Watering set up -- stalls, paddock

[sueol]

I am finishing plans to build out my pole barn. Here’s the set up: Horses will be in stalls that open up to a 2.5 acre “dry lot” in the pines (we live in Oregon’s high desert). They will have come and go access to their stalls all day. Here are my questions (I’m a newbie to keeping horses on my own property, so these are pretty basic…)

1. Do I need a separate trough in the paddock? Or will buckets in stalls suffice?
2. Any strong feelings on whether automatic waterers (with meter to check how much they’re drinking) are worth the investment? In the paddock only? Or stalls? Or both?

[jawa]

You will want someway to water the horses in their stalls in case they have to be up for a period of time that is more than an hour or two. During the mild months for my area (spring and fall) I generally don’t have water in the stalls since they are only in for a short amount of time. During the summer I tend to have them in more often and during the winter it depends on the severity of the weather (our winters are generally mild, but we can have ice).

I have a 100 gallon tank that they can drink from either the dry lot or from the pasture. In mild weather they drink it down in 5-7 days (3 horses).

I leased a barn a long time ago that had a very ingenious system for getting water to the stalls. There was a main line for the stall water that was in a heated area. This had a on/off valve so that during severe freezes the line could be turned off and drained. The water line then went and divided off to each stall which had it’s own ball valve that had a short hose connected that was for each water bucket. You could walk down the aisle in the 8 horse barn and turn on the water for each stall and then walk by and turn the water off for each stall. No lugging water buckets or dealing with hoses. During the winter I would turn the water on, fill buckets, turn the main water off and that would drain the lines. I did this type of system in my barn. One of the benefits of having horses not at home and in several different locations over the years, picking up little things that I liked about each and putting them to use in my own design.

[clanter]

we ran underground water supply to each paddock, got a local lawn irrigation company to trench and run all the piping during their off season.

They came in with two trenchers, a crew of five or six people to run the about 700 feet of lines, supplied the PVC pipe since they buy it huge quantities, competed everything in about six hours including covering the trenches

We supplied the frost free hydrants that they installed.

The paddocks have 40 gallon troughs, we have a 100 gallon for the pasture which is keep near the barn. We refill the stall water buckets from the 100 gallon tank.

[poltroon]

I really like having multiple water sources when possible. It is an insurance policy against leaks, grossness in the water, and being unable to get out to the animals to give them water in case of emergency.

My horses have a 300 gallon rubbermaid tank in the paddock. I keep goldfish in it to manage the algae. The horses seem perfectly happy to drink out of it. I don’t change this water often, just keep it topped up. In the stalls there is a bucket for each horse. The bucket is easy to keep scrubbed and clean.

I’ve seen the horses preferentially choose fish water to the clean buckets, and I also see sometimes them preferentially choosing the buckets more than usual. When the latter happens, I check out the tank to see if all is well, and I may spill some water out the top to refresh it.

I put in the tank originally because we were out and about for the day and got home later than planned. I had two buckets per horse but it was a hot day and I was extremely concerned that they wouldn’t have enough. However, since then the tank has saved my bacon a few times, through power outages, fire evacuations, or worse, both. I had to leave the property with the two older horses still on it and could not return for several days. If I had been in town when the evacuation had been called, I might not have been able to get back to them even to top the water up. And of course the weather that week was hot, dry, and smoky.

The situation freaked me out enough, plus I had to cobble together everything I could find that held water, that I now actually have three small tanks for the sheep and three total of the 300 gallon tanks. Because we are on a well, we lose water when we lose power. At least we have a storage tank that can be siphoned (which is what we had to do with the fire coming) as well as a generator. But, you never know how much or how little time you’ll have, or if you’ll be in a position to actively prepare. So my advice is, have some sort of arrangement where the water will work without power and without humans for 3 days minimum.

On the plus side, this also is a huge help for me in normal times. I don’t have to fill the tanks every day. If I’m in a big hurry I may not need to do water every morning and every night, as long as I put my eyes on it.

[Calvincrowe]

I have a somewhat similar set up to what you’ll have, though I built an overhang (12x48) onto the barn to provide them shelter as I’m on wet side of WA. I have buckets in the stalls which I prefer over auto waterers. In COR you’ll need to worry about frozen pipes so plan for that if you choose an auto water system. I have a smaller trough in the paddock that both sides of my sacrifice paddocks (2) can access. I use a hose to fill all those. I prefer multiple water sources and easily cleaned/sanitized containers that I can measure water intake easily.

We ran water from the house to the barn the second year we lived at our farmette. Brought in a tiny backhoe to dig the trench, borrowed a concrete cutter to access the underfloor, ran a frost free hydrant, and then hired a plumber to cut through our foundation, and hook us all up. I paid extra for hex/wirsbo pipe to try and prevent cracked pipes if they froze (we can get arctic outbreaks that plunge temps for days).

[wildlifer]

I just have 100 gallon trough in the paddocks - I have my fencing set up so horses can be split in individual paddocks or be together, so trough is under fence tape, so half is on one side, half on the other so horses can reach it from both sides.

I don’t provide water in their shed most of the year, I want them to keep moving as much as possible & I don’t lock them in. I do put a heated muck tub in there in winter bc my heater cords won’t reach the big trough without giving young horse too much chew temptation.

I don’t like auto waterer (i like as few things that can break as possible) & I hate buckets, too much work, so I love being able to just use big troughs.

