Your post reminds of years ago when we tried putting goldfish in the tank to clean it. The poor goldfish were gone the next day. We suspect that a clever raccoon went fishing.
And you’re absolutely right that many barns with outdoor troughs don’t clean them in the winter. The theory being that the cold keeps things from growing. True to some degree, but those things get nasty when horses poop in them, put their feet in them, dunk hay in them, etc.
:eek:
I will consider myself lucky <knock on wood> my horses do not do this in the trough. Stall buckets, sure. Trough, no.
All of the horrified responses are cracking me up. Do you really think that ordinary buckets of water stay unfrozen all night? Newsflash! 
Have been at barns where the winter system was leading horses to a clean heated trough 3x a day - they went 12 hours without water all winter. My current barn (for the last 10+ years) doesn’t water outside during winter, but they’re only out for 6 - 8 hours, and come in to heated waterers. It works fine.
I’d prefer a barn that at least tried to offer water outdoors - e.g. put water out and know it might freeze, or put water out mid-day.
My horses always have access to unfrozen water, and I know they don’t need it every minute, but it is surprising how fast they can drain the tanks when they are thirsty. I’d prefer not to worry that when my horse needed water he would have to wait 8 hours to get it.
My first winter in MN I worked at a barn that did not have water in turnout or stalls. Horses were led to water AM/ PM and allowed their fill from heated troughs in the isle way.
I realize it was an old barn and there was not a way to safely allow water heated for them 24/7 . We had everything from yearlings to horses into their 20’s.
They had done that for many years and never had a colic to my surprise. So , I would say if the horse has unlimited water in the stall he can go for 7-8 hours in turnout without it.
Not my preferred method but in areas with harsh winter cold it can be a whole different way of life.
with it possible for it to be -40c for 6-8 weeks straight here I gave up on water outside in the winter. Mine are out about 6- 8 hours in the winter depending on weather and my erratic schedule. They learn - mine all have a good drink in the am with breakfast before they go out, in the summer they wait and drink from the trough after breakfast.
I have only seen this in Canadian barns where horses are terribly neglected.
I can not imagine a horse going days without drinking.
I know of two people in my area who had horses colic in the last 2 weeks, and 2 died last year from this mentality. Frozen troughs, or no troughs and horses with hay and no water, outside for 8-10 hrs.
There is no way in hell I would board somewhere that doesn’t provide water 24/7. Especially for an older horse. Water and heater setups are not difficult to arrange. It’s just lazy to not supply it. I don’t want to keep my horse where the care is lazy.
Edited to add: We add salt to their diet specifically to get them to drink more water as they don’t drink enough already in winter due to it being colder out. They also get a little warmer water in their stalls at night so it not cold cold cold and they like it better.
I don’t like this idea and have heard several barns doing it and some to save money. Really? I could not imagine not having a drink of water all day. Horses need water access all the time. They already don’t drink much during the winter due to it being colder. This can lead to colic and other problems.
sometimes its lazy, often its cost - very expensive to keep water as water when you have a harsh winter, Trough heaters and heated auto waters often can’t keep up to -40 for extended periods, and the frost can go 15’ down here in a bad winter, and once the lines freeze you are SOL until may (and its one hell of an repair bill). So the compromise is water inside only and shorter turnout.
I can count 6 upper level barns in Ontario off the top of my head, two eventing and 4 h/j barns. Some have roundbales out, some throw flakes every few hours. Some had full day (6-8 hr) or half day (4 hr) turnout. I’ve either worked or boarded there, it’s more common then you think.
I also never said horses went days without drinking. I meant that we can see in the snow when the horses go to the outside trough and sometimes they don’t visit it for days. They’re inside at night with either auto waterers or buckets.
Again if two barns were equal I’m sure everyone here would choose the barn with water 24/7. For what it’s worth my current barn has water outside year round, and my parents farm has always had water outside year round.
