Last March Sydney of Bitless Horse - Science vs Tradition Blog did a fascinating post about the colors horses see and what their preferences might be. She did an experiment using different colored water buckets to see which colors her horse preferred. I had just recently bought my Apache mare, so I wasn’t positive which colored bucket she would prefer, though she seemed to like the same big black water bucket that my previous horse Baby Doll preferred.
Well after 8 months I am now positive that my mare prefers the black water bucket over her blue one. Apache will drink the entire black bucket dry and won’t drink out of the blue one at all. She will wait for me to transfer all the water from the blue into the black bucket before she will drink the water. Isn’t that silly? What’s even odder is that I usually scrub the blue bucket more often than I do the black bucket because it’s very light colored and shows off the algae and dirt so I work even harder at keeping it clean. It’s difficult to tell if the black bucket is clean or not. Maybe she likes the dirtier water better?
Apache reminds me of my twinlings when they were toddlers. They each had their own special sippy cup and would refuse to drink from any others.
Here’s a short video of my Apache mare walking down the hill to say hello.
So, do your horses have any preferences with the color of water or feed buckets they will eat or drink from?
18 comments :
Your new header is beautiful. Apache looks terrific...are you able to ride her now?
Stanley doesn't prefer a bucket but he HATES yellow extension cords. God forbid you put the clippers on a yellow extension cord - you'll never get near him. Bright orange and he's just fine.
Love your header!!!
My horses have free range water, ponds and creeks but they do love to make their rounds and drink from the large metal trough too.
That is very interesting. When I did my paper for school we recorded the temperatures and put the same temp water in them. It may be she prefers the black bucket because of the warmer water created from the sun heating the black material.
I like your new layout, cute.
From my blog post- Get Santa fe's coat conditioner spray. It does stop static and has a mild detangling property. I use it all over and still ride bareback so not like it makes the coat slippery. I would only use the detangler and shine I reviewed on the mane/tail as I imagine it would take a lot to cover a horse all the time.
My old guy is actually the opposite -- he prefers his blue buckets! I used to have plain black buckets for his stall, but one day one of them cracked and I had to replace it. I bought a blue one, and no matter which spot I hung it in (closer to the hay pile or further) he drank more from the blue!
PS- Heres a link lol I forgot. Or did I? Kind of got scrambled brains this morning from my allergy meds.
http://www.horseloverz.com/Santa-Fe-Coat-Conditioner---32oz-Spray-pr-152751.html
Kate's preference for feed buckets is "full, thank you very much!"
Our horses don't have a choice. They get their water in a metal water trough. They get their grain and supplements in black rubber tubs. And they get their hay in a green pasture feeder.
As someone else said, all they care about it that it's full and ready to eat/drink.
Dan
PS: Nice new header
Coincidentally, we also have a blue bucket (very large plastic one) out in the paddock, and two huge stock tanks (plastic also) which are a very dark gray. They always prefer the stock tanks for some odd reason! :)
Hmmm, makes me think of all sorts of things now. I have royal blue buckets in the horse's stalls but outside they have black rubbery stock tanks. Sometimes they go out to pasture and drink and drink like they hadn't had a sip since the night before, outside.
It also makes me think of the people who can't get their horses to drink away from home like at rides or shows...maybe it's NOT the water, maybe it's the "show" bucket?
I love the new header!
My horses drink from a dugout in the summer and and cattle waterer in the winter, its thier only choice and I havent had a dehydrated one yet, so I cant say really what they prefer.
I don't think my horses have a color preference, but I've never tried it. My buckets are all bright colors so they're easy to find after the horses and goats would play "soccer" with them in the pasture. Or, to make it easier to find them in the Oregon mud.
Mostly, the color were aesthetics for me.
Love your new header. It's so good to see Apache again, I was missing her. She looks wonderful. :)
Scout only wants it full and Yalla! prefers to eat out of somebody else's, whatever the color.
As far as water, they seem to like the silver metal the least.
My minis did the same thing - they would only drink out of the black bucket and not the teal colored one.
excellent expreiment, so do horse see in color or is it something in the bucket? The black bucket may warm the water faster and the blue one keeps the water colder..Just a thought...:-)
I prefer red buckets. I don't know what the horses like. I'm the one who does the decorating. They're all geldings...
I have never tried different buckets with Pokey and Gilly. they've had a black bucket, blue and now they have a green one. Gilly does prefer blue things though; if I have a blue glass or can that I am drinking out of he must have it. Pokey, I don't know about.
jane
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