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Discussion on Horse Dumping Water Buckets
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Member:
mysi
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Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008 - 11:31 pm:
So my young mare is driving me crazy. She is so fabulous and behaved under saddle but on the ground she seems to get into EVERYTHING!
Her more concerning issue is she dumps over the water buckets outside. Everyday, all day, any pasture, even when tied to the posts. It's warmer out so I am really concerned that when I am not home, her and Moose will end up with no water. My neighbor comes at noon during the week to check on everyone, but that still leaves alot of time where the may not have water. Even when I set them free on the weekends to roam all 10 acres, she goes in and dumps them.
Any suggestions???
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 9:32 am:
Melissa can't you get a tank? If you don't want a full size tank they make smaller ones for goats I think. I use one in one of my pastures, they can't dump it, but my old mare washes her feet in it...sigh. I also have used muck buckets, be sure to remove the rope handles....Hank was always trying to drag it around by them.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 9:58 am:
Do you have some old tires you can set them in? Sounds like she really likes to play!
I've also seen some things that are made to hold the rubber feeders so they won't get tipped, maybe they make some high enough for the water buckets?
I have one of the smaller short sided Rubber Maid tanks (came with a horse we bought) and use that in the one pasture that they can't get to the main tank from. They will stand in it and have caused it to crack on the bottom. So a deeper tank is better, or the muck buckets work.
Do the buckets have the handles on them yet? She could get a leg caught in them.
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Member:
hpyhaulr
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:18 am:
We had the same problem, I got Rubbermaid tanks and put them up on 4 plastic plats so CJ could not wash her feet and turn it into a swamp for everyone else. I keep a small fishnet ($1 WalMart)behind each tank (on the plats) to fish out the flora and fauna they DrOp in there daily while eating grass. DrOpping a capful of bleach in there daily during the summer (which has started already) helps keep the brown/green scum from forming on the bottom and sides. I have seen others who put goldfish in their tanks to do the same, but I have not tried that. Can't live with the idea of the horses consuming the goldfish...silly perhaps, but a capful of bleach doesn't seem to be hurting them diluted in 90 gallons of town water.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:37 am:
I dump apple cider vinegar in our tank year round. I feel better using that instead of bleach and it does help. I also use the cheap fishnet to take out the stuff the my part raccoon horse insists on leaving in there!
I think my horses would either be scared of the gold fish, or play with them!
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Member:
mysi
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 1:54 pm:
I don't use buckets like in the stall...I should have explained that better. I have one big rubbermaid tank, one short one and about 8 muck tubs. She can dump them all!!! The tall tank she kicked until she busted it and now I can only fill it half way, so she can dump it. I don't really want to invest in another big one just to have her break it too. I even got an aluminum tank that she pretty much crushed by kicking and stepping on it.
She breaks everything, she even bit into the hood of my new truck when I had it parked by the barn!!! I never even imagined that she would have any interest in that! I could make a long list of the things she has destroyed in the 3 months I've had her! Yikes! But she is so willing, kind and fun to ride!
She's DEFINITELY playful! It's cute...SOMETIMES! I do like the tire idea, I will look into seeing if I can find one the muck tubs fit in.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 4:57 pm:
Is it the water she loves, or just playing/destroying stuff?
What if you left her a mud puddle every day to play in? Some empty plastic jugs? Some "noodles" like they use in swimming pools? Some small logs she can strip the bark off of?
Wow, what kind of horse is this? And how old is she?
Does she know the word "NO"...I seriously believe horses can be taught that one! Comes in handy, just like with an ambitious toddler.
Have her teeth been done? Seems really weird when you say you have 10 acres for her to run on, and she gets in so much trouble, and is so mouthy she has to taste everything.
Would love to see a picture of MS MISCHEIF, LOL!!!
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 6:29 pm:
I don't know what I'd do around here without bungee cords and duct tape . Hank also feels the need to dump waterers and normally they have an automatic waterer, which even he can't dump. Sometimes the cows have to use the automatic so I get stuck with the muck bucket or small tank.
When the muck bucket is next to the fence I put 2 small...pulled very tight, rubber bungee cords on it top and bottom....even houdini Hank can't tip that.
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 8:58 pm:
Personality issue that cannot be changed. I've got a 22 year old "youngster" who will always dump a bucket and would dump, step in or swim in tanks if he could. He loves to kick the water tanks. In the stalls I use the bucket holders that keep a flat-backed bucket very secure.
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Member:
mysi
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:18 pm:
Angie: She's a 4yr old (turned 4 MAy 1st) draft/Paint Cross. It's not the water, she's just a brat. I have toys, she doesn't want them, she'd rather step on the fence or dump buckets. She's fine in her stall though. She just gets into everything she's not supposed to. When they are free she will go into the ring and knock over all the jumps and rip the flowers out of the flower boxes. (when there's lush grass everywhere)
The word "No" was not a word she had ever heard before I got her. I got her from a friend and have know this mare since she was 1, none of her horses have any type of structure or discipline. Her ground manners were horrific when I got her, but much better now. I go after her, swing the whip, she goes right back. I close her in a pasture when I've had enough. She hears "no" quite often now, but she's like my cat, she doesn't care until I'm 2 feet from her and then she runs!
But the water thing is a health issue. Diane, I love the bungie idea, I will try that tom.
I do have to say she is the sweetest, kindest most loving girl! Just a destructive brat!
