frozen water troughs

[nimrod]

aside from pouring in anti freeze (just kidding!!)

what do you chaps do when your horses are out 24x7 and the weather is this cold. i was out lifting pieces of ice from the water trough tonight. but i am sure by now it has frozen again. aside from a plastic football, what other ways do you stop the troughs from freezing?

[sulasmum]

Was going to suggest using a football but I see you already do

[jinglejoys]

Would adding salt to the water help? I know horses seek out salt but have never heard of it added to the water although we tend to for the goats

[nicole]

Probably a stupid question but is there access to electricity? We have a small heater in ours, it works great! Also, as an alternative you could use a big rubber mallett to pound the ice off the sides and then strain out the ice chips with a strainer. That is what we do with our buckets in our stalls. ;D

[smudge]

I have no problems with frozen water troughs - my welsh sec d breaks the ice with her hoof for the rest to drink from

[jor]

If you have an electricity point put a water filter in (designed for fish tanks) it keeps the water moving and prevents it from freezing ;D i used one off a generator to stop water freezing in my water bucket at an old yard. Just covered the electric wire, made sure it was on a surge plug. Worked really well.

[anon]

take a 5 gallon container of HOT water - and leave a few buckets in the field twice a day

[julz]

how about 2 balls in the water, if you only have one the ice will freeze round it, if you have two, they will constantly move about and hopefully stop the ice forming. Unless ofcourse your horse noses the balls out!! I check the troughs everytime i go in and break the ice with my walking stick.... this usually frightens the horses and they run away! Like the idea of a heater though, does it get attached to the outside of the trough and heat up the metal?

[donna]

I break the ice then add hot water from lots of big flasks to slow down the refreeze.
Smudge-I am impressed! my horse (who is an Icelandic so should know about these things) is totally stumped by even a thin layer of ice! She is always fascinated when I break it!

[miggy]

:)My lot live out all the time and always manage to break the ice. I do use old baths so as they drink the level drops so when the next ice forms in the hole it is quite thin, not sure if it would happen if there is a ballcock as it would refill the hole again i would imagine anyway. I dont think i am far away from you nimrod so i get the same temperatures( about one junction down the M3)

[nimrod]

hate to disillusion people, but hot water actually freezes colder than cold water! (physics teacher as a father). the filter idea is a good one though, in the meantime i will try 2 footballs.

[thelwell]

lol i was just going to mention that hot water cooles faster but you beet me to it in our fields we have a horse that breaks the ice in the water buts

[specialsparkle3]

I use little plastic bottles i.e. tonic water , and half fill them with water so they are in and out of the water then when the troughs freeze you can pull them out leaving a hole so making the ice easier to break.