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 The Bird Lady
Posts: 6440
   
Location: The end of the Earth, SE AR | Down here in SE Arkansas, we don't often get several days of frozen weather in a row. I am fanatical about being sure that our horses have access to unfrozen water and when the weather is below freezing I spend alot of time thawing out stall water buckets, making sure the tank heaters in the pastures are working during the day.
Others, some of which I consider to be experienced horse people aren't that way. One guy I thought was very knowledgeable about horses provides them with unfrozen water during the day but feeds and hays them at night and doesn't have unfrozen water for them. until her turns them out the next morning One other guy lets his horses drink water 2x a day during freezing weather, and that's it.
How often to horses up north get to drink water during below freezing weather? How do horses in big huge hundreds-of -acres pastures get water?
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| Mine have access 100% of the time. We either had a propane water heater in the tank or this year we bought one of those 16 gallon electric heated water tubs. Looks like a muck tub. |
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  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | I have both heated water tanks and also artesian wells that is a naturally warm salty water and if you let it keep running it won't freeze even when its -40 actual air temp with a hell of a wind. My stuff has access to water 24/7 as much as they want. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 972
Location: Texas! | Fresh unfrozen water available at all times. |
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Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | My horses have free access to unfrozen water 24/7 and we can go months below freezing. We have stock tank heaters in all the paddocks and in the stalls we use heated water tubs. Heck, even my barn kitties have a heated water bowl in the barn. lol
Asking your horses to go with limited good water supply in the winter is just flirting with colic episodes. |
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 Member
Posts: 37
| I used to live in Alaska, now I live in Colorado so although the winters are shorter and not as cold I still get to deal with frozen buckets, but all of my horses right now have access to unfrozen WARM water. Horses don't like to drink cold water in the cold and I've heard many stories of horses colicing because they wouldn't drink their water or didn't have access to it. I had a rescue in the back of the barn where there is no electricity and so hiss water bucket would freeze at night, but I fed at around 8, would check his water at 10ish and then I would feed again at 7 am, and bring him hot water to thaw his water bucket out. I didn't like not knowing how long he was without water during the night, but he was never sucked up and the second he was able to go into the regular barn with access to warm water 24/7 I moved him. |
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 Living within my means
Posts: 5128
Location: Randolph, Utah | My horses have access to water all the time. I have a tank heater in our big trough and it has kept it open this winter. But my horses only come in a couple times a day to drink. They are on 80 acres and they paws some so they get done water from that.
Horse can break ice that is pretty thick.
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More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | I also know lots of big ranches that don't have open water - the horses eat snow. |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | Mine have access 24/7 to unfrozen water. I love, love my tank heaters and heated buckets. In winter, hay and water are must haves for me. I tend to lose my mind if those aren't available to them. |
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | Mine have open water 24/7 |
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 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | 24/7. They are also on free choice hay and/or pasture 24/7. With all that dry roughage they have to be able to drink. Our tanks are either heated or energy free.
I do have to bucket water to my studs but they only drink about 10 gallons a day in this old so I carry them a bucket of warm water AM & PM. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1066
| Our horses have 24/7 access about 99% of the time. Hubby's calf horse has an abscess right now so he's spent the last couple nights in the barn (off of frozen lumpy ground) and he gets watered just before bedtime, and turned out first thing in the morning. We also feed beet pulp twice daily which helps to make sure they're getting enough fluids when its real cold out.
When I was a kid and our 20+ horses were turned out on a section of land in the winter we used to go chop a hole in the dugout once a day and they drank there, and ate snow the rest of the time. Amazingly we only ever lost one horse (to colic) doing it that way, but I definitely couldn't sleep at night if I did that now. |
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
| Tank heater in the water trough so they have access to fresh water 24/7. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 623
Location: /ARKANSAS | I am not too far from you and I water like I do when my guys are stalled. I try to keep water for them at all times. The horses in pasture have a creek and bathtub full of water with tank heater. The horse in a separate pasture that I do not have electricity has 5 gal bucket that I fill with warm water in am, check an hour later, and refill if needed, I do the same at night. I also have a hot water heater at barn so I have warm water available there also. I feel like letting mine go without water and I continue to feed or hay is asking for colic. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 275
| Mine also have 24/7. We have a Ritchie waterer. We still have to run a heated tape down the pipe supply for it or that can freeze. We have been below zero for the last two months, I have even added apple juice to make sure they are drinking along with salt blocks.
The barn cats and dog (in the garage) get heated water bowls also. Electric bill is no fun in this weather! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 972
Location: Texas! | CYA Ranch - 2014-02-07 11:24 AM I also know lots of big ranches that don't have open water - the horses eat snow.
It takes soooo much snow to equal what they would need in water. |
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 Always Off Topic
Posts: 6382
Location: ND | if they are only on hay, they should have access to water.....if they are on pasture with snow (obviously that is not hard as a rock) and only eating some hay once in a while or no hay, they will do fine unless it gets real cold for extended periods.....even with free choic water in those situations, they may not come up and drink every day.... |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | It's been below freezing but the creek we've got still run.ps so the horses mainly use that. But they also use the water trough. Depending on the temps we have to pack a couple buckets of hot water to thaw the ice on top but that's it. I leave that for my brother to do. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 357
Location: Canada | When ours are on hay, they have 24/7 access to warm water. When they are out on pasture with lots of fluffy snow they just use that. We've offered them water but they never want it.
Edited by Whit37 2014-02-07 1:04 PM
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Always Off Topic
Posts: 6382
Location: ND | there have been times where we've left them in the pasture without snow and went every other day with the chainsaw and cut a block out......that gets old though.... |
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