Backstory: Every winter, despite heat-tape, insulation, and the last few remaining 100 Watt incandescent bulbs, our barn water will freeze for a few days/weeks when temps drop below 10F.
When this happens, we carry 5 gallon buckets of water from the house. My gf’s horse drinks a little less than 5 gallons a day (from a heated bucket). Not a huge deal, except for time we are vacationing and our house/pet-sitter needs to lug the water.
This year, in order to make things easier, we bought a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. I installed an electric heater in the tank, filled it, and now the water problem is fixed.
But , my gf wants to see Jake drink from the stock tank. Yesterday we took away his water bucket and locked him in his stall. I gave him a salt block. Every few hours she walked the horse up top the stock tank but she hasn’t been able to make him drink. He is not afraid of the tank. She splashed the surface of the water around. But he just won’t give her the satisfaction of drinking.
That was my first suggestion, but gf wants to verify he is drinking from the stock tank. There is enough snow on the ground and puddles in the pasture from underground springs and such, so he might stay hydrated despite not drinking in the barn.
I was initially concerned about stray voltage from the heating unit. I used my multi-meter and think I’ve ruled that out. Additionally, when I told my gf I’d tested the water for stray voltage problems, she pointed out that she’d stuck her hand in the water and didn’t feel anything.
If he’s still peeing, and not showing any of the signs of dehydration, then he’s getting enough water.
Whether he’s getting it from his bucket, or the stock tank, or puddles in the pasture, or even eating snow – he’s getting enough fluids. Stop worrying about it!
And tell your girlfriend to stop worrying about it. If she can’t, then … find a smarter girlfriend.
That is a double trouble situation. Actually everything electrical in barn should be on a GFCI [Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter] - like the outlets in bathrooms with the Test and Reset buttons. (In other countries called an “RCD”.)
That would protect your animals from electrocution, but could also trip off due to just a tiny amount of leaking electricity, then the water would freeze and your horse would not have any water!
So better protection from electrical malfunctions, but also you need to check the electricity is on every day.
We are on a two week vacation. The house/pet-sitter feeds the horse and fills his water bucket daily. Then the temperature drops to -5 F and the barn hose is frozen. No problem, there’s the stock-tank for him to drink from.
If he doesn’t drink from the stock tank, and the pasture has no water (surface water freezes), the horse becomes moderately dehydrated. Dehydration in horses predisposes them to other problems (constipation and colic). We return from vacation to a sick/dying/dead horse.
Many of the outlets in our barn are GFCI. In fact, last year I had an issue with the heat tape on the water line failing (I thought). I dug down and removed the old heat tape and replaced it only to find the problem was actually that the GFCI outlet had failed. It was easy to replace, but I wish I’d checked that before digging up the water line.
I would like the stock tank’s water heater to be plugged into a GFCI outlet, but there is only one outlet near the tank and it is not GFCI.
If all other water is unavailable to him in this situation, won’t he drink what IS available, i.e. the stock tank? Or, to put it bluntly, are horses so stupid that they won’t drink when there’s water right there for them? I kind of think she’s pondering some odd worst case scenarios.
People who trailer their horses to competitions will often bring water from home, and the bucket from their horse’s stall so that a picky horse will drink. Subtle changes in temperature, pH, and dissolved solids can cause a horse to refuse water or drink less.
The concern isn’t that the horse will die from dehydration, but rather that the horse will be mildly to moderately dehydrated and then colic secondarily. Apparently this is “a thing”.
