chew on them. We used the sheet Styrofoam for insulation, doesn't affect insulation ability if it gets wet. Boxes are painted black, which seems to help melt snow and keep them a bit warmer in winter sunshine. We have a cover over half the tank, 100 gallon, so heater is under the cover and cord is unreachable. We knew a diving horse, who would submerge his head to get to the heater and pull it out. Kind of gets expensive fast! With the cover over half the tank, SCREWED DOWN, it is easier to keep water warm too. Box edges need to come ABOVE the edge of the tank, so wind doesn't chill the metal or water as easily. 

Our horses come in at nights, so that is when I run the heaters, and we have a cover for the open half of tank, so water is enclosed to stay warmer. Night electric is a bit cheaper. 

From past experiences, heaters die easily. Causes could be a long run of wire to power them, lets the voltage drop, so they have to work harder, wears them out. A dying heater could be cracked, leaking stray voltage, which shocks the horse trying to get a drink. Horses quit drinking, then you have colic problems. Secondary problem is horse might not drink from tank even when leaky heater is replaced, got punished before with shocks. So I don't run our heaters when the horses have access to the tanks. This may not work if horses are outside to drink all the time.

We use metal tanks with the heaters, because our Rubbermaid tank caught on fire, burned to the waterline! Fire was caused by a heater. Imprinted in the plastic is DO NOT USE HEATER IN THIS TANK. So while we use Rubbermaid for SUMMER, it gets put away when the tank heaters are needed, because it is a fire hazard. THANK GOD the tank was outside, so the barn didn't burn down!!! Neighbor man saw the flames from the road, stopped and put the fire out, but we were gone for the day, never would have caught the problem. ALL our tanks with heaters are OUTSIDE with GFI outlets to plug into. Not long extension cords which drop voltage, get nicked or cut, to create problems.

I am with Irish Pixie. We had a friend who managed one of the PMU urine farms in Saskatchewan. They had hundreds of horses there. The main cause of deaths in the herds was impaction colic. Yeah the horses ate snow, tried to keep water open for them but it froze as fast as they quit chopping in that bitter cold, so they lost horses anyway. An old horse there is 15yrs, that weather is real hard on them. They lost horses every year to colic. The big thing with impaction colic, is that horse body doesn't have enough liquids to hydrate it, so feed stops moving in the gut. Those horses know all the tricks, hide in the brush, trees, lay down and curl up so the wind doesn't chill them so much. They STILL need water, more than they can get at times by just eating snow.

Impaction colic is an ugly way to lose your horse, saving electric on heaters and running water to a trough.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

I was hoping to get some Bar A Bar auto waterers in before now.... keeping my fingers crossed I can get it done before this coming winter.

Doesn't get as cold as some places here in VA.. but last winter for a few weeks at a time, from 0 to 20*... didn't warm up at all... royal pain with the water tanks freeze solid.
4 months of that.... and just about pulled all my hair out.

And because of the cost of Electric.... can't afford to use my tank heaters like I did in Oregon.

I have one mare here that likes to eat snow... I have another that out right refuses to eat snow and wants water. But regardless, I make sure they have water to drink.
Seen to many horse's die over the years due to colic in winter, because all they had was snow for moisture.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

goodhors said:


> We put our water tanks, metal, into insulated wood boxes. The cords are to submerged heaters, and we run cords thru PVC pipe so nothing can play or chew on them. We used the sheet Styrofoam for insulation, doesn't affect insulation ability if it gets wet. Boxes are painted black, which seems to help melt snow and keep them a bit warmer in winter sunshine. We have a cover over half the tank, 100 gallon, so heater is under the cover and cord is unreachable. We knew a diving horse, who would submerge his head to get to the heater and pull it out. Kind of gets expensive fast! With the cover over half the tank, SCREWED DOWN, it is easier to keep water warm too. Box edges need to come ABOVE the edge of the tank, so wind doesn't chill the metal or water as easily.
> 
> Our horses come in at nights, so that is when I run the heaters, and we have a cover for the open half of tank, so water is enclosed to stay warmer. Night electric is a bit cheaper.
> 
> ...


