Stop Hauling Water. Start Trusting Automatic.
The Classic Equine® by Ritchie® EZ Fount delivers clean, fresh water on demand — portable or permanent, garden-hose simple, built to last a decade and then some. This is how serious horsekeepers water their horses.
Twice a Day, Every Day — The Trough Is Never Right
It starts before sunrise. You're out in your paddock in whatever the weather is doing — mud season, August humidity, a February that can't make up its mind — and you're dragging a hose to a trough that was fine yesterday and is now a soup of green water, floating hay, and whatever your horses knocked in overnight. You dump it, you scrub it, you refill it, and you tell yourself you'll get a better system soon. You've been saying that for three years.
The problem is worse than it looks from the barn aisle. A horse needs anywhere from 5 to 15 gallons of water per day depending on workload, temperature, and whether she's lactating. When water is stale, warm, or contaminated with algae, horses self-limit their intake — they drink less than they need, and they don't show you they're thirsty the way a dog does. Reduced water intake leads to slower gut motility, which is a polite way of saying your first call of the day becomes a colic call. The connection between dirty water and colic risk is real, documented, and entirely preventable.
Then there's the actual daily labor math. A 100-gallon rubber trough in summer takes roughly 10 minutes to dump and refill — longer if you're scrubbing algae, longer still if you've got multiple paddocks. Multiply that by twice daily, 365 days a year, and you're looking at over 120 hours a year doing nothing but water management. That's three full work weeks spent on a problem that solved technology has existed for decades. Meanwhile the trough still freezes in January, still turns green in July, and still requires you to be present twice a day whether you feel like it or not.
Most people patch around this instead of fixing it. They try trough heaters that trip breakers. They buy algae tablets that work for two weeks. They add a second trough so they can alternate scrubbing. They recruit barn help specifically for watering. None of it addresses the core issue: a passive container that depends entirely on human attention to stay clean, full, and safe. You've probably tried at least two of these workarounds. They bought you time but not a solution.
Every Skipped Watering Is a Risk You're Carrying
The ripple effects of a bad watering system reach further than most people account for. A horse that isn't drinking enough moves less feed through her digestive tract. A horse that isn't moving feed properly is a horse your vet is going to see — and colic treatment, even a straightforward impaction that resolves with fluids and banamine, starts at several hundred dollars and climbs fast if it requires a farm call on a Sunday evening. One preventable colic can cost more than a permanent watering solution would have. That's before you count the lost riding days, the stress of watching a horse in pain, and the guilt of wondering if you could have done something differently.
There's also an emotional weight to the constant maintenance cycle that people in the horse world rarely say out loud. You got into horses because you love them — because there's something about the partnership and the physicality and the early mornings that matters to you. But somewhere between the third algae scrub of the week and the hose freezing to your hand in December, the routine stops feeling like care and starts feeling like a grind. The joy gets crowded out by obligation. That's not a minor quality-of-life issue — it's the difference between a horse operation you want to be in and one you're just managing to survive.
And the financial bleed from patchwork solutions adds up faster than anyone wants to calculate. Replacement rubber troughs run $80–$150 every two to three years as UV breaks down the material and cracks form. Trough heaters draw 1,500 watts continuously and show up on your electric bill every winter month. Algaecide tablets, scrub brushes, the extra labor hours you're paying a barn hand to cover watering when you're away — none of it is free, and none of it actually delivers better water quality than a properly functioning automatic system does by design. You're spending money to maintain a problem rather than spending money to eliminate it.
- ✗Algae-fouled water horses refuse to drink in summer heat
- ✗Frozen troughs and cracked heaters every January
- ✗120+ hours a year hauling hose and scrubbing rubber
- ✗Stale water in a warm trough between checks — the freshness gap that pushes horses off water when they need it most
The EZ Fount: Automatic Water, Built Like It Means It
The Classic Equine® by Ritchie® EZ Fount Automatic Waterer solves the trough problem at the source. It's a self-filling, continuously fresh automatic waterer that serves up to 20 head — and it connects to a standard garden hose, so there's no excavation, no plumber, and no complicated installation standing between you and a working system. Set it up permanently in a paddock or bring it with you when you haul; the EZ Fount does both.
The mechanism is straightforward and proven: a float valve, the same technology powering cattle waterers on working ranches for generations, opens when the bowl drops below the fill line and closes when it's full. Your horses drink, the valve refills, and the bowl never sits stagnant long enough for algae to establish. The hinged cover keeps debris, birds, and hay chaff out of the water between drinks. The heavy-duty polyethylene construction won't dent, won't rust, and doesn't hold algae the way rubber or galvanized metal does — wipe it down once a week and you're done. At 32 pounds, it's light enough for one person to reposition but solid enough that a 1,200-pound horse pushing on it isn't going to knock it over.
