Last updated: October 14, 2026
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A horse can drink 10 gallons or more on a mild day and twice that in hot weather, so the trough has to keep up. The wrong one cracks after a winter, leaks at the seams, grows algae fast in warm weather, or has a rim rough enough to scrape a lip. If you’re shopping for watering troughs for horses, or a smaller tub, and trying to figure out what’s actually worth the money, here’s what to look for.
Below, I’ll cover the main types of horse water troughs, the ones worth buying, how to size one for your herd, where to put it, how to keep it clean, and what changes in hot and cold weather.
Table of Contents
Types of Water Troughs for Horses
Horse water troughs come in four main styles. Each one has a place, and plenty of barns use more than one:
| Type | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Poly stock tank | Pastures and paddocks, one horse or several | Can crack with age or rough handling |
| Galvanized steel tank | Pastures, especially with rough-playing horses | Rust and leaking seams over time, and rough edges on some tanks |
| Rubber tub | Stalls, small paddocks, and winter, since rubber resists cold cracking | Small capacity, so it needs filling more often |
| Automatic waterer | Busy barns that want steady fresh water without hauling hoses | Stuck floats, small bowls, leaks, and frozen lines |
Poly tanks are a popular choice for pastures and paddocks. A seamless one has no seams that can start leaking, it’s light enough to move when it’s empty, and the molded rim is easier on a horse’s mouth. Galvanized tanks are heavy and hard to tip, which is why some owners still prefer them for rough-playing horses.
Best Horse Water Troughs and Watering Options
These are the equine water troughs and watering options I’d look at first. Prices and stock change, so check the current listing before you buy.
| Pick | Best for | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Rubbermaid 150-gallon stock tank | Most small pastures | 150 gallons |
| Rubbermaid 300-gallon stock tank | Larger herds | 300 gallons |
| CountyLine 100-gallon galvanized tank | Owners who prefer steel | About 100 gallons |
| Heavy rubber tub | A stall or small paddock | About 15 gallons |
| Automatic waterer | Busy barns with reliable plumbing | Small bowl, refills on demand |
Rubbermaid 150-Gallon Structural Foam Stock Tank
Best for most pastures. This is the size I’d start with for two or three horses. The 150-gallon Rubbermaid tank measures 58 inches long, 39 inches wide, and 25 inches high. It’s seamless polyethylene with ribbed sidewalls to keep it from bowing, and it has an oversized drain plug, so you can drain it for cleaning without tipping it over. Rubbermaid sells an anti-siphon float valve separately if you want the tank to refill on its own. If you have more than three horses or go a long time between checks, step up to the 300-gallon model instead of trying to stretch a 150 through the summer.
Rubbermaid 300-Gallon Structural Foam Stock Tank
Best for larger herds. The 300-gallon version is about 63 inches long, 69 inches wide, and 25 inches high, with the same seamless construction and 1.5-inch drain plug. It gives several horses room to drink side by side, and you’ll need fewer refills in the summer.
Behlen Country 90-Gallon Galvanized Stock Tank
Best for a shallow pasture water source. If you prefer galvanized steel, this Behlen Country 90-gallon stock tank is a sturdy option for one or two horses in a smaller paddock. It measures about 4 feet across and 1 foot deep, holds roughly 90 gallons, and the galvanized steel construction makes it heavy enough that horses are less likely to move it around. The shallow design can also be easier for smaller horses and ponies to reach. Before you put any galvanized tank in a pasture, run your hand around the whole rim and file down any rough spots so they don’t scrape a horse’s lips.
Rubber Tubs for Stalls and Small Paddocks
Best for stalls and small paddocks. Heavy rubber water tubs for horses, often around 15 gallons, sit on the ground in a stall corner or a small paddock. Rubber holds up to cold weather, and you can bang the ice out without cracking it, but a tub that size holds only about a day’s water for one horse, so plan on checking it twice a day. In stalls, I prefer flat-back buckets that hang on the wall, because they stay in place better than round buckets and are harder for a horse to knock over.
Little Giant DuraMate Automatic Waterer
Best for a fence line or stall wall with reliable water pressure. The Little Giant DuraMate automatic waterer holds 4 gallons and refills itself with a float-controlled valve, so you don’t have to haul water every time the level drops. It connects to a standard 3/4-inch garden hose and includes brackets for mounting on a fence or wall. It’s made for above-freezing temperatures, so it’s not a winter solution unless you protect the water line from freezing. The 4-gallon bowl is a useful size for a horse, but check it daily—floats can stick, and a waterer without a bottom drain is harder to clean than a trough you can empty completely.
What Size Water Trough Do Horses Need?
An average horse drinks about 10 to 12 gallons of water a day. In hot, humid weather, that can roughly double, and a nursing mare can drink 20 to 25 gallons. Horses eating mostly hay also tend to drink more than horses on lush pasture, since grass carries a lot of water.
