Since 1921 Ritchie Industries has been the premier watering equipment for cattle, sheep, hogs and the dairy industry.  Although in the past twenty years or so there has been more of a need in the equestrian market to find a “better way.”  Most horse owners have been restricted to the bucket or stock tank and hose because they didn’t know there was a better, more feasible way to water their horses.  Filling your buckets and troughs by hand has been the norm, therefore past down from generations before, it has historically been correct, along with the commitment and passion of owning a horse there always will be some amount of “work and maintenance” to go with it.

                 Yet, with all the work and maintenance that we do to keep our horses, we find it takes more time as we get older and we get to spend less time enjoying our four legged companions.  Our rides through the pasture get shorter, our time cleaning stalls and filling buckets gets longer.  And as the winters seem to get colder and extend further into spring, we desire to spend less time dragging hoses from the basement to the faucet after thawing them out from the evening before because we forgot them or were just too tired to go back outside.  We dread the idea of slopping buckets of water from our bathtubs out to our barns because the old hydrant isn’t providing water, again.  But worst of all, we are tired of fighting with 1500 watt submersible heaters that cost us what seems to be half a years worth of wages to keep our stock tanks from turning into one large ice cube tray that we get to chip away at with our axe or hammer. If our horses could talk, the things they have seen us do, we’d never let them out of the stall for fear they would share our stories!  So we start kicking in the extra twenty or thirty dollars for the thermostatically controlled stock tank heaters only to realize that when heating fifty plus gallons of water they never automatically shut off, consuming just as much energy as the cheaper ones.

                 Then spring comes and we think, “that winter wasn’t so bad.” So, we head off to the local farm store and buy another plastic or galvanized stock tank because that one destructive horse we all have and love decided the old one made a better foot bath then watering hole and cracked or dented it beyond repair.  While we are there, we grab a new garden hose, one that says commercial on it this time, more money but maybe this one won’t crack after it freezes when we forget to bring it in next winter.  We cringe at the bill, but our horses need water. We won’t tell our significant others, it will be dirty in a week and they won’t even know we bought it, we hope. 

                With spring comes the horse shows and we can’t wait to see what the latest and greatest saddles look like, and why not, we need some new boots, maybe a bit or two to try, and my lead rope is kind of frayed, and the list goes on.  We leave the show with a thousand dollars worth of stuff that we will hang in the tack room for a couple months, collecting dust, but we needed it.  While out in the yard, the old stock tank is now green with algae, and the birds using it as a bathing hole have managed to make a mess in it again, spreading who knows what. Not to mention the mosquitoes and other insects that are producing offspring in there.  We make our way to through the pasture with a bucket in hand, slopping the green slimy mixture out onto the ground as though to be saving ourselves from a sinking ship. While our horses watch with a humorous stare laughing at us, every now and then giving you a nudge in the back as to say “hurry up, I’m getting a bit parched over here.”  So we waste an hour or two of our day, emptying and then refilling the tank, precious time we could have spent riding or training. 

                It’s now evening and we settle in front of the television to catch up on a little bit of our favorite rural farm shows and see an advertisement from Clinton Anderson talking about automatic waters.  Yeah, easy for him to say, he’s Clinton Anderson for crying out loud, he can afford automatic waterers. So we put it off for another day and drift off to sleep. 

                This is where most individuals leave the idea of an automatic waterer behind them.  The most common excuses are, “I can’t afford it, my horse will wreck it, I can’t install it, my horse will never drink out of that and lastly how do I know if my horse is drinking if I don’t fill the bucket?”

 Well, I am here to tell you, you can’t afford not to own a Ritchie automatic waterer, and here is why:

1. Remember those stock tank heaters you have?  They can cost you upwards of hundreds of dollars per winter to heat; a Ritchie Eco Fount 1 will cost less than $20.00 per year to heat, yes that’s right per year.  They are 173 watts and because we are only heating 3.5 gallons of water, we are not constantly using energy.  In what you save in energy costs alone, will typically cover your installation costs of a waterer in about two years.
2. How about that plastic tank you buy every year and the new garden hose?  Plastic stock tanks typically cost about $200.00-$300.00 and a good quality garden hose $50.00-$70.00.   An Eco Fount 1 list price is $525.00, and that includes the heaters!  Meaning what you spend in two years for stock tanks and hoses, you could have purchased your waterer already. And, our Automatic waterers carry a Limited Ten Year Warranty; try getting that on a stock tank.
3. Our waterers are mainly constructed of thick and durable poly.  They have stood up to the test of watering dairy cattle and even buffalo.  Therefore, they will undoubtedly stand up to your toughest horse.
4. Installation is usually the scariest part of getting your first automatic waterer.  Although it can seem treacherous, installing a waterer can be done by anyone with a bit of basic plumbing and electrical knowledge.  Digging the trench to where your waterer will be located is the toughest of tasks, mainly because equipment will be needed to do so and not everyone can operate a back hoe, so they think.  But rental equipment stores all over the country will give you operation lessons before they ever let you leave with their mini backhoes and in most cases they are not too terribly expensive to rent for a weekend.  Besides once you have it at home and your waterer is installed, you always find something else to do with it until it has to be returned on Monday.  But if it still seems to be too much for you, there are dealers located across the country that can install your waterer for you, so don’t dread the idea, it can be done.
5. Training horses to drink out of automatic waterers is as simple as making it the only source of water available.  Horses are naturally curious animals and will inspect and check out the new object in there yard and realize there is water inside. Once they start drinking from it, it’s a done deal.
6. Lastly, the concern of is my horse drinking water?  If you worry about this happening, which we all do, we have an inexpensive water meter available as an option on your waterer, reset it each time you feed and you will know exactly how much your horses are consuming.

So, how does that stock tank or bucket sound to you now?  Kind of time consuming and expensive doesn’t it…?  I know because I was in the same boat prior to ever getting an automatic waterer.  I too, just didn’t know there was a better way.  But now, the simplicity of a Ritchie waterer keeps my horses healthier by providing fresh clean water, and it allows me more time to spend with my horses in the summer and less time cold and wet in the winter months.  Granted, I am a bit partial to Ritchie, not just because I am the sales representative for Ritchie automatic waterers in Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Illinois. But, I am a firm believer that you have to do something daily in your life that you are passionate about; and I am passionate about Ritchie waterers because they are simple, reliable and proven efficient money savers.  They will simplify your life and make your equestrian passion a more enjoyable one.

Spend some more time enjoying your passion and less time and money watering it.

Sincerely, Jeremy Tritten

Ritchie Industries Accounts Manager

Ferguson Enterprises Inc.
Wisconsin Rapids Branch 1678
1121 21st Avenue North
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495
800-950-4882 fax 715-423-5323

www.ferguson-ritchiefounts.com