Conference noted::equitation

    I have no running water to my barn, I have two heavy duty rubber
    buckets that don't feeze easily. I keep one in the house thawing
    all the time and switch them back and forth morning and evening.
    My mare won't drink even luke-warm water, it has to be cold for
    her, so I bring her cold from the spicket from the side of the house,
    and when she is done I dump that and bring water as hot as I can
    get it from inside the house. I really don't have much of a problem
    with freezing, she seems to get all she needs this way. A hose will
    freeze, and subsequently crack and be useless come summer if you
    try to use it in winter. I , too, have a stream running alongside
    her paddock fence, and she will paw at that on the edges and break
    through the ice sometimes. It's fun having the horse at home, but
    sure is a lot of work sometimes! :-)

    
    The stable I work at does a couple things in the different barns...
    
    One has water dug to the barn, with a spiket (which freezes above
    the frost level) we have a insulator wire that we plug into the
    wall during winter months that warms the above ground section, but
    sometimes the end where the handle is freezes and we use a blow
    dryer to just thaw it enough to start the water moving.  (this is
    probably a more expensive alternative).
    
    Secondly, we do use a hose, we connect to the spiket and drag to
    each stall in that barn and the other barn ... we roll it up and
    put it in the furnace room/anyplace like a cellar works.  Not always
    practical.
    
    Best solution would be buckets that don't freeze, OR  We use tubs,
    (we fill when empty) with the hose and have an electric water heater..
    forgot the real name... it plugs in then you drop it in the tub
    and it keeps it just warm enough not to freeze.  If you wonder if
    they are safe, I can only say we have some we have used the 2-3
    years I've been there and no problems.  We did get rid of one that's
    wire had been cut partially.
    
    Good luck!
    

    I have a frost-free hydrant about twelve feet from the barn. In PA
    the frost line is about 36 inches, we put the water line 48 inches
    below grade, and the hydrant pipe is 7 feet long. This gives us 3 feet
    above and I fill the buckets and carry them to the barn. If it gets
    really cold (below zero) the handle may freeze, but tapping with a
    hammer always gets it to move. I use rubber buckets so I can turn them
    upside down and jump on them to break the ice out. I have a friend that
    doesn't use a hydrant, but has a huge tub that she fills from the house
    with a hose once a week. She keeps a floating heater in it so the water
    doesn't freeze. She fills buckets for each horse from the tub.
    Sandy
    

    
    Im sure I dont have to say this but I will anyway..just be carefull
    when the lake does freeze..Ive heard of alot of horses walking on 
    the lake and falling in and getting hurt,,mybe if it does freeze you
    can fence it in so she wont be tempted..Im sure you've thought of it
    but I just thought Id bring it up
    
    good luck..from Louisa who carrys buckest apon buckest from house to
    barn

    We water six horses with a hose from the house spigot which is a
    non-freezing kind (the works are inside the house, only the faucet is
    outside).  In freezing weather we unscrew the hose each time and drain
    it by walking along it and lifting a hump of it over the shoulder as we
    go along.  So the sequence of events is:
    1) Collect the rubber buckets
    2) Kick the ice out of them
    3) Connect the hose and fill the buckets
    4) Disconnect the hose and sling it over the shoulder
    5) Carry the buckets to the stalls
    It sounds like a pain, but really isn't all that much extra fiddling
    around.  I keep an extra hose in the house in case someone forgets and
    it gets frozen.

    This reply is a little late, but....
                
    We had water put in the barn BEFORE building.  This way, we
    could dig down 8 ft (well below frostline) and come up through
    the foundation.  We have a pump, (maybe also called a hydrant?)
    that works off our artesian well water supply from the house.
    When you turn off the water, it goes back down the pipe so as
    not to have any water in the pump to freeze.  Even with last
    Dec's 30 days of -0- weather, we always had water.
    Of course, it didn't stop the frozen buckets, which we handled
    by:  
    Morning-
    Fill outside waterbucket (muckbucket) brought from house that
    has been sitting near wood stove all night.
    Bring back in house stall waterbucket to thaw near wood stove.
    Evening-
    Bring out stall bucket from house.
    Bring out second outside waterbucket from house.
    Dumping paddock bucket out when horse comes in.       
    Bring in house to thaw all night by wood stove.
    
    So much fun-
    
    L-                                                
    
         

    Are there any heaters that are safe to leave in the stall buckets all
    the time? I'm wondering if there's any solution to the problem of
    having to always knock the ice out of the buckets. 
    
    Rememer how cold it was last December? Buckets would freeze solid
    overnight, every night. 

    I bought the insulated water buckets last year and they didn't freeze
    once!  They were expensive, I think about $45 each but it was well
    worth it to me!!  The company I bought them from is:
    
    Country Manufacturing
    333 Salem Ave, PO Box 104
    Fredericktown, OH 43019
    
    PH (614)694-9926

    I personally wouldn't leave anything electrical in a horse's stall. 
    Some wouldn't bother anything, but one of our mares takes her feed and
    water buckets as items of amusement, and removes them from the wall to
    play with, pull through the hay rack, throw out the window, etc.  Our
    two-year-old gelding tastes everything he can reach - blankets,
    halters, lead shanks, anything at all.

             <<< DELNI::WORK$01:[NOTES$LIBRARY]EQUITATION.NOTE;2 >>>
                          -< Equine Notes Conference >-
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Note 1382.0              Water heating ideas for winter               No replies
EDUHCI::ALESSANDRINI                                 15 lines  23-OCT-1990 14:35
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    I need ideas on how to get water to horses pastured in a field about 40
    yards from the barn this winter. The problem being that the heaters you
    usually buy are electric.  I don't want to run a cord from one end of
    the barn to the other; too much cord to get pinched or stepped on.  Is
    there a battery operated heater that could be rigged up.  Or is the
    only recourse to start digging, putting the cord into PCV pipe. 8-(
    
    Or....
    
    There should only be about 4 horses in this small field, so maybe a tub
    is overkill for winter.
    
    Need ideas for these horses.
    
    stephanie 

    See also topics 954, 472, and 454.
    

    
    I have about 50 yards of wire run from my house out to my horses'
    run-in shed. It's special wire which can be buried - you don't need
    to put it in PVC and it's weatherproof. I don't know what it's called
    but the man at the hardware store did. You can then hook it to an
    enclosed outlet on a post, and plug whatever you want into the outlet
    on the post.
    
    Mine's been fine for about 3 years, now.

    THE CABLE IS CALLED U/F ROMEX WIRE AND IS APPROVED FOR DIRECT BURIAL. 
    MAKE SURE YOU USE A GFI (GROUND FAULT) BREAKER OR RECEPTACLE FOR YOU
    AND THE HORSES SAFETY. 
    
    
                                                       GREG
    
                                                              ASO AUGUSTA