To size a trough, multiply the number of horses by how much they’ll drink in a day, then by how many days you want to go between refills. In summer, about 24 gallons per horse is a safe planning number. Treat that capacity as a reserve, not permission to skip checks. Horses need water in front of them all the time, and they can drink more than you expect, so look at the trough every day no matter how big it is:
| Horses | One-day supply | Two-day reserve |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | About 25 gallons | About 50 gallons |
| 2 | About 50 gallons | About 100 gallons |
| 3 | About 75 gallons | About 150 gallons |
| 4 | About 100 gallons | About 200 gallons |
Buy a little bigger than the math says. A tank that’s run low is warmer and dirtier, and in a herd, a bigger tank lets a timid horse drink without waiting on the boss mare. A float valve takes most of the guesswork out of it, as long as you check it every day. For a herd, don’t rely on one small trough, either. A second water source gives lower-ranking horses a chance to drink without getting pushed away.
If you have foals or small ponies in the pasture, choose a stable trough with a drinking height they can reach comfortably, and don’t let a deep tank run so low that a youngster has to lean far in to drink. A foal can tumble into a deep tank, so think about the trough’s height and design, not just how full it is.
Where to Put a Horse Water Trough
Where you put a trough matters almost as much as which one you buy. A few rules of thumb:
- Pick high, dry ground. Water gets splashed and horses gather there, so the ground around a trough turns to mud fast. A gravel pad over geotextile fabric, about 6 inches deep, keeps the area firm.
- Use a stable surface and some shade. Penn State Extension says a stable surface keeps mud from splashing in, and shade keeps water cooler and slows algae.
- Keep it away from hay racks and grain-feeding areas. Hay and grain that end up in the water sink and rot.
- Give a herd room. With several horses, a big tank or a second trough keeps low-ranking horses from getting run off the water.
- Keep it close to a hose. A trough you can fill easily is a trough that stays full.
How to Keep a Horse Water Trough Clean
Dirty water can make a horse reluctant to drink, and a horse that doesn’t drink enough is at higher risk of dehydration and impaction colic. Learn the signs your horse is dehydrated, and keep the trough clean enough that you’d be willing to drink from it.
Penn State Extension recommends cleaning troughs weekly or as needed, and giving them a thorough scrubbing once or twice a year. For routine cleaning, drain the trough, scrub it with a stiff brush and mild dish soap, and rinse it well. For a thorough cleaning, Penn State suggests draining the trough and scrubbing it with a stiff brush and either mild soap or a 10 percent bleach solution, about 1 part household bleach to 9 parts water. Let a bleach solution sit for 15 minutes, then rinse at least twice before refilling. Never mix bleach with other cleaners. Here’s what else helps:
- Skim it every day. Pull out hay, leaves, bugs, and drowned rodents before they sink and rot.
- Use the drain plug. A tank with a plug at the bottom is much easier to empty than one you have to tip or bail out.
- Go easy on chemicals. Treating water your horses will drink is different from disinfecting a drained tank. Penn State says 4 to 6 ounces of household bleach per 100 gallons may help with stubborn algae, but with regular cleaning, chemical treatments usually aren’t needed. Check with your vet before you treat drinking water.
- Don’t count on goldfish. Some people keep goldfish in troughs to eat mosquito larvae and algae, but Penn State says the results vary and the fish don’t improve overall water quality, so you still have to clean.
- Use mosquito dunks if you need them. Products containing Bti, a bacterium that targets mosquito larvae, are labeled for use in livestock watering troughs. Follow the product label for the dose and replacement schedule.
I rinse our stall buckets and wipe them out every day. For a pasture trough, I drain it, squirt in some Dawn dish soap, add water, scrub it down with a brush, rinse it well, and let the sun dry it out. How often it needs that depends on the season, the shade, and how many horses use it.
Watering Horses in Hot and Cold Weather
In summer, keep troughs full, in the shade if you can, and check them twice a day when it’s hot. Don’t withhold water from a horse that’s hot from work, either. The old advice that a sweaty horse shouldn’t drink until it cools down isn’t supported by current veterinary advice, so let a hot horse get to water promptly. After very hard work, follow your vet’s advice on how to rehydrate.
In winter, horses still need plenty of water to digest their hay, and snow and frozen ponds don’t provide enough. If your water freezes, break the ice at least twice a day, or use a stock tank deicer or a heated trough made for livestock. Rubber tubs are the easiest to knock ice out of, since they won’t crack. Keep heater and deicer cords out of reach, running them outside the fence or through a length of PVC pipe, because bored horses will chew or pull on them.
Whatever trough you choose, the best one is the one you check every day. Keep it full and clean, and watch how much your horses are drinking, since a change in intake is often the first sign something’s wrong.
About Miles Henry
Racehorse Owner & Author | 30+ Years in Thoroughbred Racing
Miles Henry (legal name: William Bradley) is a professional horseman based in Folsom, Louisiana. He holds Louisiana Racing License #67012 and has spent over three decades managing Thoroughbreds at premier tracks including Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, and Evangeline Downs.
Expertise & Hands-On Experience: Beyond the track, Miles has decades of experience in specialized equine care, covering everything from hoof health and nutrition to training protocols for Quarter Horses, Friesians, and Paints. Every guide on Horse Racing Sense is rooted in this “boots-on-the-ground” perspective.
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