Setting Up A Good Pasture For Your Horse : Part-IV
In Part-I, II & III, we already talked about preparing pasture to provide good nutritious food and safe fencing.
This brings us to the final element in a good pasture – water.
Some vets would argue that water is more important than anything else to maintain a healthy horse. Be sure to set up a water trough in an area of your pasture that is not only sheltered from the sun, but is also close to your water supply. Shade is important for two reasons; hot water is not very tasty and hot, standing water is a great place to breed mosquitoes and algae.
So often, people set up old bathtubs or troughs in a field that is nowhere near a water source. The result is all too predictable. The water container never gets scrubbed out, and doesn’t stay filled with fresh water. The horse ends up with smelly, stagnant, dirty water which is a brilliant breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Rule of thumb I follow is simple: if I’m not willing to drink it, I don’t expect my horses to drink it.
While many horsemen use old bathtubs for their water troughs, I would really recommend that you invest in a sturdy, safe, metal or plastic trough designed for the job. They are surprisingly inexpensive when you consider that once purchased, they should last you for many, many years. Also, a proper trough is tall enough to discourage your horse from climbing in, while the bathtub is not. Between the sharp edges, short wall height, plumbing fixtures, drain and slippery surface, a bathtub is a vet bill waiting to happen and for a few more dollars, you can get a proper trough and minimize any accidents.
Another tip is to set up good drainage around your water trough. Horses are not known for being the tidiest drinkers and many horses enjoy dunking and splashing while getting a drink. The result is often a mud hole surrounding the trough. When that dries out, you will have what looks like a moonscape surrounding the trough that is both dangerous for you to walk through and for your horse. Also, when it is muddy, this is a perfect place to suck off your horse’s shoes and result in additional shoeing bills. By taking the time to position the trough on high ground that drains well, or adding gravel around the trough to improve the drainage, you can provide your horse with a healthy water supply that doesn’t require scuba gear to get to!
There are slick, time saving devices you can add to your water trough to help keep the water clean and the trough filled. There are commercially available float systems that will turn the water on automatically when the level gets low. Some horses learn to trip the float and end up turning your water trough into a swimming pool. There are also many people who invest in small, algae eating fish to stock the trough with so they have a natural cleaning system. While the fish concept sounds good on the surface and many horsemen swear by it, there is nothing worse than poached fish in a hot trough if the sun beats on it long enough. What you do, or don’t do to your trough depends on your climate and your horse.
Maintaining a healthy, productive pasture is a year round job for every horseman who wants to get the most out of their pasture. By starting now, you should have a wonderful pasture by the time your horse arrives.
You can find more information about horse health care here.
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