water when trailering?

[bevann]

I read on another post a suggestion for free choice water while trailering a long distance.How do you do this without it splashing all over the place and ending with nothing?Just curious

 

[Sanny]

Drive carefully? Go easy on the brakes and gas pedal when speeding up, slowing down or stopping which you would want to do for the comfort of the horses anyway.

I'd love to have a trailer with one water tank and the automatic waterers but since I don't, when the horses are separated and in dividers, each horse has his own bucket of water (the smaller buckets, which I think are 2.5 gallon) and I fill them 3/4 to the top and almost all the buckets usually still have 1/2 or a little less than half when we get to our destination so we don't have a problem with them spilling. Our buckets are tied up and not sitting on the floor so maybe that helps limit spilling and splashing. If I am hauling a couple of horses loose in our smaller trailer we use one five gallon bucket and I tie it up in one of the corners.

 

[TaylorMarie]

hey

when I travel I stop every 2 hours and offer the horses water. Sometimes they drink but sometimes tehy don't and I have never had a problem with them being dehydrated. My concern was having things hanging in the trailer that horses could get hung up in( or on )

Hope this helps

Taylor

 

[Relic]

We've never trailered more then 5 hours to a show so never had water for them... if we stop to gas up or eat l do give them a bucket each they can drink from but mostly l notice thats rare that they do..hay thats another story they eat the whole way there..

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

I suggested the free choice water (I think a few others did too). A few things:

1) Bring your own water that the horses are used to, don't depend on water at gas stations and rest stops, although you can usually find some there if you need it.

2) Only do water if your horses are not tied and are loose in a stock-type trailer (the person travelling 12 hours has a 2H slant that is wide open and the horses loose).

3) Tie the water bucket so it is resting on the floor but half the weight supported by the tie.

4) Only fill it half full, and check every stop to refill. Clean the mess as needed, since it will spill. But, it shouldn't be too bad. If you are spilling that much you need to back off on your driving and be much more concious of your starts and stops. The half full part should take care of average road bumps.

 

[Matt73]

I've travelled to Palm Beach from Toronto a couple of times with horses. We'd stop every two to three hours. Water everyone. Take temps. Make sure hay is plentiful. And go.

 

[mizbeth]

Hi

I have tried the water thing when hauling and it is usually a mess and they don't drink it. I do stop for gas/food and then water them. If they do not drink the water I make a really wet beet pulp for them and they will drink/eat that. Horses can safely go several hours without water. Try electolytes before you travel to encourage drinking when you offer it. We travel with hay in front of them and that encourages them to drink water too.

Good luck, hard to drive careful cause someone is always going to pull out in front of you or stop fast in front of you and you will need to hit your brakes.

B

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Yes, emergencies happen, but very safe driving can eliminate those "pull and stops". If you have plenty of space in front of you there is no need for quick stops. Travel in the middle lane of large highways, and move left for on ramps. Good, careful planning can avoid 98% of sharp turns and abrupt starts and stops. Its a whole style of driving.

 

[Kawgirl]

If I'm going to give hay while we're traveling, I soak the hay first. It helps to get a little moisture in them without worrying about water splasing around.

 

[sedeh]

When we went back to Pinto World last year it involved 10hr driving days and water was a big concern for me. We divided all the stalls so the horses had their individual space(we were taking 5 horses in a 3 horse slant and had 2 stallions and a yearling colt!). The way they were loaded would have made it difficult to offer water at stops without unloading everyone. I did end up tying up those smaller buckets and filling them half-way. Didn't have too much spillage either....usually the yearling colt's was messy because he liked playing with it!

 

[wildoak]

I have tried the water thing when hauling and it is usually a mess and they don't drink it. I do stop for gas/food and then water them. If they do not drink the water I make a really wet beet pulp for them and they will drink/eat that. Horses can safely go several hours without water. Try electolytes before you travel to encourage drinking when you offer it. We travel with hay in front of them and that encourages them to drink water too.
Good luck, hard to drive careful cause someone is always going to pull out in front of you or stop fast in front of you and you will need to hit your brakes.

Ditto what Beth said.

I don't like to hang buckets, one more thing for them to get tangled up in. A little beet pulp in water goes a long way towards getting them to drink "strange" water.

Jan