A waterer that is quiet, refills automatically maintaining water in the bowl, and has a large water receptacle that provides a spacious view of the surroundings is going to be more inviting to the horse and will be easier for him to learn to use. | Photo: Courtesy Ritchie Industries

Q. Do I need to teach my horse to drink out of an automatic waterer? Or will he figure it out on his own?

A. Horses largely learn to drink from automatic waterers on their own. In preparation for this article, I surveyed a number of trainers and none said they actually had to teach the horse to drink from a waterer. My foals learn to drink from the automatic waterer at a very young age.

A waterer that is quiet, refills automatically maintaining water in the bowl, and has a large water receptacle that provides a spacious view of the surroundings is going to be more inviting to the horse and will be easier for him to learn to use. One that requires a push from the horse’s muzzle on a pressure plate and then noisily flushes water into the bowl might be initially frightening and more challenging for the horse to learn to use and might be too difficult for foals or small horses to operate