 
Interesting, do you know what caused it to catch on fire? Been using the Rubbermaid tanks along with a heater for 25+ years without a problem. Now I'll be paranoid. They sit outside so not worried about the barn burning down but my idiots would probably play in the fire.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

There's an auto waterer in the field where I board my horses, so they have water during the winter-as long as there isn't a power outage! I have a 70 gallon stock tank that I try to keep filled, but it can freeze during the winter. And while it doesn't get as cold here, last year, it did freeze solid. So, this year, I'm planning on making a fire box to put in it.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks Goodhors, that is what I did last year, but not as thourouly. My trough was wrapped in styrafome insulation and at the top, then we had a heater that was for a small bucket...kept the big water trough full almost all weathers. But I am hoping to make a better box type thig this year.


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## Work horse (Apr 7, 2012)

I carry water from the house in gas cans purchased for this purpose. If the snow isn't too deep, I will put the cans on a little wagon to bring them out. I bring out 2 small cans pretty much every morning, so it's not too much work all at once. The tank is in an insulated box with a small floating heater.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Work horse said:


> I carry water from the house in gas cans purchased for this purpose. If the snow isn't too deep, I will put the cans on a little wagon to bring them out. I bring out 2 small cans pretty much every morning, so it's not too much work all at once. The tank is in an insulated box with a small floating heater.


 I love the idea of gas cans! No water tipping out of the bucket and freezing my snow pants in place  I'll will just make sure they are new and WATER ONLY. I wish I could used a wagon...my path is all down hill=/


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Hamzakian, if you're handy or know someone who is, you can make a rigid V and haul water and such with a toboggan. I don't have hills but honestly can't live without mine and while it was originally intended to haul square bales to isolation pens, it's been used for everything you can imagine.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

wr, Im handy with the tools, not the vocabulary of such things...rigid V?


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

If you have cats, and buy kitty litter in the plastic jugs, depending on the size of them, they hold about 3 gallons of water. I use them when I go on a trail ride for taking water. But, I've also used them for hauling water if I need to.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Great idea!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Hamzakian, a toboggan with the normal rope in front has a tendency to run over you going downhill but if you modify it to eliminate the traditional tow rope, it's an easy solution. I know some have used good old fashioned pvc but the old rancher modified mine and made a sturdy wooden v in front with rope handle covered in pvc so the I didn't tear up gloves.


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

We use a circulating pump and the water constantly is changing over with the ground water it usually doesn't freeze. We had open water from a spring at our last place and I was not hauling water to my husband dug me a well to circulate the water.


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

wr said:


> Hamzakian, a toboggan with the normal rope in front has a tendency to run over you going downhill but if you modify it to eliminate the traditional tow rope, it's an easy solution. I know some have used good old fashioned pvc but the old rancher modified mine and made a sturdy wooden v in front with rope handle covered in pvc so the I didn't tear up gloves.


 Thanks! We used to have a big black sled like that from Canadian tire, but it broke...I was so handy!!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Hamzakian said:


> Thanks! We used to have a big black sled like that from Canadian tire, but it broke...I was so handy!!


I had one of those too but Crappy Tire seems to figure that exposed rocks is sled abuse. The old wooden one seems to last longer and you can usually pick up a replacement at a garage sale for $5.


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## rod44 (Jun 17, 2013)

Here is what you need. I runs on fairly low water pressure also or regular pressure. 

The "cat's meow"!

http://horsedrinker.com/


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## Hamzakian (Jul 26, 2013)

Wr- sounds like I will be garage sale hunting! 

Rod44- looks great, that will have to be a future investment!


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## Pat-wcWI (Oct 28, 2012)

Grey Mare, I use the same method as you do. A 100 gal Rubbermaid tank with a caged heater on the bottom. The cord has metal coil stuff wrapped around it, but we wrap it with chicken wire also.

We only have two horses so don't keep it full. At half full it doesn't freeze in -30 degree temps, but full, it gets a thin layer on top which the horses learn to break or we break and scoop out.

I have noticed that if we have a heavy wet snow, the horses eat snow and drink very little water, but they drink normal amounts of water when it gets colder.

I would worry about compaction too without water.


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