Best way to feed hay in the stable

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dannibella13

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Hi everyone,
My mare currently comes in at night and out in the day. When stabled she has two big hay nets. However, I’ve decided I want to change the way she has her hay so she can eat in a more natural position. I was looking into hay bars but my concern would be that she would eat all her hay within an hour or two and then would have nothing for the rest of the night. She’s a greedy horse and will just eat until it’s gone. How do other people feed hay to their greedy horses in the stable? Any ideas welcome!
 
If she's greedy & you're wanting her to eat in a more natural "grazing" position perhaps look into ground nets or hay pillows if the horse is unshod. If shod then I think there's a few different slow feeder troughs with grilles on them eg eazigrazer or hay saver
 
I have a hay saver, it's a good bit of kit
I don't know how much it slows them down but it certainly reduces waste
 
I have a Haybar for my horse as I wanted a more natural position, luckily, she isn't a gobbler. It works well, but does need regular cleaning out if you horse is a 'fussy' eater. I would agree with the grill but wonder how that would work with the Haybar as the top is a lot bigger than the base
 
You could go for a hay bar and a haynet, so if she empties the hay bay quickly, there is still hay to nibble from but she won't have her head in an unnatural position all the time.

I have a greedy mare and I have a haynet, some hay on the floor and a hay block in a net so that she is constantly moving around her stable if she is in. She tends to eat the hay block first, then munches the hay on the floor and then moves on to hay net.

I have considered putting hay in a large tub trug but I think she would probably just drag it all out in one go (but I may experiment).
 
I got a wheelie bin and I clip it to a hook on the wall. I cut holes out of it with a jigsaw so that hay can be pulled out but won't go everywhere. it is so handy as it's so hardy but so easy to fill and move!
 
I have a haynet (lattice style rectangle) that just goes on the floor of the stable. So he eats it slower, but in a natural grazing position. He's unshod, and I wouldn't do this with a shod horse.

They do make feeders that have a net over the top. A plastic or wooden box of sorts. You can also DIY.
 
Whenever we add additional gadgets and "furniture" into a stable we add something extra for the horse to hurt itself on. My preference is to have as little as possible in the stable that the horse can get caught up in. I feed hay in a pile on the floor. No gadgets needed. Cheap, simple, safe.
 
It's a myth that they have to constantly eat from the ground. Two different veterinary physios have advised me that ideally they need to eat from a variety of heights, as they would in the wild (foraging in bushes etc). So I have been assured that as long as mine has daily turnout and is eating from the ground, a haynet in the stable overnight really is no problem. Mine inhales her hay and is predisposed to ulcers, so needs slowing down with a small holed haynet.
 
I thought about a haybar, but honestly I just couldn't be bothered to buy one and then get power tools to attach it to the wall.

I feed one small net tied up relatively low (though high enough to remove risk) and her bigger net just gets chucked on the floor in the corner of her stable. The first couple of days she pulled the hay into her bed and stamped it about, but she now eats it nicely with minimal wastage.
 
I have a wooden box from a large delivery at work, that I modified slightly. I couldn't fit enough hay in a hay bar or similar for him overnight; and if I squash it in then he just pulls it all over the stable floor and then doesn't eat it.

I think you can just about see the box I am referring to in the back of this photo -looks tiny there, but it's actually really big!

151672585_425991515123990_2144258180549915207_n.jpg
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
I have a wooden box from a large delivery at work, that I modified slightly. I couldn't fit enough hay in a hay bar or similar for him overnight; and if I squash it in then he just pulls it all over the stable floor and then doesn't eat it.

I think you can just about see the box I am referring to in the back of this photo -looks tiny there, but it's actually really big!

View attachment 67453
Click to expand...
Completely irrelevant I know, but just wanted to say your horse has a lovely kind eye.
 
dannibella13 said:
Hi everyone,
My mare currently comes in at night and out in the day. When stabled she has two big hay nets. However, I’ve decided I want to change the way she has her hay so she can eat in a more natural position. I was looking into hay bars but my concern would be that she would eat all her hay within an hour or two and then would have nothing for the rest of the night. She’s a greedy horse and will just eat until it’s gone. How do other people feed hay to their greedy horses in the stable? Any ideas welcome!
Click to expand...
I have many options depending on livery I use haynet. hay rack and large plastic bath. Used to hay hay bar but resold it as was not suitable
 
Leandy said:
Whenever we add additional gadgets and "furniture" into a stable we add something extra for the horse to hurt itself on. My preference is to have as little as possible in the stable that the horse can get caught up in. I feed hay in a pile on the floor. No gadgets needed. Cheap, simple, safe.
Click to expand...

I agree with this and it's what I would like to do, but what do you do when you have a good doer? Leave them without hay for hours?

I think some have no choice. The net or gadget provides the horse with a slow stream of continuous forage as opposed to hoovering it in less than an hour and then standing for hours with nothing.

I saw a mare get a hind shoe caught in a net a few weeks ago, that wasn't pretty. I would not put such a big low hanging net in with a known wall kicker, personally, but hindsight and all that I guess.
 
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