I've attached a pic, she's the one in the middle.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:47 pm:
Melissa,
She looks nice! Sounds like you will just have to accept life with her will never be dull, and keep everything of importance out of her sight?!
I had a mare who opened gates, and stall doors, only letting those out she wanted out.
I had a gelding who thought it was great fun to take hats off your head, or gloves out of your back pocket, and of course, stand on them looking very innocent. Kinda boring right now, I don't have any clowns or houdinis in my herd.
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Member:
hpyhaulr
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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 10:59 pm:
Melissa,
She behaved beautifully on the trailer and never dumped her buckets!!! Party manners perhaps? Glad she has such a loving home with you, someone else may not have been so understanding of her antics!
Angie,
how much apple cider vinegar do you use??? I tried it in the barn buckets last year and they did not drink. I put it in the pasture troughs and it did not accomplish what I'd hoped. I tried playing around with it, but truthfully, only for a few days. It was hot and I was afraid to have them not drinking enough for longer than that.
Dr. O,
am I doing a harmful thing with a capful of bleach in the 60 gallon trough?? That little bit seems to do the trick. I don't use it in the barn buckets, they just get scrubbed more often.
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Member:
paardex
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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 3:42 am:
Try putting wooden poles around the rubberwaterbuckets/tanks. My young stallions were so amused with wood they could chew they left the water [longer]alone .
The meanest thing I've seen[but effective] is electric fencing around it, works for the bold annoying horses but I was always frightened the docile ones would be afraid to drink.
It seems to me that for such a nice colour she thinks you have to 'pay' extra.
Jos
Thanks for all the 'keep clean' ideas! I constantly emptied and refilled the watertanks
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 7:17 am:
Cyndy, the recommendation by a National Disaster Organization for treating drinking water to help make it safe during storage is 15 ml to the gallon. This is then repeated every 24 to 48 hours to replace what dissipates. That is about a tablespoon per gallon so I would say what you are doing is safe.
I don't know of any work to suggest that the vinegar is a useful practice. It would acidify the water as long as the acetic acid does not evaporate and some microorganisms do not do well in acidic environments but that is not true of all microbes.
DrO
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 9:06 am:
Cyndy,
I don't measure the AC, jump dump a few "chugs" in the tank as it's filling. I am thinking it amounts to about 2-3 cups or so per 150 gal tank.
I think it helps keep the tank clean as we have extremly hard water. Vinegar helps dissolve calcium build up. I may try the bleach during the hottest months though as the AC don't keep all the green gunk out.
My horses seem to prefer the AC water vs plain now as they are so used to drinking it.
I know DrO don't think it's useful, but AC has been said to have many health benefits also. Whenever I think of vinegar, I am reminded of the 2 sisters who were on the news years ago. They were in their 90's and attributed their good health to always drinking water with apple cider vinegar in it before meals.
Just make sure it's Apple Cider Vinegar, plain white vinegar is only good for cleaning, or as a rinse in the washing machine!
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 10:26 am:
I know this makes no since at all... but .. My Sa$$y Pants filly now mare loves to stand in her large water troughs... what i have found tho.. if i put in a low to the ground tuff rubber trough she stays out of it.. I think it was the challenge of the larger ones , this is NO challange and she leaves it alone.. !~ Crazy horses..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
sureed
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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 12:50 pm:
I had a TB mare who loved to flip buckets. She also loved to bury her face in the water up to her eyeballs and blow bubbles!!! We used muck buckets tied to the fence posts with moderate success. I say moderate because she would eventually break down the edges trying to tip them. I'd be concerned with the bungees if your mare does get them loose, snapping back and hitting her in the eye or elsewhere with the end piece.
Also, we use gold fish in our tanks with great success. They even propagate in there and survive the Winter (we get below freezing and light snow sometimes, nothing colder). They just dive deep when the horses drink. But of course we don't count them routinely so I guess one could end up as an hors d'oeurvre!
I've heard about AC in water being good for digestion and bug control. But I use white vinegar as a rinse after I wash my horses. It not only helps get the soap out but is also supposed to have bug repellent properties. Of course, your horses smells somewhat like a salad after, but it does make the hair shiny and smooth.
ALl the best to everyone,
Suzanne
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Member:
lindas
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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 11:23 pm:
Oh, this is a riot! She is certainly a very pretty brat! One of my horses, a 6 year old gelding, is on stall rest and he is bored out of his mind. He has all the stall toys he could possibly want but prefers to play with the water and chew the wood in his stall. (which he never did before) I have a bracket in each stall to hold down the flat back buckets. He takes the edge of the bucket in his teeth and lifts the full bucket off the bracket and dumps the water! I need to bungee it down, just have to take the time to figure it out. In the mean time I am greeted with a mess every evening after work!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 7:08 am:
The claims to health benefits of apple cider vinegar have been around for a long time and though there is a smidgen of evidence for some health claims when used in concentrated amounts to get these benefits. Injuries, though rare, have resulted to both esophagus and skin when concentrated forms have been used. The feds have prohibited such health labeling on vinegar based health products until more research is done. Of course the amount talked about above have very little chance of risk but also very little chance of a health benefit.
As to the nutritional benefits, acetic acid is a source of energy and the fermentation product does produce other nutrients. The practice of adding a bit to the drinking water however would be so small as difficult to calculate.
DrO
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