Winter has definitely touched down on the Oregon coast! With temperatures down into the teens (18 forecast for tonight) It was time to bring out lily's blanket and worry about the possible freezing of the pipes/auto waterer. She hasn't seen the blanket in about 8 months, so of course at first it was possibly a blue plaid horse eating creature. It is our third winter together and her third winter of being blanketed however, so she got over it pretty quickly. Yesterday I brought a plastic garbage can out to the barn and put it in her stall, filled it up and with help from my dad put hooks in the wall and used bungee cords to help prevent "accidental" tip overs. This afternoon when I went out, the auto waterers were turned off, but she hadn't drank from the garbage can (which has never had garbage in it by the way!) which concerned me a little. I'm sure the plastic container imparts a bit of a different taste from her slightly rusty metal auto waterer, although she had a plastic supplemental water container last year that she used just fine. It was a harder type of plastic though and maybe didn't give off as much of a plastic taste? I'm considering getting flavored electrolytes to add to her water if I find she's not drinking enough when I go out tomorrow. Has anyone else had any problems like this? Have you used flavored electrolytes to encourage your horse to drink more?
