7 Best Horse Water Filters For Clean Drinking Water Old Farmers Swear By
Clean water is key to horse health. Explore our list of the 7 best water filters, tried and tested by veteran farmers for ultimate purity and safety.
I’ve seen horses turn their noses up at a trough full of perfectly good-looking water for reasons that baffle a new owner. But the old-timers know: a horse is often a better judge of water quality than we are. Providing clean, fresh, and good-tasting water isn’t just a nice thing to do; it’s one of the most fundamental parts of good animal husbandry.
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Why Clean, Filtered Water Matters for Horses
A horse that won’t drink is a problem waiting to happen. Dehydration is the fast track to serious health issues like colic, impaction, and poor performance. Often, the reason they refuse to drink is because the water tastes or smells "off" due to minerals, chlorine, or algae.
But it’s not just about taste. Well water can carry unseen contaminants like bacteria, protozoa, or high levels of iron and sulfur that can disrupt a horse’s digestive system. Even municipal water, while safe for humans, can have levels of chlorine that sensitive animals will reject. Filtering water removes these variables, ensuring that every time your horse takes a drink, they’re getting nothing but clean, hydrating water.
Camco TastePURE: The Simple Inline Hose Filter
This is the filter you see hooked up to RVs, and for good reason. It’s simple, cheap, and effective for basic needs. The Camco TastePURE is an inline filter that screws directly onto your hose, removing chlorine, sediment, and bad tastes or odors as you fill the trough. It’s the perfect starting point if you’re on city water and just want to remove that chemical taste.
The tradeoff is its lifespan and flow rate. These filters aren’t designed for high-volume farm use, so you’ll be replacing them fairly often, especially if your water has a lot of sediment. They also restrict water flow, so filling a big 100-gallon trough will take a bit longer. Think of it as a great, low-cost solution for a small operation or for taking on the road to a show.
Pentek Big Blue: A High-Flow Whole-Barn System
When you’re ready to move beyond a simple hose filter, the "Big Blue" style housing is the logical next step. This isn’t a brand so much as a standard size for a large, heavy-duty filter housing that gets plumbed directly into your barn’s main water line. The beauty of this system is its versatility and high flow rate.
You can choose from a huge variety of filter cartridges to put inside the housing. Need to remove fine sediment? There’s a cartridge for that. Want to remove chlorine and improve taste? Use a carbon block cartridge. This setup allows you to tailor the filtration to your specific water problems without sacrificing the water pressure needed to run automatic waterers or quickly fill buckets. It’s a true workhorse system for a dedicated barn.
Culligan HD-950A: For Heavy Sediment Removal
If your main problem is visible grit, sand, or rust in your water, you need a filter built specifically for sediment. The Culligan HD-950A is a heavy-duty whole-house housing that excels at this. It accepts large-diameter cartridges designed to trap a high volume of particulate matter before it can clog your automatic waterers or settle at the bottom of your troughs.
This type of filter is often the first line of defense in a multi-stage system. By placing a dedicated sediment filter upstream, you protect more expensive carbon or specialty filters from getting clogged prematurely. If you’ve ever had to scrub a layer of slime or grit out of a water tank, you understand the value of stopping that gunk at the source.
iSpring WSP-50: Reusable Spin-Down Sediment Filter
Protect your home's plumbing with the iSpring WSP-50 sediment filter. This reusable, flushable 50-micron filter removes sediment, rust, and dirt, featuring a durable lead-free brass head and easy installation with dual threads.
For those with persistently sandy or gritty well water, replacing disposable filter cartridges gets old—and expensive. The iSpring spin-down filter offers a clever, low-maintenance alternative. Water flows into the housing and swirls, causing heavier sediment to "spin down" and collect in a clear bowl at the bottom. A simple flush valve lets you purge the collected sediment without ever turning off the water or changing a cartridge.
This filter is a fantastic pre-filter. It catches the big stuff—sand, scale, and rust flakes—before the water ever reaches your primary filter system. By installing one of these first, you dramatically extend the life of your other filters, saving you time and money. It’s a one-time investment that pays for itself.
HQUA-OWS-12: UV Sterilizer for Well Water Safety
Clear water isn’t always clean water. Well water, or any water sourced from ponds or springs, can be contaminated with bacteria, viruses, and cysts like Giardia that you can’t see, taste, or smell. A UV sterilizer is the ultimate safeguard against these biological threats. It uses a powerful ultraviolet lamp to destroy the DNA of microorganisms as water flows past it, rendering them harmless without adding any chemicals.
A UV sterilizer is not a filter. It doesn’t remove sediment, chlorine, or minerals. For this reason, it’s almost always installed after a sediment filter, as cloudy water can shield the microbes from the UV light. If your farm relies on a private well, a UV system provides peace of mind that a simple particle filter cannot.
Iron Pro 2: Tackling High Iron and Sulfur Water
Get cleaner water throughout your home with the Iron Pro 2. This combination system softens water and filters iron, manganese, rust, and sediment using a Fleck 5600SXT digital valve for efficient, whole-house filtration.
If your troughs have stubborn orange stains and your water has a metallic taste, you’ve got an iron problem. If it smells like rotten eggs, that’s sulfur. These issues are common in well water and horses hate them. A simple cartridge filter won’t touch these dissolved minerals; you need a dedicated system like the Iron Pro 2.
This type of system is a combination water softener and iron filter. It uses a special media bed to pull the iron, manganese, and sulfur out of the water through a process of oxidation and filtration. It’s a more significant investment and requires a regeneration cycle with salt, just like a home water softener. But for farms with problem water, it completely transforms the quality, making it palatable for picky animals and saving your equipment from mineral buildup.
Choosing the Right Filter for Your Farm’s Water
The "best" filter is the one that solves your specific water problem. Don’t just buy the most expensive system and hope for the best. The first and most important step is to get your water tested. A simple test kit from a hardware store or a more comprehensive lab test will tell you exactly what you’re dealing with.
Once you know the problem, the solution becomes clear:
- Bad Taste/Chlorine (City Water): Start with a simple inline hose filter like the Camco.
- General Sediment & Taste (Well Water): A Pentek Big Blue system with a carbon block cartridge is a great all-around choice.
- Heavy Sand or Grit: Use a Culligan HD-950A or, even better, a reusable iSpring Spin-Down as a pre-filter.
- Bacteria/Virus Concerns (Well Water): A HQUA UV Sterilizer is essential for safety.
- Orange Stains & Rotten Egg Smell: You need a specialized system like the Iron Pro 2.
Often, the best solution is a combination. A spin-down filter to catch sand, followed by a Big Blue with a carbon cartridge to improve taste, and finally a UV sterilizer for safety is a bulletproof setup for many farm wells. Start with your biggest problem and build from there.
Ultimately, managing your horse’s water is about observation and problem-solving. Pay attention to how your horses drink and the condition of your troughs. The right filter system isn’t an expense; it’s an investment in your animals’ health and your own peace of mind.
