# Five horses dead from dehydration in Tracy, CA



## Shawneen (Apr 22, 2009)

Tracy Press - Five horses die of thirst


----------



## Regan7312 (Jul 5, 2010)

how very sad :-(


----------



## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

What a horrible way to go. The owners failed to consider how much water horses can drink - especially in the heat. We have two mares in a pen with a 100 gallon water tank and have to fill it every day. No - it doesn't leak - they just drink that much - it gets HOT here in Oklahoma!


----------



## MuleWrangler (Dec 15, 2009)

Your horses drink 50 gallons of water a day? Wow!


----------



## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

This is the next town over from me and when i saw it on the news i was just devastated. I am already a worry wart about water and now i am even more sensitive after this!


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

MuleWrangler said:


> Your horses drink 50 gallons of water a day? Wow!


My 3 easily drink that much.

I have a 70 gallon tank, and I have to put at least 50 gallons in it every day.


----------



## MuleWrangler (Dec 15, 2009)

Speed Racer said:


> My 3 easily drink that much.
> 
> I have a 70 gallon tank, and I have to put at least 50 gallons in it every day.


I can see three drinking that much, but not 50 gallons each.


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

The google search I did came up with the average horse drinks (on average) 6 gallons of water per day.

Which does make sense since so many boarding barns the horses have one five gallon bucket that gets filled 2x per day and that is enough for most of them.

My one horse is a serious over achiever in the drinking department and he drinks about 15 gallons per day.

This time of year (hot summer) he easily does 20 gallons.


Very sad about these horses suffering with out water.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

No mention of who owns them?


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

I thought it said at the end that they were trying to determine who owned them. Then it said they figured out who owned the land and were working on finding the horses owners.


----------



## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

MuleWrangler said:


> Your horses drink 50 gallons of water a day? Wow!


Sorry - I didn't mean they drank it dry - they probably drink nearly half of it - but we _never_ let it run dry. The only time that tank is empty is when we turn it over and scrub the algea out - at least once every week or two, especially in the summer. Then it's immediately refilled.


----------



## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

Dee- add gold fish, they help eat the algea


----------



## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

kchfuller said:


> Dee- add gold fish, they help eat the algea


I've thought about it - I know of people who use them in the HUGE stock tanks, but I don't know about the little 100 gallon ones. Then again, it wouldn't be too hard to net them out of the tank to give it a good cleaning once in a while, either. 

I wonder if seeing the fish in the water would keep Dancer out of it? She LOVES to get in the water and PLAY!


----------



## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

I have an 60 gal one that i put 2 fish in ... oh man the fish would get the ride of their life with a playing horse in the water- LOL


----------



## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

Dancer gets her whole front end in the tank. The rest of her would follow if it were big enough. She splashes water all over the place. One of these days she'll knock a hole in the tank and I'll have to get a new one, but what can you do? Oh well. I'll try putting a few goldfish in there, but if Dancer cuts loose again, we may have fishmash in the tank!


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I have goldfish in mine. they don't eat the algae, they eat the mosquito larvae. Put it in the shade to keep the algae down.


----------



## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

Dee- it will be a good source of protein- lol Just kidding!


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

kchfuller said:


> Dee- add gold fish, they help eat the algea


No, they don't. 

People put goldfish in water tanks to eat mosquito larvae and bugs. Goldfish, because they're so danged nasty, actually _accelerate_ algae growth.


----------



## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

Speed Racer said:


> No, they don't.
> 
> People put goldfish in water tanks to eat mosquito larvae and bugs. Goldfish, because they're so danged nasty, actually _accelerate_ algae growth.


Sassy! 

From my experience: I added them to our tanks and it has made a BIG improvement.


----------



## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

Maybe I should put both goldfish and gambusia in the tank? What one species doesn't eat, the other one will?


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

gambusia? What the heck is that? a small relative of godzilla????


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

kchfuller said:


> From my experience: I added them to our tanks and it has made a BIG improvement.


I don't see how kch, since goldfish really are nasty, dirty fish. I've heard of them being used to control mosquito larvae in stock tanks, but not algae.

When they're in an aquarium either snails or algae eater fish have to be put in with them, because their tank will get disgusting and algae covered otherwise. 

But hey, if you say it works for you and you're happy with 'em, then who am I to say otherwise?

My water tanks are only 70 gallons and they get dumped and scrubbed every other week anyway, so fish aren't necessary. Besides, my barn cats would see them as fast food, and make quick work of them! :wink:


----------



## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

^ maybe the Walmart goldfish are hard core or starved- haha ... or maybe I am not getting goldfish but something i think is a goldfish? Anywho it doesn't matter


----------



## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

what about goldfish pee?


----------



## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

farmpony84 said:


> gambusia? What the heck is that? a small relative of godzilla????


Gambusia are another name for mosquito fish. They are small, and look like guppies.

Goldfish are carp - at least the ones I've had are. They're bottom feeders, but I doubt they'd hesitate to take a mosquito larvae if it was handy. They will eat algae, too (being carp), but if you have too many of them, the algea will grow faster than they can keep up with, hence nasty tanks.

I'm not really going to put any in my tank - the horses dump too much garbage in there and the water would be too low in oxygen for them. They are really only good in the really huge stock tanks.


----------



## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

That article is so, so sad. I hope they find the owners of the horses and prosecute to full extent of the law.


I have 7 horses (my 6 and Amarea's horse) drinking out of a 150g stocktank. I have used goldfish in the past, but don't anymore. with this many horses drinking out of the tank, they can drink it more than 3/4 down by mid-afternoon most hot days. I dump the tank, spray it out, and refill. I also add about 4 cups ACV to the water every dump/refill, keeps away the mosquito larvae and also helps somewhat with inside-out fly control with the horses, as well as encouraging them to drink more.


----------



## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

A very smart thing! ^^


----------



## krissy3 (Jul 18, 2010)

for tanks in direct sunlight algae grows 2 times faster , under the shade and with fish and you have a chance. I keep a seive ( strainer) at the buckets and troff and scoop out extra hay and leaves. This keeps the tank pretty clean, and the horses from coughing on a bug.  every week I drain it and let it sit in the sun to dry out the algae, or if I have had a red bull Iattack it with a pot scrubber.Algae or misquitoes , I dont want my kids drinking either...actually we dont have misquitoes here we are too high up and at the wrong temp for them , no west nile either , big sigh of relief !


----------



## shmurmer4 (Dec 27, 2008)

this is ridiculous, I clean and refill all water bins at least once a day.


----------

