Winter horse care- water?

[HungarianHippo]

Good point about it probably being too late, NancyM, hadn’t thought of that but makes perfect sense.

OP, for this winter, maybe invest in a water tank you can roll out to the barn and fill buckets from that? Then you can fill in the house. This 18-gal tank is meant for emptying RV waste tanks, but might be pretty useful for your purpose. http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/thetford-smarttote2-lx-4-wheel-portable-waste-tank-18-gallon/82131

There are adapters you can get to allow you to attach a hose to your kitchen faucet.

[clanter]

@NancyM

Putting in an underground water line to your barn this late in the year may well be problematical. .

admittedly I am in Texas but we installed all of our outside frost-proof hydrants in less than one day …I contracted not a plumber but a company that installed lawn sprinklers. It was their off season, but they had all the equipment, pipe and fittings-- I just needed to supply the hydrants … they had the trenchers-- yes several— and a total crew of about ten. We ran just over eleven hundred feet of piping, installed four hydrants, junction boxes for line shut offs, then before covering the trenches added direct burial electrical cables

[HungarianHippo]

Clanter, it’s not the duration of the project, it’s that the disturbed soil can’t insulate the pipe the way well-settled soil will. So the depth that would normally be frost-free may still freeze your pipes anyway.

[clanter]

@HungarianHippo

Clanter, it’s not the duration of the project, it’s that the disturbed soil can’t insulate the pipe the way well-settled soil will. So the depth that would normally be frost-free may still freeze your pipes anyway.

hum… with a frost depth measured in inches here rather than in feet I never considered that but … isn’t Air a poor thermal conductor ? so I would think compacted soil would have a higher thermal transfer then that of disturbed soil which would have air intermixed.

[HungarianHippo]

Where there’s air between spaces in the soil that means there is no water, and water content is critical to regulating soil temp. Water is what stores the heat/slows down heat loss – so dry soil has greater temp swings in response to air temperatures.
And here, we find the limit of my technical knowledge. My colleagues could go on for hours about enthalpy and stuff like that, I can only do the Heat Transfer for Dummies version. (Not that you’re a dummy!! :lol: )

[candyappy]

Have a local professional install a water line from your well to a frost free hydrant or automatic waterer located where you need it for convenience in the Winter. It won’t be cheap but well worth it in the end.

[beau159]

As suggested, I’d put in frost free hydrants, and also install a heated automatic waterer. Once in a while, those can freeze up on you too (and often you have to bust the water open on top), but they are SO much easier than filling buckets every day!

[enjoytheride]

Also, if the horses go out during the day empty all the buckets during turnout and leave them empty. It prevents an extra 35 minutes bashing a solid block of ice out in the evening. At night the horses are drinking and while an un heated bucket will freeze it will freeze slower with the horse drinking, although at your temps it is still going to be useless by morning unless your barn is small, insulated, and closed.

Insulating your stock tank outside by building a box around it, filling the box with manure or dirt and then making a cover for the tank out of wood when horses are not turned out also helps with your water heater bills. Even better if you can cover half the tank. The less surface exposed to the outside the better.

[walktrot]

BO’s husband did the water lines to the Nelsons, and they used a machine that created a slit as opposed to an open trench. I have no idea how far down the lines are, other than below the frost line which is supposed to be between 4-6 feet in southern Maine. They come from the original dug well on the farm. I’m pounding on wood right now, but we’ve never had a problem with the water lines freezing, even during a few pretty tough winters with consistent temperatures well below zero. There is a hydrant in the barn that has heat tape with insulation wrapped around it. My horse is out 24/7, so obviously I’m pleased with the reliability of the Nelsons.

[betsyk]

I’m hoping the OP has a couple of horses and not a whole herd. If this winter has to be low-tech, maybe invest in a few 5-gallon containers with lids and handles (the kind you take in the trailer) and figure out how to fill them with a short hose from a spigot that you turn on and off as needed (call the plumber and invest in a shutoff valve that you can reach easily!). Move them back and forth to the barn with a sled or rubbermaid cart? not the easiest method but if you brought two of them to the barn each evening, for overnight, and then use a big enough stock tank that you can fill it once/week from a long hose (stored indoors), you might get through. Invest in a good tank heater and insulation around your tank. Schedule the trenching for a hydrant and auto waterer for next April or May! If horses are outside all the time and you can get away with just a stock tank, and no buckets in stalls, your winter will be a lot easier.