# How often should I expect water troughs to be cleaned?



## natisha

It seems the place isn't really so nice.
I would expect it to be cleaned. Say something to the barn owner, they may not even know the staff aren't cleaning the tanks.


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## stevenson

i would ask the manager or owner. Troughs get green quickly in the summer. 
As we are in a drought, the troughs get dumped and cleaned when they are close to being empty. 100 gallons is a lot of water.
Plus, I do not share water troughs with horses that I do not own.


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## greentree

To be honest, I never clean my water troughs, unless they get empty or almost empty for some reason. Would you worry about them if they drank out of a lake?


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## Clava

I never clean mine, after a while the trough develops a pond like wild life and never go green or slimy.


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## farmpony84

I move mine to the shade in the summer so I might make it two weeks before scrubbing but normally once a week. The Algae comes quick in the sun.


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## churumbeque

Keeping Goldfish in Cattle Troughs


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## natisha

greentree said:


> To be honest, I never clean my water troughs, unless they get empty or almost empty for some reason. Would you worry about them if they drank out of a lake?


Lakes & some ponds have their own natural filtration system, not so with tanks. 
If we can offer clean fresh water, why not?


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## natisha

churumbeque said:


> Keeping Goldfish in Cattle Troughs


Have you ever smelled a fish bowl that needed cleaning? No thanks.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians

I have several 100+ gal water tanks and I scrub them out when they look dirty. I toss a 1" chlorine tablet in about once a month to keep the algae down and if they get dirty on the bottom, when they're about empty I dump and scrub, then refill. Many, many people do not clean water tubs or troughs at all, I can't abide the stench.


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## Incitatus32

Heck the only time mine get cleaned are when they're empty or getting close to it. Never seen a horse harmed from drinking out of an algae tank. Mine do it and are completely fine. 

If you're that worried you can always buy gold fish and put them in the tank. Works wonders (even though I have known horses to eat them lol).


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## Saskia

I used to get obsessive about cleaning my horses water out and do it multiple times a week when there was even a hint of mold. 

However, 95% of places I have kept my horse have not cleaned out paddock troughs. Maybe once a year or something if they inspected it but that's about it. 

They do in stables especially if feed/manure/sawdust gets in there, but often people just leave paddock ones unless there is a problem. 

Many horse owners thought the amount I cleaned my trough was weird so I'm guessing your barn is pretty normal. 

Horses are fine with it, I've never known a horse to get sick or care about the state of a trough. Horses go through massive amounts of water, so while the edges are dirty the water itself is constantly being replaced and is likely not that dirty at all.

Now I don't have a private paddock I don't clean it at all.


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## Horseychick87

I'm a clean freak about buckets and troughs. Each day water buckets get wiped out with a sponge and at the end of the week or every other week they get scrubbed with baking soda and vinegar.

Troughs get a cleaning as needed, in the winter that's not very often, in summer it's usually every three days or so. I can't let them sit or the mosquito population gets out of hand and that's an even bigger health hazard than a dirty trough.


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## TessaMay

I like to clean once a week when I'm in charge of it. If I'm on full care and my barn is not taking care of it, I'll usually just take care of it myself. I've always had large tanks, so I try to wait until they get low to clean, no point wasting water. 

However, I don't get too concerned about it if they aren't perfect. My mare likes to drink out of the super scummy pond sometimes, so I figure she doesn't mind a little green much.


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## SueNH

I've got a 300 gallon stock tank out there for them. I dump it and hose it out every 3 days in the summer. Less in the winter because water can be such a project.


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## PaintHorseMares

We have 2 110 gallon tanks. We fill one up everyday and let them drink the other one down. When it's near the bottom, we scrub it and switch to filling that one up.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## RaiRaiNY

We empty and scrub our large troughs at least twice a week, and use a fish net to them clear of hay and other debris a few times daily.


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## Kay Armstrong

Yep, I'm with the once a week people. I have found that if the staff doesn't fill the trough all the way to the top, it's much easier to clean....if they fill it daily (or when it gets low) cleaning is not such a big deal. If you're paying a board bill I would mention it. Maybe the staff has forgotten....


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## 40232

I don't clean my tank hardly at all, but it is in the shade, in the run in. But when I was working at a boarding barn, I had the task of scrubbing 2 inch thick algae off of the bottom of the tank... Gave me a whole new perspective on water tanks! If I was paying for my horse to be cared for, I'd expect the tanks to be cleaned often enough so there wouldn't be an obvious accumulation of algae.


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## mls

As others have said - horses drink out of ponds, lakes and even standing puddles. If they are not drinking, then I would worry.

We don't dump and clean until the tank is almost empty. Only our horses using this tank. BUT - if your barn allowed the tank to get almost empty to not waste too much water - you would complain about that too.

Your horse grazes in grass which is a fraction above the dirt. They roll in what ever happens to be on the ground. As soon as the first horse drinks out of the tank it is technically 'dirty'. 

My suggestion is to look at your horse. Happy? Healthy? 

Don't sweat the small stuff.


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## Bedhead

Is the water clear? I scrub the tanks religiously (however the horses also drink them down, so it's not exactly a hindrance for me), however I vaguely remember when I was talking to some fishkeepers that algae is an eyesore but not harmful (maybe difference for horses).

If the water is clear with a lil dirt or grass or whatever, I wouldn't be too worried about it. However if water quality is sub par, then I'd mention something to the BO.


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## nrhagirl09

I'm personally a neat freak when it comes to water troughs and buckets  
My buckets at my barn at home (basically my barn for my retired ones) are scrubbed clean everyday, mostly because they get GROSS overnight. One of my old apps puts ALL of his grain in his bucket, drinks the water, THEN eats his grain  If my horses weren't as piggy as they are, I would probably just rinse them out each morning, but I can't get away with that. At my reining trainers barn, where my reining horse is, I don't worry about it much. My trainer has great barn help, and my guys water bucket and field trough is always sparkling. At my pleasure trainers barn, I usually scrub it out or just rinse, but the boarders there are more on their own as far as cleaning the stalls and such goes.
My water troughs I scrub out once a week. I'll just go out and pull all the grass and hay out every day and I'm usually fine. Mine really don't get that gross, and I've never heard of keeping gold fish!


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## Corporal

Ha, Ha, I thought my replacement Rubbermaid tank was 65 gallons, until I turned it over last November and READ that it was 110 gallons. In this heat my three horses drain it in ONE DAY. They are on 24/7 summer turnout. There is no time for algae or even mosquito larvae to grow in it. When it starts to sit more, I add larvae killer that is meant for fishponds, so safe for the horses.
The tanks that grow algae and mosquitoes are left out and not used much. I cannot put goldfish in my tank right now because my "city water" has chlorine in it and will kill the fish. When I get back to using my well, I will use the fish again. They work very well, but it doesn't change the algae situation, just the mosquitoes.
I agree that horses drink from ponds with algae, and that algae indicates that the water is safe for them to drink. Still, it's yucky, and I'd demand that they keep them better. Heck, I find dead birds sometimes in my tank, although I always check it, so it would never be there for more than one day. Who KNOWS how long something dead would be sitting in a dirty tank. Just MHO.


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