[Simkie]

Are your horses super reasonable with each other? Stalls can be really trappy, especially when there are resources (like water!) inside. Pretty easy for a lower on the totem pole horse to get stuck in the corner, unable to exit, and take a beating.

My horses are idiots (sigh) so it was better to keep stalls closed during the day. Water in an auto waterer outside. Trough also works, but man–you just can’t beat the convenience of good quality autos.

Have fun with your new place!

[suzyq]

I have stalls that open to paddocks then about 2 acres of pasture. Stalls are closed during the day and horses are out together, and at nite they are in separate stalls open to the paddocks. There is an 8 foot overhang over the stall doors. I have a big muck tub set just outside each stall door, with water piped to each one. They can access the water during the day or nite setups. I love them i dump by just turning them over into the paddock and scrub every day or two when they are getting low. I love this setup, so easy. Some day I will do auto waterers to make it even easier. I do not have to worry about ice much though, i am in a warm climate. I also have hooks in the stalls in case someone has to stay in I can hang buckets.

[KandM20]

My horses are out during the day with access to their stalls if they want to go in to cool off. My stalls have fans in them. There is a trough in the pasture. At night they are brought in and stalled. My paint always gets severely bitten during fly and mosquito seasons. He has an allergy so it’s better to keep the fans on him at night to try to keep the mosquitoes off. And we bring his friends in so he isn’t lonely. Otherwise they would be out 24/7. They have water buckets in their stalls in separate corners so there is no arguing between them. And the walls are built up high. I just drag a hose and fill them everyday. I have no experience with auto fillers.

[moving_to_dc]

I have a 100g in the dry lot lean to that can be accessed from all of the pastures. Stalls have bucket hangers but buckets are only hung when horses are in for extended periods. All water locations in the drylot and stalls have outlets for heaters in the winter. I also have a hose strung in the rafters, running from the frost-free spigot to the drylot 100g tank. It is self draining in the winter. No dealing with frozen hose to fill a tank 100’ from the spigot.

I don’t like auto waterers. Especially with a well, I worry about a malfunctioning float valve draining my well… I prefer good old fashioned simple fill it up with a hose… I don’t like meters, just an added expense and one more thing to break.

[skydy]

@Simkie

Are your horses super reasonable with each other? Stalls can be really trappy, especially when there are resources (like water!) inside. Pretty easy for a lower on the totem pole horse to get stuck in the corner, unable to exit, and take a beating.

My horses are idiots (sigh) so it was better to keep stalls closed during the day. Water in an auto waterer outside. Trough also works, but man–you just can’t beat the convenience of good quality autos.

Have fun with your new place!

@sueol This is very important matter for you to consider. If you end up with two horses in one stall and one decides to be a bully they can end up with some serious injuries. Some horses can behave with this arrangement and some can’t.
Your stall doors may have to be shut while your horses are turned out.

You will want water available in both stalls and paddock. I never had an issue with properly installed auto waterers. I would check them 2x daily.

[mmeqcenter]

I would strongly suggest a trough in the dry lot and only put buckets in the stalls if they’re closed on for any reason.
I do not like auto waterers personally. PIA to clean, and I prefer to be able to monitor how much everyone is drinking.

[trubandloki]

To go with what is being said above. Even if your horse’s level of not getting along allows them to hang in the same stall with out causing injury to each other, it might not allow the low horse access to the water. It is amazing the things that a horse will guard, even when there is plenty of it.
Best to have an easily accessible by anyone water source.

[clanter]

@trubandloki

It is amazing the things that a horse will guard, even when there is plenty of it.
.

you must have owned our new horse Bonnie, everything is HERS :lol:

poor thing must have had a traumatic childhood

[trubandloki]

@clanter

you must have owned our new horse Bonnie, everything is HERS :lol:

poor thing must have had a traumatic childhood

I must own a relative.
I know this horse has never gone without. She just wants the whole world to know that everything is HERS and all HERS, no matter that she does not actually want it.

[Texarkana]

I think you will prefer something larger than buckets for long term watering. Buckets are really labor intensive; not such a great option unless the horses are enclosed in their stalls where options are limited. Your horses will likely prefer a trough outside. I use smaller troughs so I can easily dump and scrub them frequently.

Re: stalls as group turnout shelter. I did it for years and never had a problem… until I did. Out of the blue, my horse who lived with stalls as shelter for over 10 years started trapping and attacking her herd mates. It gives me pause about ever relying upon stalls as free choice shelter in a herd situation again, if I can avoid it.

[Simkie]

@Texarkana

I think you will prefer something larger than buckets for long term watering. Buckets are really labor intensive; not such a great option unless the horses are enclosed in their stalls where options are limited.

Excellent point–even in stalls, I use 16 gallon muck tubs. So much easier than dealing with buckets!

[clanter]

We are on city water so supply normally is not a problem

I use two buckets per stall for the real horses, the miniatures have one small bucket each , yes it is time consuming but for each horse I know how much water it has drank (or played with) …buckets are dumped and cleaned daily… that is just the way it is.

Basically whatever a person does, the horse tends to adjust to

Outside troughs are dumped and cleaned on as needed bases.

[sueol]

This is such amazing advice, everyone. Thank you so much! Such a good call about keeping the stalls closed during the day. We’ve got the electric going in next month, so it’s really challenging to be forward thinking about what we need and want. My barn is really nothing but potential right now. Paradox of choice, I guess – too many options.