slow feeders?

[suz]

My guy has always eaten all of his daily alloted hay at one time before he would take a break. Well, that wasn't working so I bought him a busy snacker (www.busyhorse.com).

That worked for about 1 day until he figured out how to pull a decent amount of hay out in one bite - therefore - he's out of hay by dinner time - and that was his daily amount of hay stuffed into the bag earlier.

So, what to do? I thought I had this all figured out.....he's just too smart/sneaky for his own good!

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Suz

 

[~Amanda~]

Have you tried a grazing muzzle maybe?

I've heard of some "automatic hay feeders" that will feed your horse a flake of hay on a timed schedule so their daily hay is spread out, but most of the ones I have seen run $1,500 to $2,000.

 

[Windhaven]

You could try giving him small meals through the day (if that is possible).

There are new hay nets out that have small holes in it so the horses have to work at getting their hay out. That might help slow him down. I know some people don't like hay nets but I have used them for many many years.

Also does your gelding have toys to keep him busy when he is out of hay? I have found that toys help keep them from getting bored when the feed runs out. My horses have balls and love the black rubber feed pans to play with.

 

[pepperhill]

I like the toys idea, and I would suggest that you go to two feedings per day. I can't think of the name, but there is a toy that you put treats in, and then they have to roll it around and work at it to occasionally get a treat to drop out. Milk jugs without the lid work good to.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I agree with pepperhill, feed more often (even 2x a day guarantees that he is not with out food for such a long stretch. The only other option is to give enough hay to basically make it a free choice situation. Some horses do very well on this and will not over eat (sometimes it takes a couple of weeks if they are not used to it to slow down and feel sure it will be there later) but many minis will gain far too much weight on this method. I have a couple (stallions) who nibble and pick all day but are too active to stand and eat for long and I free choice all my weanlings. But for adult horses I find it best to feed small meals more often and give them other things to occupy their time. Toys, companions and work/training or some form of forced exercise.

 

[Magic]

Is there a reason that you can't split his daily ration into two and feed half of it in the morning and half at night? That would be best for him. It sounds like you are there that often anyway? You could still put the hay in the busy snacker, it surely slows him down somewhat over just giving him the hay. Maybe put half of his morning hay in the busy snacker, and half out, that will give him more variety?

I know that there are times when I wish I didn't have to be tied to being home twice a day to feed the horses, but if I gave them their full daily ration in one feeding, they would gobble it all down and then starve (or at least think they are starving, and it isn't good for their digestive systems to go so long without food) until the next day's feeding. There have been times I've been out at midnight, feeding, because I had to be gone til then. But the horses don't care if I'm late, as long as the food keeps coming.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I use hay nets in winter, my horses are all grazing now, so there is not this problem, but what I did was get haynets that took nearly a bale of hay, and just let the horses find their own level.

I would normally have two of these nets on the fence, one full and one going on empty, that way they were never without hay.

Done this way one net lasted two stallions over a week....they are used to it now so they do not over eat, it might take a couple of days to get the horse used to it, but they soon settle down.

I also use the netting fence as a "net" in the middle of winter, when I wish to cut down the workload, just fix the whole bale up against the fence and let them eat their way through it.....that means the bale lasted around two weeks and there was little mess.

NB I have always used the haynets with tiny holes, too small for small hooves, and you do have to adjust them every day as they start to sag, but if they are managed properly they are not dangerous.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I'm just like you...I only feed hay once a day (at lunch). My two minis are primarily on a pelleted diet, but I do like the hay because it gives them something to do. So mine get 3/4ths of a flake to share each day, during the spring/summer/fall months. The trouble was, they would finish a half of flake within 5 minutes. So I had to get creative. I posted last year on another thread, and thought maybe it would help you out with your problem (pic is included

).

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.ph...&hl=feeders

Edited to add...the problem with the busy snacker, is that the horse can manuever the bag and push in to pull more hay out. If it didn't move at all, your horse would have to work at getting the hay to fall into position, where it could pull it out.