Keeping water troughs from freezing

[Ruth Bourgeois <ruthb@tdsi.net>]

I know a lot of horses have to get by on eating snow or icy cold water,
but the experts say this leads to inadequate intake of water, and
significantly increased chance of colic. Why take a chance? It costs me
around $1.00 per day extra for electricity to have a tank heater in my
horses' water tank, but that's far better than a costly vet bill for a
colicky horse. One thing I used to do to help keep the water from
freezing as easily was to make a "box" around the water tank, and line
it with insulation. I had a lid on it that covered half of the tank,
leaving enough open for the horses to drink from.

I have a friend who has tank heaters for her horses that are run by gas
(same kind as furnaces/cooking). Her turnout lots are too far from the
barn for electricity hookups, but these tank heaters work just fine.

Ruth


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=