| Most anyone who has been around troughs long enough has a story of a rodent or bird falling into the water source and dying. This can cause obvious health hazards to all surrounding livestock. A less obvious and more common source of contamination is bird feces. With The Drinking Post horse waterer this is never an issue due to the water source being located three feet off the ground and the fact the there is never any standing water when the product is not in use. |
 Stagnant ponds, buckets, and water tanks contaminated with algae can also lower water intake. Some algae, specifically blue-green, can be toxic to horses. Most use the rule of thumb that if a natural water source is not fed with flowing water, it’s not suitable for horses to drink. In addition, some ‘fresh’ water sources can contribute to:
· Moonblindness
· Leptospirosis
· Increased possibility of any mosquito-borne ilnesses
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If your source of water is from public utilities, it’s safe to assume that it’s regularly monitored. If you pull water from a well, it’s likely that you monitor the quality of this water on your own yearly. Either way, knowing that the quality of water being provided to your livestock is adequate and suitable for consumption is one more step toward ensuring a long healthy life for them.
With the increased use of toxic (and ‘non-toxic’) chemicals in the environment, such as pesticides and fertilizers (just to name some of the ‘safe’ ones), providing an unmonitored source for water is a potentially dangerous situation. Is it cause to go off the deep end and test every water source known to man? Probably not, but at the same time, reality is that the equine organism is very sensitive and ingestion of foul water leads to an immediate breakdown in health. For that reason alone, in the long run, it may benefit you and your animals to provide them with a tested and safe source of water.
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