My boy Irish loves to play in water. When I fill the larger Rubbermaid water trough, he climbs in and splashes all the water out. If I fill the smaller galvanized ones, he puts his front feet in and splashes. I’ve had the most luck putting sawhorses over the smaller troughs, but sometimes he just pushes them over or shoves them out of the way.
Anybody have any designs that allow the horses to drink, but not to play?
StG
What I’ve done with my trough players is move the trough so its only in the field half way so they can’t really get going playing in it.
Its irritating! Esp when I fill it up and scrub it, go to work, get home and its 110 degrees, trough is empty with mud on the bottom.
I wish I could afford to dig him a pond. Have you seen the Youtube video about the horse in the wading pool?
StG
why not have one for water and then fill up a second smaller disposable one for play? that might help.
you could also place a lid of some sort over half of it - a flexible lid like what you see on rubbermaid tubs.
i agree, it is SOO frustrating. my late TB used to do that, it was a game for him. “how exasperated can you make room service??” :rolleyes: this is the same one that would spill a tub and then look forlornly at his feet and then pointedly at you like “but why is all the water gone??”
Do you have one of the higher sided tanks? I switched from the shallower tank and no longer had a problem.
This is what I do too. I have it in the fenceline the long-way with only 1/3 on the horse side. No issues with playing, just enough room for muzzles/heads.
I built a stand out of 4x4s (legs) and 2x4s. (Use bolts, not nails or screws, to hold key pieces together.) It held my 50 gallon Rubbermaid water trough about 3 ft off the ground.
I left the stand behind when I moved, but my water stomper has mostly outgrown his need to stand in water troughs. Mostly… 
For some reason I found if I fill it 1/2 way full or less then he’s less likely to splash in it, go figure. That way I also don’t worry about wasting water if/when he does make it all dirty with his big ole feet!
[QUOTE=StGermain;8139846]
I wish I could afford to dig him a pond. Have you seen the Youtube video about the horse in the wading pool?
StG[/QUOTE]
Oh my god I feel your pain! And I’ve been joking I’m going to get one of those pools for my mare for awhile now! I know she’d lose her mind if I set one up, but after she stopped spooking she’d be just like that horse!
Her best buddy is an 11h donkey, so I can’t raise my trough higher. But raising it usually helps with the hoof-in-the-water problems. I’ve been considering a cover to stop the nose splashing, but have yet to follow through.
I really liked the raised idea, but he has a mini pasture-mate. Same with the high-sided, maybe. I need to research. I’d like an automatic waterer but I don’t want to have to trench. I might try sticking it partway under the fence, but it’s hotwire. I’d hate for him to get shocked getting a drink.
StG
I feel for you though my guy just muddies the water (always when I have just cleaned it and all 150 gal of it is full!) does not splash it all out. More fun to stand in it with both front feet cooling off that way.
Set it up on cinderblocks so that it’s raised a bit and harder to get his leg into. You’ll have to experiment with heights to see what will also work for your mini.
So infuriating. My morgan always splashed a bit from time to time, but now he’s chronic about playing in the water.
Moving the tub around actually worked for a long while. Just setting the tub in a different spot every few days seemed to make him lose interest in playing.
Eventually I had to raise it though. It sits on a sturdy wood pallet platform, situated in such a way that he can’t play billy goat and climb on the platform too and climb in.
Just recently he’s decided to play with his head in the water, not ideal, but better than his muddy legs.
Moving the tub through the fence so only enough for a head to drink is a great solution, I can’t do it because I board though and I don’t think anyone would like me cutting holes in the fence.
Could you hang a smaller bucket for the mini?
Glad to see I am not the only one who has water horses! When it gets hot mine will flip their muzzle back and forth hard, splashing water all over, their chest and every so often the front hooves go in and out the water goes!
I have one the water trough half in their pasture and half out, that helped a lot and the barn I manage part time put their water trough up on blocks, making it harder for one of their 2 year old to get her hooves in to splash about.
Good luck…
[QUOTE=StGermain;8140351]
I really liked the raised idea, but he has a mini pasture-mate. Same with the high-sided, maybe. I need to research. I’d like an automatic waterer but I don’t want to have to trench. I might try sticking it partway under the fence, but it’s hotwire. I’d hate for him to get shocked getting a drink.
StG[/QUOTE]
I have hot wire as well. If its a rubber trough it won’t carry the shock or just make sure the bottom strand is high enough that its not touching. I’ve also stuck a hose on the portion over the trough and duct taped it in place (getto I know lol, but I had a mare that was terrible and even two troughs wasn’t enough…she’d play in one and empty it, then move to the other).
If you leave enough out past the wire then it will still give them plenty of room to drink without getting shocked.
Jumper_girl - LOL at the dog pic. My giant schnauzer mix likes to climb in the trough, too. So I bought her a Disney Princess wading pool. She was terrified of it!
StG
I turned the larger trough and slid it under the hotwire. And bonus (!) it now does both the pasture horses and the mini’s dry lot. We’ll see how it works.
StG
If that doesn’t work, Raise them up. I use those plastic pallets, two stacks of them about six inches tall each, because my TBs have very rarely knocked them off and those are pretty harmless if they get in them. I had a TB who would do this all the time and the raising fixed it, mostly. He would occasionally hook a hoof over the top of it (he is very athletic) but not be able to stand in it. That is when he would drag it off freeing himself.
they could put a foot in a cinderblock. If you use cinderblocks, use the solid ones with no holes. Because my horses are so self destructive they absolutely would maim themselves that way!
I finally put in Nelsons, so much better. We did build a wooden cage around my Nelsons so they wouldn’t beat them to death. They still love to play in water but do it with their faces instead of their feet. I did build them in the fence line so one serves two fields to save money.
Well, that’s not going to work. The big horses are too fearful of the hot wire to drink. They were obviously thirsty, when I dipped out buckets they drank gallons. But they wouldn’t get close enough to drink. Filled up their little trough and will think about raising it.
I did get a waterer like this from Tractor Supply. Now I have to figure out where to put it that won’t be close to the hot wire but is still reachable with the hose(s).
StG
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