The smartest cookie in the jar

Ahh...the good old days, back when the ground was dry, the solar water tank was shiny and new, and the equines drank from it contentedly, saving me beaucoup bucks in electricity. All that came to an abrupt halt after the first snowstorm of the season. There was so much snow and wind that the float froze to the inside of the solar tank. No big deal. One whomp with my fist and the float came unstuck. But in preparation for the impending second snowstorm of the season, I did as the tank instructions suggested and sprayed the edges of the float with cooking spray. Sure enough, the float didn't stick to the tank and I was one happy rancher...until I realized that the equines weren't drinking any water. Yikes!

I quickly set up an electric water bucket so that everybody would stay happy and hydrated while I figured out why they would no longer drink from the solar tank. The mystery wasn't that hard to solve. It had to be the smell or residue of the cooking spray in the water. Ok, maybe I wasn't supposed to use butter-flavored cooking spray, but that was all I had! Still, these are the same equines that drink out of mud puddles and eat cholla cactus. What's the big deal over a little butter-flavored cooking spray in the water? Doesn't everybody like butter? Apparently not.

So for seven miserable sub-zero days, I refilled that 5-gallon electric bucket at least 100 times while the fresh, albeit slightly oily, water in the solar tank went untouched. When the temperature finally broke 35 on Sunday, I drained and scrubbed the solar tank to remove every last molecule of butter-flavored cooking spray.

But would they drink from it? Hell no. Here is George with 70 gallons of fresh water in a stock tank to his left, 

25 gallons of fresh water in the solar tank to his right, and he's licking on an iceberg. Maddening. Just maddening.

It was then that I realized I would have to convince everybody that the water 

in the newly scrubbed and refilled solar tank was worth drinking again. 

And the only way to do that would be to bribe them.

Witness the bribe – one very enticing, fragrant "Dobbin's Delights" horse cookie, placed on the edge of the float.

George sees the cookie. George wants the cookie. George can't figure out how to get the cookie.

Alan sees the cookie. Alan wants the cookie.

Lucy sees me and sticks her big snout in the picture.

Alan is the smart cookie and is on the correct side of the fence to grab it.

Me: No need to look guilty, Alan.

Me: It's not your fault that George is...how shall we say...a slow learner.

My heart leapt with joy as Alan went back to the solar tank, tipping the float and drinking the water 

in hopes that another cookie might appear.

Hank was the next to catch on to the cookie bribe, while George watched from the sidelines.

Lucy: I know if I stand here long enough you'll give me a cookie and I won't have to work for it and get my nose wet.

Me: I hate it when you're right.

Anyway, the cookie-training is starting to work. The water level in the solar tank went down a little bit on Monday, so somebody is drinking out of it. Still, I'm wondering what I could use to flavor the water to make it irresistible ... carrot juice? Apple juice? Anything except butter.