Crunchy Snow, and Dawn Thinks Her Water Bucket is a Toilet

Sunny and cold this morning - it was in the teens with a sharp wind when I got to the barn.  The little bit of snow/ice mix on the ground had formed a thin layer on top of the short grass, and Dawn and I were crunching as we came down the hill.  We made our usual stop at the water trough - I think it's only polite to offer her a chance to drink before we ride - and she took a long drink.  Dawn's looking much better this year than she was at this time last year - she's at a nice weight, her coat is thick and glossy and she even has some dapples. Although it was barely 30 in the indoor, we had a very nice ride with lots of lovely, forward trotting.

Red and Pie get the day off, with just a quick check over and hoof picking, since I have my music lessons this afternoon.

I did a few chores after Dawn and I were done with our ride, after I turned her back out.  Dawn regularly - not every day but often several times a week - poops in one of her water buckets - always the same one.  She apparently does this because she often stands with her tail in the water - this morning she had frozen manure in her tail which I'm waiting to remove until it thaws and dries.  This made some sense to me when we were at our last barn, where the buckets were heated since the barn wasn't - at least then she perhaps was warming herself on the bucket.  Now it makes less sense for her to do it . . . The guys will rinse out her bucket, but sometimes they don't really wash it with soap, so I prefer to do that myself if I can.  I also clean all my horses'  water buckets once a week, usually on Saturdays, since the guys only clean them once a week on Tuesdays and they can get pretty dirty - there's a lot of dust from the shavings and Red is a "dunker" - he likes to take a drink while he has a mouthful of hay and often gets a lot of hay in his buckets.  So I got out my soap - I use Seventh Generation dish soap, which is unscented and pretty plain - and little scrub brush, and went to work - it only takes a minute to do one bucket.

The things we do for our horses . . .  Is there some job you do for your horse that falls into this "special" category?