Horse Poop in the Horse Waterer

I would have preferred to begin my blog with something a little less disgusting but that is not how today happened. In Raleigh's stall this morning, next to the automatic waterer there was a red water bucket. There are a lot of reasons this could happen. the two most likely are that  Raleigh's waterer is not functioning corrrectly or  he has been playing toss the water bucket. In this case, the water bucket actually contained water. The waterer also contained water... but it was pretty foul. I clean my waterers at least once a week so it was obvious right away what had happened. I put my hand in and sure enough... there was a lot of disintegrated poop in the water.

Sharon is the non-riding mom of two Pony Clubbers. She  usuallly swings by and  checks the horses in the mornings. She  had put the water bucket in Raleighs stall. She said he'd had been making quite a fuss that morning and he had been reaching over trying to drink from the water of the horse next door. She seemed a little smug when she told me, "He was very thirsty. I had to get him some fresh water this morning. He was not drinking from his waterer and there was a very FOUL smell." Snugness explained! Dirty waterers are one of my big pet peeves.  I have threatened in the past to make the pony clubbers drink from their horses's waterers. (This threat did not go ever well with either parents or children. I strongly recommend against using it.)  So it was probably pretty ironic that mine was so filthy.

So how to clean it: turned off the water supply. Then I drained the waterer and rinsed it with bleach. I was careful to scrub out the corners and crevices with a toilet brush I keep around for cleaning the waterers. (Very appropriate in this caes.) Then I rinsed it a couple more times. Raleigh seemed to drink just fine from it after that. I was tempted to take it apart and clean the float. But I figure the bleach probably killed anything up in there anyway.

 My waterers are the 16 qt. DuraMate Automatic Waterers.

Things I like about these:

1. Size: If you check your waterers at least 3 times a day, 16 quarts is large enough, at least here on the coast, that your horse will not run out of water between checks in the event that something happens to your water supply.

2. Price Point: 29 -42 dollars is about the price range
3. Ease of use: Comes with brakets for installing
4. Replacable parts - floats an be replaced
5. I like that the float is covered so the horse cannot play with it.
6. Hose can be attached from witehr side.
7. Drain facilitates cleaning
8. Fairly durable

Things I do not like:
1. The atachment to the water supply does not use a std. garden hose.
2. The float is not very adjustable.
3. One you habe installed it the metal screws fuse. It is difficult to get it apart for cleaning or repair or replacement


When my new barn is finished I hope to use the Nelson  waterers. I like these because
1.They are VERY easy to clean
2. There is a water consumption monitor option
3. They look classey

On the other hand they are fairly expensive and I am not sure about the warranty vs the initial cost ratio.
I will be checking these out more  at next weeks Equine Affair in Pomona. I will let you know then my conclusions.


Good news on the barn today. We have the certified engineer's stamp for the certificate for the silhouette. Next we go to the city to commence the neighborhood compatibility study.