The cascade of benefits starts the day you install it. Your horses drink more because the water is always clean and always at a consistent temperature. Better hydration means better gut motility and reduced colic risk. You get your mornings back — no more double watering runs, no more guilt about whether the water was clean enough when you were away for the weekend. The math on labor savings alone is compelling, but the real payoff is the mental load you set down. You stop thinking about water and start thinking about riding.
Schneider Saddlery has been recommending Ritchie waterers to serious horsekeepers since the 1980s. Ritchie backs the EZ Fount with a 10-year warranty — and we back it with 78 years of knowing what holds up in a working barn and what doesn't. If this waterer isn't right for your setup, we'll make it right. That's not a slogan; it's how a family operation that's been in Chagrin Falls since 1948 stays in business for three generations.
Serves Up to 20 Head
One unit handles a large herd — float valve refills constantly so the bowl never runs dry even during post-ride rush.
Garden Hose Simple
No plumber, no trenching, no electrician. Attach a standard garden hose and you're done. Portable enough to haul to shows.
10-Year Warranty
Ritchie backs every EZ Fount for a decade. Heavy-duty polyethylene won't dent, rust, or crack under daily abuse.
Always-Fresh Water
Continuous float-valve refilling means water never sits stagnant. Hinged cover keeps debris, hay, and birds out.
What Riders Are Saying
"
I run a boarding facility with 14 horses in three separate paddocks. Before the EZ Fount I was hauling and dumping 100-gallon troughs twice a day in summer — my back hated me. Installed two of these units last April, ran standard garden hose to each, and I haven't touched a hose for watering since. My OTTB Cash actually drinks more now that the water is always clean and cool. Worth every penny of the $535.
""
I event at the Prelim level and haul my mare Foxfire to shows all season. I was skeptical about a portable automatic waterer but the EZ Fount changed everything. At our last three events I just snapped a hose to the trailer spigot, set it up in the stall, and Foxfire had fresh water the entire stay without me babysitting a bucket. She came home better hydrated than she ever had from a bucket setup, and I actually got to walk the cross-country course instead of refilling.
""
We run a small Western pleasure breeding operation — four mares, two stallions, and whatever foals are on the ground. I was replacing algae-clogged rubber troughs every other season and scrubbing them weekly. The polyethylene on the EZ Fount doesn't hold algae the way rubber does, the hinged lid keeps debris out, and the float valve keeps the bowl from sitting stagnant. Three months in, our vet mentioned the mares' coats look better — she thinks it's hydration. I think she's right.
"How We Stack Up
| Feature | Schneiders EZ Fount by Ritchie® | Behlen Country | Little Giant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serves Up to 20 Head | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Garden Hose Connect (no plumbing) | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Portable & Permanent Use | ✅ | ❌ | ⚠️ |
| Heavy-Duty Polyethylene Body | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ |
| Hinged Debris Cover | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| 10-Year Manufacturer Warranty | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| No Electricity Required | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Won't Rust or Dent | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| 24" Horse-Height Bowl | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ |
| Float Valve Accessible Without Tools | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
What You're Actually Getting for $535.99
At 24 inches drinking height and 32 pounds, the EZ Fount is sized correctly for horses — not an afterthought adaptation of a cattle unit. The polyethylene bowl is UV-stabilized and smooth-walled, which matters because rough surfaces and porous materials are where algae colonizes. The hinged cover isn't decorative; it's functional weather protection that extends the time between cleanings significantly. The float valve assembly is accessible through the cover for quick adjustment or winterization without tools.
For permanent installation, run a water line to the paddock and mount the unit on a T-post or fence rail at the correct height — the unit ships with mounting hardware. For portable use, a garden hose from your barn tap or trailer spigot is all you need. Either way, the EZ Fount is producing clean water within minutes of setup. Schneider Saddlery drop-ships this unit directly to your farm; it arrives ready to install, not in a box of parts requiring an afternoon of assembly.
- ✓Serves up to 20 head continuously
- ✓Standard garden hose connection — no plumbing required
- ✓Heavy-duty polyethylene: no rust, no dents, low algae
- ✓Hinged cover keeps debris and weather out of the bowl
- ✓10-year manufacturer warranty; 24" drinking height; 32 lbs
What You Get
