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Horses water keeps freezing over?

2K views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  starfia 
#1 ·
Lately its been really cold and I keep going into the horse stable in the morning finding her water totally frozen over and completely full, I'm worried she isn't drinking much. Is there a way to get it to stop freezing over while its cold? Not sure what to do?
 
#7 ·
hahaha..my mare would take it out like what is this doing in my water trough. It is bad enough that she takes the hose out if I turn my back when I am filling it. She is very picky about anything being in her water trough. She will snort and stamp her feet if there is a leaf in it and will insist on drinking as far away from the leaf as possible. My geldings don't seem to care. Luckily, I live in Georgia that I rarely have to worry about their water freezing.
 
#8 ·
Just buy a trough heater/de-icer to prevent your trough from freezing, and only use it when you need to (when the temperature drops below 32°F). They are inexpensive and don't use a lot of power to operate. Alternatively, you could also invest in a heated bucket but you will need to fill that daily as the capacity is much smaller than a trough, and is also more expensive to purchase. Ensuring that your horse adequately hydrated is imperative to her health.
 
#11 ·
I like the propane heater, but I don't trust the plug in ones. I have heard of two horse deaths using a plug in, and that's two too many for me.
EVERYBODY that lives in a northern climate has this problem, including me.
I use two methods for their water. March-November, I use a big stock tank, right now it's 60 gallons, but the previous one was 110 gallons. (That one sprung a leak so it's my baby chick brooder in the barn.)
During the winter, I use rubber buckets in the stalls, and I have both a 20 gallon round rubber waterer and a 30 gallon round rubber waterer. They don't hold much, and you can throw them, step on them, etc. to remove ice. And, YES, I haul water in buckets. Don't you love your horses enough to do this?!?!? **inflicting guilt**
It's not that much work, just part of the winter chores.
If you want to spend some money, there are non-electric highly insulated water tanks and stall water holders that will keep it liquid to about 0 degrees F.
 
#12 ·
Start of with the water warm by using water from a boiled kettle poured into the bucket so its drinkable but well above freezing
I'm nervous of electrical elements in the water they actually drink and you'd need an electric supply to connect one too anyway which you might not have
You could look for insulated buckets or make one yourself by filling a wooden box with a mix of insulating foam and sand that the bucket can sit in
It doesnt stay below freezing for very long in the UK so spending a lot of cash on something you wont need that often is probably not sensible
 
#13 ·
As you're in the UK I'm pretty sure that this is only happening overnight. Last thing in the evening, make sure the water's completely topped up. In the morning, break the ice and re-fill. It will have only iced over for about 4 hours overnight and your horse won't have suffered for that short space of time.

I'm assuming the water is in a bucket? If you have automatic water feeders look out for problems of frozen pipes!

Remember to break the ice on top of the water troughs in the field too.

Never in my time horse-owning in the UK did I or anyone I know have to resort to water heaters in our horses water. The cold is so temporary that it doesn't become a real problem. I doubt the type of water heaters that other people are thinking of are available there.
 
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#14 ·
Yeah I use a big bucket for her water.

I read all the comments and really I agree that it will be a waste of my money buying a heater and I'm pretty sure it is over night (I always check the water before I leave) I'm not even sure where they would sell such a thing since this country doesn't really require it.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I'm looking into them :)
 
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