Bucket chucker - feeding on a rubber mat instead??

[Amylea]

One of my horses has started literally throwing his feed bucket across the field, sprinkling his porridge and expensive supplements all through the mud. It sometimes goes 6ft high and 6ft distance. It’s a big heavy tyre rubber feed bucket. He happily eats his food off the floor. I’ve tried other buckets in a tyre, hooked onto a fence…. It ends up on the floor. He used to do it now and again, and now it’s every day.
I wouldn’t mind him eating off the floor if a load of it didn’t get wasted, especially as the ground gets wetter.

So my thought was to feed him on a piece of rubber matting.
My question is, would floor matting be safe for him to lick every day, or should I get something a bit less toxic?
Thanks

 

[Barton Bounty]

Have you tried inside a tyre that just fits? Mine are quite tight to get in and out?

 

[Patterdale]

Nosebag?

 

[nutjob]

Have you tried tying a large bucket to a fence post.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I feed the pony i look after off a rubber mat. She got her mash everywhere and was wasting a lot. she now has a mat and i often just tip it on and sweep it into a pile again as she spreads it. A big tyre with a bucket also works well but shes not very strong. A different horse may just move the tyre!

 

[Fransurrey]

My old pony used to do this if there was too much food in the bucket - he hated it tickling his nostrils. I had to use the most ridiculously large feed trugs (they could easily have fit half a bag of pellet feed in there) to prevent it. I did on occasion just dump it on a bit of nice ground, so can't imagine a mat would be detrimental.

 

[Landcruiser]

I got a really big wide shallow recycled rubber trug for my new rescue pony, dropped into a lorry tyre (tight fit) because he was tipping everything else over. Feet rather than teeth, but the waste was the same. Works a treat.

 

[Gloi]

I found the orange rumevite block holders in a tyre quite good

 

[dorsetladette]

An old Belfast sink?

 

[little_critter]

I think the rubber mat idea seems a good one, especially if you can pick it up and wash it daily.
I considered doing the same but my boy stopped doing it.
The alternative is make a nest of hay and put the feed on that.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Mine has started chucking his feed bucket around again!! He is only getting a few handfuls so not overly full. I'm going to try the rubber mat.

 

[Goldenstar]

I feed mine sometimes straight off their rubber mats .

 

[Sugar Plum]

My circumstances are slightly different, but worth mentioning. My horse used to have quite a thick heavy plastic feed tub. He used to tip it on its side, sending a lot of the feed to the floor, then bringing it up to flat again. I have now gathered that this was purely to loosen the compacted feed. By pure chance, when I moved yard, I used one of those low plastic gorilla tubs which are extremely light as I couldn't find a heavy version. To my surprise, he doesn't tip it anymore because it is light enough for him to twirl it around, loosening the feed. Problem solved. Who would have thought