Night Check?

[jump_pony]

@trubandloki

One thing in this thread that makes me scratch my head some is the number of people who say they are boarders and randomly top off water buckets when they are the last one there in the evening.
Does the person in charge know that boarders are topping off water buckets?

I can only imagine the scare when the BM came out in the morning to find two totally full buckets in Dobbin’s stall not knowing the SuzyQBoarder filled one empty and one half full bucket the night before and Dobbin did not drink anything else after that but the BM is used to seeing the empty and half full bucket in the AM.
And the joyous amount of extra work it makes for the morning crew who has to dump those full buckets.

I am not saying that horses should be with out water … I just think people doing hay or water with out the people in charge knowing it was done can cause an issue.

I was recently horse sitting and the neighbors were tossing the horses extra hay and topping off the water without telling anybody.
I was a little freaked out because I thought nobody was drinking!

[Annabelle123]

@Gainer

While I understand monitoring water intake, I don’t understand how it’s OK for a horse to stand for hours without water, either. I have my guys at home now and I always end up giving each another full bucket at night check because they are usually down from 2 full buckets to about 1/2 bucket. I’d much rather refill buckets at bedtime than have my horses standing around for 8-12 hours with no water. And of course, there’s the occasional horse that will manage to dump a bucket or poop in it.

I don’t think anyone here has suggested leaving horses “to stand for hours without water”…

Sounds like our horses are on different schedules if yours are usually down from 2 full buckets to about 1/2 bucket by night check. At that point, I’d consider you to be actually refilling buckets, not “topping up”. ​Mine don’t get turned-in until dinner, and are rarely down more than 1/3 of one bucket by night check.

My comments/concerns about “topping up buckets” are more relevant at a larger boarding barn when the person doing night check is usually not the same person doing the buckets in the morning.

[mmeqcenter]

@Gainer

While I understand monitoring water intake, I don’t understand how it’s OK for a horse to stand for hours without water, either. I have my guys at home now and I always end up giving each another full bucket at night check because they are usually down from 2 full buckets to about 1/2 bucket. I’d much rather refill buckets at bedtime than have my horses standing around for 8-12 hours with no water. And of course, there’s the occasional horse that will manage to dump a bucket or poop in it.

The barns where I boarded always did a night check and topped off water. If a horse hadn’t touched their water by that time, alarm bells went off and they were monitored. Once you care for horses a bit, you get to know their water “habits” and will know if they’re off in the morning even with buckets being topped off.

To each his/her own, I guess.

I believe the annoyance about “topping off water” comes from boarders doing it “trying to be helpful,” instead of it being done as a specific chore by barn staff. It’s hard to monitor water intake when people are filling waters without you knowing.

[trubandloki]

@mmeqcenter

I believe the annoyance about “topping off water” comes from boarders doing it “trying to be helpful,” instead of it being done as a specific chore by barn staff. It’s hard to monitor water intake when people are filling waters without you knowing.

Bingo!

There is a huge difference from horses going for hours without water and topping off water.
If horses are going for hours with out water then something needs to change somewhere else, not boarders randomly adding water. If nothing else that leaves the person in charge thinking the amount of water they give the horse at night is the right amount when they come out in the morning and Dobbin still have plenty of water.