# Water in the Winter



## Jenn454ss (Nov 3, 2008)

I am looking for my first horse and I live in Southern Illinois. We get pretty cold here for a few weeks in the winter. It won't be a big problem to heat the water trough and buckets with our three stall barn. The problem is, there is no plumbing out there. The guy who owned this place before us had horses and I'm not sure how he watered them. When it's warm, you can use the long garden hose from the house. But, when it's cold, I'm not sure what to do. The pipe will freeze, so we'll have to cut it off. We figure maybe he had the horses drink from the pond, but its really shallow and stagnant water. So, I don't want to do that. The last resort is to take huge buckets of water out to the horse. It's not terribly far, but it seems like a formidable task. What do others do when plumbing is far away. Any ideas? This is my last hurdle!


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

I do not know what sort of distance you have to cover between the house and barn, but could you hook hoses together and run them from the house? You just have to take the hoses in when you are done each time. We have 150 foot of hose that we get out and put back away when we are done watering. With seven horses using two stock tanks, we have to fill twice a week.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

I don't know how far it is, or how many horses you will have, but I spent years lugging water buckets out to the barn three or four times a day because 1. there wasn't running water and 2. there wasn't a heated trough -- it was AWFUL. For only one or two horses, it's not so bad to haul water when you have a heated trough.


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## Jenn454ss (Nov 3, 2008)

Wow, thanks for the really fast responses! My husband wasn't convinced the water hauling wouldn't be the end of the world. But, I was! It would only be two horses. AKpaint...By putting the hoses away, you didn't have to worry about anything freezing? That would make things a lot easier. We already have hoses that reach. We just cut them off in the winter. But, if it was okay just to unhook them and bring them in, that's a different story.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Oh, you can definitely just take the hoses in. Actually, if you have a hill and drag them up the hill as you coil them, you will drain all the water out and then you don't have to bring them inside.


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## BeauReba (Jul 2, 2008)

I used to water 10 warmbloods in the barn, and 20 in the field by hand! I would fill the buckets up in the heated barn and carry them up hill over ice to the other barn or the paddocks! It was a pain but at least all the horses had water!


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Jenn, we get temps to 30 below zero up at my place (warmer that the 40 below in town)...The hoses work fine. Our outside spicket does fine down to about zero degrees. After that, we run the hose from an indoor spicket in our utility room. When I did not have an indoor spicket, we sometimes had to run hot water over the outdoor spicket to unfreeze the water that was in the outside part. And yes, coiling on a slope is helpful. 

Sooo, to make a long answer short, if you unhook the hoses, it should work just fine.


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## minihorse927 (Aug 11, 2008)

I have the joy of carrying water to 6 horses every morning and every night from the backside of my house. I use to do the water hose thing but every time I turned around someone around here (of course no one admits to doing it) would uncoil them leave then full of water and then they would freeze to the spicket and freeze the whole hose and then it was a big mess to try to fix. I have just decided on carrying the water buckets 200 feet every night and day. I figure I can carry 2 five gallon buckets in one trip and each horse has a 5 gallon bucket, so in 3 or 4 trips twice a day I can water everone and plus I recieve some exercise! The hoses work great if the other people who live there know how to unhook and drain them...


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## Jenn454ss (Nov 3, 2008)

Sounds like this is something I can do. Now, just cross your fingers that I can convince my husband to get my horse


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

we had carry pails of water to the horses twice a day in the winter. At one time we had 8 horses, each horse was given 5 gallons of water 2x a day (10 gallons) My dad wouldnt heat the water tank. Any more then that the horses wouldnt drink it and it would just freeze. We had a really long walk to go (it took over 250ft of hose in the summer) When he had the cattle we would fill the tank every other day and would just remove the top layer of ice. The hoses had to be drained two times otherwise they just freeze up. 

I just giggle when where I board now the husband complains about having to pail the water 15 ft max... he really has no idea...lol.


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## kickshaw (May 7, 2008)

reading this makes me glad i live in georgia!


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

kickshaw said:


> reading this makes me glad i live in georgia!


lol.... cold, icy winters build character


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

I agree with Angel - character! Though I sometimes long for a lack of ice, snow, and freezing weather.


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## kickshaw (May 7, 2008)

warm mild winters keep you looking younger longer


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## Eagle eye 1 (Nov 27, 2008)

I carried water about 125 yards the first two winters. I would actually do shoulder shrudges and try to curl the buckets as I carry them. lol After a while that got pretty old.

I finally rented a mini back hoe and dug a trench from the house to the barn and put two hydrants in. I also added a place to put in a fountain. I hope to buy a fountain and hook it up in 2009.

For now, I run a hose from the barn to the tank. After I fill the tank, I walk uphill with the hose and blow it out before I roll it up. I also use a tank heater since it gets pretty cold in Minnesota in the winter.

DOC


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