IF YOU WERE thirsty and were handed a glass filled with green and murky water, would you drink it?
Just as we want and enjoy clean and safe drinking water, so do our animals.
Unsafe drinking water spreads diseases, causing diarrhea and even death.
With that in mind, are we keeping our stock tanks filled with clean water?
Currently, I have two poly stock tanks on the property: a 100 gallon in the pasture and 50 by the horse shelter, plus a plastic pool full of water in the backyard that’s enjoyed by dogs, kids and, yes, my horses.
An ongoing chore
Keeping them clean is an ongoing chore.
On really hot days, I’ve found the sun seems to bake any algae growth right into the poly and it’s difficult to remove.
My cleaning methods have included power washing (fast, if the washer is handy) and/or scrubbing with Comet cleanser and liquid dish soap.
The latter requires lots of tedious elbow grease, and it never seems to get totally clean.
Until, that is, I discovered scouring with Joy dish soap mixed with baking soda.
I put the mixture in the tank, add enough water to cover the bottom and then pour in about a cup of white vinegar.
I sponge it around and let it sit a couple of minutes.
Then it doesn’t take as much effort to scrub it clean.
In the past, when I’ve seen insect larvae swimming around and I don’t have time to clean the tank, I’ve put a couple tablespoons of mineral, corn or olive oil in.
The oil floats on the top and suffocates the larvae.
However, I advise not putting oil in during hot weather, as it just seems to speed up algae growth.
One time, I put some canola oil in and it actually attached itself to the poly like it was latex paint.
That was very gross and difficult to clean.
As for maintaining the tank’s cleanliness, I’m finding a solar-powered fish pond bubbler, or oxygenator, helps prevent algae growth, and because the water is no longer stagnant, it’s no longer a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Sequim veterinarian and horse owner Linda Allen recently shared that Sequim resident Pam Cameron’s multiple stock tanks are so clean, “you could drink water out of them.”
So I called Cameron, who was happy to share that her key to success is household bleach.
At one time, to kill any mosquito larvae, she kept up to 40 goldfish in her tanks to eat them.
Her tanks range from 100 to 300 gallons each.
She’d remove the fish each time she cleaned, then scrub the tanks with bleach and, when it settled, put them back in.
“I had this really pesky blue heron living close by that I was always shooing away from the tanks,” she said.
“Then one day, he swooped in and ate them all — and some had gotten up to 6 or 7 inches long.”
After cleaning, she said she mixes in about one cup of bleach for every 100 gallons of water to “keep it clean and it gets rid of mosquito larvae.”
She cautions against leaving bleach bottles out where animals can get to them, and to not use too much bleach, saying, “If it has a really strong odor, you’ll need to add more water.”
In between cleanings, she continually adds more bleach, and that’s where I’ve fallen short.
She laughed when I told her about my solar-powered bubblers.
“My horses would think it’s a toy, pull it out and destroy it.”
Well, OK, Indy has taken them out from time to time, but so far they still work.
Hoof Beats
Do you have a horse-loving child who would love hanging out at the stables after school and on weekends with other like-minded youths?
I would have been a much more restless and bored teenager if I didn’t have a horse and my friends at the now-defunct Corona Del Mar Stables in California to ride and hang out with.
That’s why I’m excited about the Hoof Beats Youth Riding Club offered by Mary Gallagher at Freedom Farm, 493 Spring Road in Agnew.
In late August, Mary traveled with Hoof Beats members Ben Robertson, Gracie Niemeyer and Maddie Niemeyer to shows in Oregon.
On Aug. 26, Maddie, 7, rode in the Team NW Bedrock Show.
On Aug. 27, Ben, 14, and Gracie, 15, competed in the Oregon Summer Classic, USEF Rated Horse Hunter/Jumper Competition.
There, Ben’s mother, Kimi Robertson, said both did an outstanding job, bringing home first place, champion and reserve championship awards.
Ben also was awarded The Dibbins Fox Cup Sportsmanship Award for his excellence in sportsmanship and horsemanship.
It seems Ben was a shoe-in for the award when, after a judge awarded him first place in a class, he approached the judge and admitted he briefly went “off course” and didn’t deserve to win.
A freshman, he splits his schedule between Port Angeles High School and being home-schooled.
Ben’s awards
Ben and his horse, Joy Ride, won jumper champion for .85m and reserve champion for .90m along with the following ribbons:
• Four first-place ribbons in the .85m division
• One fourth-place ribbon in the .85m division
• One first-place ribbon in the .90m division
• One second-place ribbon in the .90m division
• One third-place ribbon in the .90m division
• First place in the $500 Savin Hill Farm .85m Child/Adult Classic
Ben and Gracie both rode together in their first relay race for the Portlandia Cup along with Caroline Strek of Portland, Ore., from Triple Rise Ranch and came in sixth place.
Gracie’s awards
Gracie is a sophomore at Sequim High School.
She and her horse, Code Breaker, won:
• Two first-place ribbons in the .75m division
• One fifth-place ribbon in the .75m division
• One sixth-place ribbon in the .75m division
• One first-place ribbon in the .85m division
• One third-place ribbon in the .85m division
• One sixth-place ribbon in the .85m division
• One second-place ribbon in the .90m division
Maddie Niemeyer rode in the Team NW Bedrock Show on Aug. 26 in Wilsonville, Ore., and won the following ribbons:
• Seventh place in green rider hunter
• Fifth place in green rider hunter U/S
• Second place in outreach hunter 18”
• Fourth place in outreach hunter 18”
• Third place in outreach hunter 18” or crossrail U/S
• Third place in green rider equitation flat
For more information about Hoof Beats, contact Gallagher at 360-457-4897 or visit freedom-farm.net.
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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also call her at 360-460-6299
