keeping troughs from freezing

[Rayna777@aol.com]

Dorothy,

I saw a GREAT idea in the book "Horsemans Scrapbook" published by Western 
Horseman for keeping troughs from freezing.

Basically you dig a big hole under the trough, below the freezing area for 
your area.   Line it with rocks (I've got TONS if you want them) or concrete, 
or leave it alone, put your trough on top, and WA- LA the ground temperature 
from below keeps the trough from freezing.

BTW---I recommend the above book to anyone with critters, it has a lot of 
great, practical ideas.

Also, My wonderful husband (who hates horses)  came up with a great way for 
me to give my finicky, nasty, *itchy, mare a bath without getting killed.

She HATES cold water baths. (Who can blame her!)

So Michael took an old water heater, pulled the outside and insulation off, 
and stood it on a 
a stepping stone on the south side of our barn.  It's painted black.

He put spigots on both inlet, and outlet, put hoses on.  I hook my barn hose 
to the inlet with the water running, and the outlet hose goes out to the 
bathing place, with a scrubber/turnoff.
The pressure of the water going in causes the water to come out, just like in 
your house.

The water isn't hot, though it does get pretty toasty on very hot days, but 
even on cooler days it takes the chill off, and that makes Rayna happy.

I make sure the tank is full when I am through using it, and turn off both 
valves so it stays there.  I will need to be sure to drain it if we get any 
really cold weather this winter, so I don't crack the tank.

Good luck.

Julie, Rayna The Mountain Monster,  Jynx The Wonder Pony, and Decker The 
Newbie (Though the new is wearing off fast!)


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