Has anyone tried them? Seems worth the $42 to me mare does.not.like. cold water gelding does…figure it will work whatever temp the horse prefers…but would they prefer to use them as a chew toy…hmmmm
I have not tried them but instead I made my own insulated bucket. I filled a new muck bucket with tons of straw (acts as an insulator) then put a five gallon bucket in the center. I then fill the bucket with hot water - I’ve done this for years and it won’t freeze during the night as long as it’s kept out of a draft (even with insane New England temps). My mare will NOT drink cold water either but happily drinks the hot/warm water from this bucket. Typically the first thing she does when she comes in is to drink a ton of the hot water. She does have a heated tub for outside but she won’t touch it (her pasture buddy does so I’m pretty sure there’s no stray voltage). 
I purchased one for my husband’s gelding before Christmas, and another as a gift for a friend. In the geldings stall, I also have a Thermobucket holder bolted to the wall which works great for the bucket that it holds, but I wanted the same performance for the naked bucket next to it without having to bolt anything to the stall wall, and the SP bucket insulator came through. On the cold nights a few weeks back, when most of the buckets in the barn froze up, both of mine were still open the next days when I came in to clean. Everyone else was banging out ice, I just emptied mine down the drain and refilled. There is a half-moon of insulation that can either cover the back portion of the bucket, be folded down behind the bucket, or removed if you don’t need the extra insulation. Additionally, there is a string on either side that loops around the handle and is velcroed back down to the side of the bucket to help keep it on snug. Velcro attachments keep it closed around the bucket. If you don’t want to bolt something to your stall, I would recommend this product.
ETA: I have to admit that my way of looking at this differs from my husband’s. I say I bought it for his horse to have open warm water. He said, “Ah, you bought yourself a present, I see!” And in a way, I did!
My trainer had a couple of bucket cozies that she liked very much although I don’t know if they were the SmartPak brand. Saved her a great deal of bucket bashing for the horses that had them, they were too expensive to justify buying enough for the whole barn at that time however.
I bought one when SP had their last big sale.
So far Im happy, its especially nice if I put a few cups of hot water in before I leave in the evening.
My horses hasnt tried to eat it, but she is also very respectful of things and I used to hang all my blankets in her stall without worrying either. Not sure if other horses might try. Its 600D, but it would not stand up to a curious horses!
I bought one when SP had their last big sale.
So far Im happy, its especially nice if I put a few cups of hot water in before I leave in the evening.
My horse hasnt tried to eat it, but she is also very respectful of things and I used to hang all my blankets in her stall without worrying either. Not sure if other horses might try. Its 600D, but it would not stand up to a curious horse!
Thanks they arrived today…one of mine is tough on buckets…hoping the decoy bucket will sparenthe insulators
They’re awesome! In northern Vermont in an unheated barn these bucket covers are great! I’m not able to use the covers on the top because of our pipes feeding water into the stalls, but even with the tops open they keep the water from freezing.
Im on my 3rd year with mine. The most I’ve seen is a skim coat of ice on below zero days. Worked well enough that my barnmate watched mine for awhile, then got one too. Seems to fit the bucket better and easier to wrangle than the bucket cozy from Dover. Its lasted well even after being thrown outside with the rest of the buckets in the morning.
I’d say worth the money.
I bought 3 but haven’t had a chance to use them yet. Looks like this week will be my chance.
They do work for single-digit temps (haven’t had occasion to evaluate them below that yet, thank goodness), especially if you can keep the top on. One of my boys rips the whole thing off and tramples it, so he has icy buckets in the morning whereas the others are clear (I top off with hot water at night check). I tried homemade insulation for my mini-don’t who doesn’t have a 5 gallon bucket, and it doesn’t work nearly as well, if at all.
I love my Smartpak insulated bucket cozy, those things rock! Even on the most brutal of cold days/nights (single digits F), the water bucket didn’t freeze through. At most, a thin layer of ice on top, that’s it.
Mine is going into it’s 3rd winter, definitely worth the money.
They work great, they’re washable, they’re 1/2 the price of the insulated bucket holders, which I also have.
They had them on sale before Xmas, and I almost bought a couple. But I knew my 4 YO would destroy it. Although in retrospect I should have bought one for my other horse’s stall.
if you are very cheap you can get the same effect but putting one bucket in a larger bucket and filling the space with spray foam. Which is $2 a can. Just make sure they can’t get at the spray foam to eat it.
These are the real deal and I am THRILLED with them. Last night was 15 degrees with realfeel minus 6 and this morning there was only a tiny thin layer of ice on one of the 3 buckets and that was one a horse had drunk halfway down so the volume of water was less. The 2 buckets where the horses drank less didn’t freeze at all.
I have 1 from last year and 2 from this year. It appears there was a minor redesign, this years fit on better and cover more of the top of the bucket surface area. I was slightly concerned but my dumb horse figured it out no problem.
A+++ I can’t think of any other products that so clearly do as they promise!
I am thrilled to read your review, vfx111. I just ordered them. Unfortunately, I missed the free shipping deadline to get them to the barn by the weekend, so I won’t have them until next weekend.
Yup put em on last night…worked well.
[QUOTE=Larbear;8489541]
I love my Smartpak insulated bucket cozy, those things rock! Even on the most brutal of cold days/nights (single digits F), the water bucket didn’t freeze through. At most, a thin layer of ice on top, that’s it.
Mine is going into it’s 3rd winter, definitely worth the money.[/QUOTE]
Think it could work if temps got down to -20C?
Is there any online places to buy these in Canada?