I am leaving a barn right now do to water. They water the horses when they come in at 5:00 pm and then they don’t water again until the next day. They do have water outside in turnout. 1 bucket per stall. We get there at 7 every night and the buckets are almost gone. I asked the barn owner why they don’t water when they do night check and she said she never thought of it, and she had to manage the amount of water intake for each horse. Then she said besides when you are boarding your horse don’t need water all night. I was speechless. I told her I wanted a second bucket in each stall. Then she said I can’t water any of the other horses if they are out of water when I am there so I let their owners know and they were not happy. They also have 2 buckets now. Anyway I am moving to a new barn - not as fancy, not a full size indoor dressage arena, but the person who runs the barn we know and the horses are all taken care of. I have an older 30 yr old and no matter what the age horses need water 24 hours a day to keep things moving inside. Horses in the wild can walk around to keep things moving, stalled horses don’t have that luxury. I would not board anywhere that does not have access to water.
Not my first choice, but not the end of the world. I’ve boarded at barns (high-end show barns) that did not water in turnout. Most horses were out between 2 and 4 hours. I would have preferred to have water, but didn’t worry about it for that length of time. When I managed to finagle my way into a 7 hour turnout stint in a far-away field for one of mine, I paid my groom extra to bring a bucket out with the horse each day.
Current barn has heated Nelson’s in all the fields 
Do not move to any barn with no water in turnout for 7 or 8 hours. That’s just asking for colic.
Having read all the replies, my initial response of “Um heck no!” is dimmed down as some of the reasons make a bit of sense.
But still, personally, I would not board somewhere where my horse regularly does not have access to water for eight hours at a time.
Two hours, okay not a big deal. Four hours, debatable.
My interpretation of that was that the horses didn’t go days without drinking at all, they went days without touching the outdoor water trough, instead choosing to drink when they came into the barn. And they do sometimes eat snow.
If you watch your horses, they have their own schedules. Mine go out in the morning, eat their hay, have a big drink, and go take a nap. They don’t drink again until late in the afternoon. My friend’s horses go out to their field first but come back to the troughs mid-morning.
If the rest of the place is good, this would not be a deal breaker for me. We say they should have water at all times because we do not know when they might be thirsty and they can’t ask us for a drink, but they do really seem to have drinking schedules.
For everyone having a fit over horse’s going eight hours with no water. Guess I better inform my horse’s they need a drink. Been over a full 24 hours since they been up to get water. No hoof tracks to be seen at water tank.
When I bring horses in barn because of blizzard no water is given in stalls. Wont last more then an hour in sub zero temps. Also just cracks breaks buckets anyway. Eight hours with no water isn’t gonna kill a horse.
when my two finally come up to drink they’ll drink their fill. They sure don’t make the long treck up to tank to drink 3 times a day. At most 2 times but more like once a day. So their going longer then eight hours between drinking.
Bring them water in a bucket neither horse will touch it. So obviously there fine drinking once a day.
I would worry about a horse his age adapting to such a schedule. I do not scream “HORRORS” at the system; as others said, it certainly can work. But your old guy probably does not have the best teeth anymore and, since he has never been in this type of a system, I might worry about choke, since he has not learned to ‘drink his fill’ after a meal.
Timely thread. I usually have only one paddock used during the winter, and only have one tank heater. But I have an extra horse now and he is in a paddock by himself with a heated water bucket.I filled it at 7 AM this morning and checked it when I got home at 4 PM, and he had not drank a drop. He does have lots of green grass and snow, so I’m guessing he was not thirsty.
For my peace of mind I like them to have water, but there absolutely have been times when buckets or troughs were drained dry at my place. And many times I’ve started prepping for a show at 5 AM and finally returned home 12 hours later with the horses not having drank a drop of water all day despite offering it to them multiple times.
Nope, nope, absolutely nope. Horses need more water in cold weather, not less. To not have access for 8 hours is begging for colic.
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