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 Midget Lover
     
Location: Kentucky | I have a mare that won't drink much from her bucket in her stall. I top it off every few days. When I let her out to pasture, that's when she will drink from the trough.
In her stall, I use the big plastic heated bucket in the winter and just a regular plastic bucket in the summer. In the pasture it is a 100 gallon metal trough, and it's currently heated as well. Does she not like plastic? She will drink from plastic buckets on the road. I keep the buckets clean and use fresh water. |
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  The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | Are all of your plastic buckets the same color? |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | RacingQH - 2014-12-15 10:30 AM Are all of your plastic buckets the same color?
Nope. Summer buckets are blue, winter heated buckets are green. She eats out of her grain plastic bucket, which is red. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 317
Location: MS | I have one that will only drink out of a yellow or pink bucket in her stall.
My outside buckets are black and she drinks fine from them. Crazy mare  |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | water tastes differently when it's stored in different containers. try drinking water from a thermos with metal lining inside, then drink from a plastic cup. When horses lick metal it usually means they have a mineral deficiency right? could that be it? |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | I've noticed when I travel (which is the only time they drink from buckets) they definitely prefer one bucket over the other....idk why. I would make sure your heated bucket is working properly and make sure it isn't shocking her a little....I had a tank heater that had a short and was shocking the horses and they wouldn't touch the water in the trough. Got rid of that heater and they drank gallons and gallons. lol If it's not shocking her, I would just put a little sea salt in her feed to get her drinking more. |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | Crowned Image - 2014-12-15 11:52 AM water tastes differently when it's stored in different containers. try drinking water from a thermos with metal lining inside, then drink from a plastic cup. When horses lick metal it usually means they have a mineral deficiency right? could that be it?
True - things do taste differently. She doesn't lick anything metal. She is offered a salt block at all times and ignores that as well. She is on TC Low Starch and FORCO. |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | Have you tried the rubber buckets? My horses prefer them ove the plastic.
My horses prefer the metal troughs over the plastic or rubber. I think it tastes better out of the metal ones. |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | clover girl - 2014-12-15 12:16 PM Have you tried the rubber buckets? My horses prefer them ove the plastic.
My horses prefer the metal troughs over the plastic or rubber. I think it tastes better out of the metal ones.
I haven't tried that, but I will! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/behrens-10-qt-galvanized-shee...
I would try using metal buckets if having problems with rubber or plastic buckets, just make sure they are hooked to the wall with a bucket clip, because they are a lot more tippy (I have found out  ) |
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Veteran
Posts: 139
Location: Abbotsford B.C. Canada | I think plastic buckets can release chemical odors which a horse can pick up on and chemical tastes which they may not like. The plastic is petroleum based so who knows what the horses sense. Also I was told plastic can have estrogen like substances like all plastics do. For example I had a female cat that would react to black plastic bags like she was going into heat. Apparently there are chemicals resembling hormones in plastics. Ask your vet what she thinks.
Also I think it is hard to truly clean a plastic bucket as the surface is a bit porous and traps bacteria and algae unless you really work at it.
I bet a metal bucket is better also because the water stays cooler. We used to drink water from a metal cream can on the farm with a metal dipper and it never felt warm like it does from a plastic bottle.?
Just a curve ball for you to consider.
I would also simply add an oz of salt or electrolytes every day on top of the feed because horses are not great at balancing water intake. I just had a horse diagnosed as being a bit dehydrated on a very hot day by the vet doing blood sampling for other reasons. The horse was on green grass had a bucket of water and was getting some wet mush . The extra electrolytes will encourage steady water inatkes and help prevent colic in my opinion. Cheap insurance.
Naturall electrolyte properly for hauling and performance etc.
FYI
Coastal Rider |
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Cold hands and Warm Heart
Location: oklahoma | my son's pony liked her water in a specific corner, have you looked around for anything unusual? Guess its too late in the year for wasps. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| We've had that problem with certain buckets, but washing them out good with soap and water seems to help. We usually dry ours in the sun too. |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Mine prefer the nasty stock tank that the sheep turkeys and cows drink out of that is 1/2 on their side of the corral. I keep clean fresh water in their stall and they are kept in during the day sometimes in the summer. They often won't touch it. I did get them to drink some using electrolytes that flavor it a tad. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | My current horse won't drink out of the black rubber buckets or the black plastic buckets. I have also found I have 2 different brands of water buckets in his stall and the teal blue one has a smell that the red one doesn't and I have scrubbed both with soap and bleached them both out and the teal will get it's smell back within a few days. Weird. |
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 Keeper of the King Snake
Posts: 7622
Location: Dubach, LA | Horses are wierd. Had one that wouldn't drink from a bucket at all. Had one that wouldn't drink from a white bucket but would lap up water from any other color. |
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The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | I would try using the plastic buckets that she LIKES and see if that makes a difference. I've had several that liked a certain color bucket better than others. (I've also had several that didn't care.) I've NEVER had one that would drink from a rubber bucket! And I don't blame them. They STINK! |
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 Star Padded Honey
Posts: 8890
Location: NW MT | One of mine will not drink out of any bucket unless she is absolutely desperate! Once, while traveling across the country with her, I had to stop & get her a plastic tub to drink out of while on the road. She will drink out of nasty mud puddles before she will drink out of a bucket! She IS my diva!! |
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