How Cascada Equine is checking all the boxes with their automatic watering system for your horse

WORDS: APRIL BILODEAU

HYDRATION IS ONE OF THE most important elements in every horse’s daily activity. How we keep our horses hydrated, however, has evolved greatly over the years.

While some barns opt for the old fashioned five-gallon buckets with multiple refills from the hose or hydrant daily, some have added automatic waterers to their list of amenities.

With so many options on the market it can be difficult to choose which one is right for your farm.

Cascada Automatic Waterers have elevated the experience for horses and barn owners alike, addressing some of the common woes with other watering systems.

Designed For Horses By Horse People

Cascada officially launched in 2023 as a second product to the well known Lighthoof, an equine mud management system.

“We worked on this for five years before coming up with the Cascada,” Kelly Munro, co-founder of Cascada, tells The Plaid Horse. “We tried current offerings and figured out what we liked and didn’t like about products.”

Munro and her husband, an electrical engineer, worked with horse owners, pulling market research to determine common woes with other automatic waterers.

One such woe: It is di cult to monitor how much water a horse has consumed throughout the day.

“We designed and developed an app for the phone that learns your horse’s drinking habits and alerts you if there is a concern,” says Munro. “The system uses an ultrasonic sensor instead of a oat or weight system—truly the most reliable system as it doesn’t require maintenance or recalibrating.”

This feature also helps to eliminate water over ow.

The second most common complaint is that horses should be able to drink in a manner that is comfortable to them.

“Most autowaterers have smaller integrated drinking vessels,” says Munro. “We wanted to be able to use ve-gallon buckets so that the horses are familiar with them.”

The system is also designed with a smart feature that detects the horse’s muzzle so that buckets are not re lled while horses are drinking from them, making their experience uninterrupted with no increased noise.

An Easier Design

The Cascada system is designed to make the drinking experience easier for horses while also making water easier to maintain for horse owners and barn sta .

While the ultrasonic sensors typically re ll water when the bucket is 75% full, head to the app and set the sensor to “easy li ” mode and buckets will maintain at 25-50% to make it easier to remove buckets from their holders to clean.

Making installation easy for users was also top of mind for the founders, so while waterlines do need to be run to each stall, the inputs are intended to be universal so that they’re exible and usable. Installers are able to simply screw in the units and connect the water lines.

The system uses low voltage cables to prevent shock and easily hook into power for easy set up.

For users that live in colder climates, the Cascada system also has an internal digital thermostat so that when the system goes below freezing, it heats it.

While the hydration tracking system is currently calibrated for a speci c brand, you can use most ve-gallon buckets with Cascada. The company is also working to add calibration settings for accurate hydration tracking with a wider variety of bucket brands.

In Your Stable

The Cascada system is priced at $799 per unit.

The app is subscription- based, o ering a free version which includes water detection and easy li mode. The premium subscription will also include the full hydration tracking per unit.

Each unit is designed to be sleek and compact, tting into every barn’s aesthetic. Materials used include heavy-duty molded plastic and a stainless steel chew plate to handle the normal wear and tear from horses.

The unit’s holder keeps the bucket securely in place for horse interaction while also featuring an opening that can release the bucket in the event of an emergency.

Additionally, Cascada units come with a warranty and unlimited, widelyavailable support.

To learn more about Cascada or to order units for your farm, visit www.cascadaequine.com.