For those of you who's horses live out

TicTac

TicTac

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How do you feed them? and by that I mean do you feed hay from the floor, put it a container or hang it in a haynet. If you give a hard feed do you feed it in a bucket or tip it onto the grass etc.

If this winter is not too wet I will be leaving my horses out unless we get a ton of snow again. My horse will be happier and it will save me a massive cost on bedding. However my mare kicks her bucket of hard feed everywhere! I put it in a bigger and heavier container but she still tips it up. ( My grey boy has excellent table manners)

Currently I put the hay on the grass and they are eating it all up and not much is getting wasted as it's dry. I cannot use haynets as there is nowhere suitable to hang them. ie natural hedging and electric fencing. So you hardened 24/7 ers tips and advice greatly appreciated.
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Hay is fed on the floor.
I feed my 2 out of bowls. Gypsy has a plastic one that gets picked up. Hattie has a rubber bowl that gets left in the field.
 
For the feed bucket i always put my water buckets and feed buckets in a tyre so they cannot kick them over.For hay they get it straight off the grass and they never waste it.:D
 
As with everyone else tyres are great for stopping them from knocking them over! I use haynets but have a shelter for them to be tied to, but do know if people putting a wooden post with ring on in the field to tie haynet to.
 
Feed hay from the floor and a bale feeder.

I use rubber bowls (excellent, they don't freeze solid or break) for feeding. One bowl more than there is horses, I simply drive down the fenceline dropping the bowls over at intervals. If they spill it then that's their lookout, they eat grass from the floor so a bit of dirt with their grain won't kill them, that's my way of thinking anyway.
 
I've always fed hay from the ground in the field - I just pick the driest spots, put out several piles and never have any problem with wastage.

I've always brought mine in to give hard feed though, to avoid fights. I find soaking feeds and putting them in large tub trugs reduces spillage.
 
Our fields have a round bale of hay shared between two horses in separate fields. At the moment I fence hay off and put a certain amount on the floor.
I feed her in the field with her feed in the rubber feed skips.
 
We have steel mangers designed for stables and I have attached them to the post and rail fence, we have two pairs and they are fixed back to back. We fill both every day, so if our two want to feed together or apart we have it covered.

The ground by the mangers does get pretty soggy, but the waste is a fraction of what we used to get with piles of hay on the ground.
 
i feed mine via rings - 1 large round hay bale in each sheep feeder ring. it saves them wasting it.
if i feed them hard feed then i normally place their buckets around the field - no fighting, they just get used to who gets fed first etc
 
hay on floor, hard feed in buckets although dont know why i bother with youngster as he tips it all over the floor - still manages to hoover most of it up again though.
 
Mine are out 24/7 and they have APPALLING table manners, particularly the grey horse. I feed their hay in something called a Bale Buddy which you pull around a big round bale and then just leave it in the field. They can't hurt themselves on it and the hay doesn't get trampled into the inevitable mud. You have to order them from the States but they will ship them to you at cost.

http://www.bigbalebuddy.com/page/page/2674953.htm

Hard feed is another bugbear - they always always upturn their feed buckets and then trample it into the mud. It drove me mad for years but this year I have finally cracked it. I use a biggish tub trug bucket and tie it to the post and rail fence using bailing twine so that it is suspended off the ground. They can put their muzzles in to get the feed but if they paw or kick at it or nose it hard, the bucket just swings back and forth instead of going over. Trust me - it is a complete godsend!!
 
Hay is fed on floor, they never waste a scrap! Depends on what time I've got and whether it's raining as to how they have their feed, they tend to not shuffle around and eat eachothers if they are fed out of buckets, if it's on the floor they move onto another pile when they are bored! If it's raining though or am short of time they get it on the floor... one of them kicks bucket anyway so it doesn't harm them.
 
Hay on the floor more piles than ponies though as our winter grazing is very good all ponies are very good doers we did not need to feed hay until Feb last year.

Feed in a bucket but I normally hold the bucket while he eats as otherwise he paws the ground in excitement and will knock his bucket over and I want him to get his supplement and not end up with trampled into the ground and as is it dark I want to feed him as quickly as possible.

The others do not get feed at the same time so I normally take my pony out of the field or at least away from the others to a quiet corner to give him tea - (he has two big fields connected by a small wood for his winter grazing)
 
Hard feed is given in tyre buckets, which I stand and supervise the two whilst they eat (have done it with far more than 2 though), as Be is a touch naughty and often gets it in her head that she wants Star's feed more (not surprising, as Star's is yummy rich stuff, and Be's is supplements, chaff, and some carrots to keep her busy
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) If she thinks about bucket hopping I just growl at her a little, point at her own, and she reluctantly sulks back
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Forage, I have always fed haylage off the floor, but tonight I have purchased a hay hutch which I'm going to try when I start Star on haylage next week
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This winter they will be in different little paddocks as now that she'd out of work then Be will be on plain hay, and if the hay hutch is a success, then I shall be buying another for her
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I've acquired an old JCB tyre and a tractor tyre and use them to feed hay out of, from the floor, as for loose hay, my Shetland wees in it, and the others trample it in!
 
My 3 live out 24/7. They are caught and tied up for feeding and checking every day, so fed in ordinary buckets on the ground as usual.

If they start to need a second feed, that is given to them in those soft truggy buckets without handles, as I would just leave that with them in the field overnight.

Hay is a big round bale in their field shelter, which has hardstanding at the front. I use sheep hurdles to fence off the round bale to stop them spreading it everywhere.
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I use a Hayhutch which keeps the hay dry and reduces waste, plus I can move it around to avoid poaching, although this winter should be easier as I've just had an area of hardcore laid outside their new fieldshelter.

Hard feed in rubber trugs - I have to stay and supervise as otherwise the donkey will steal everybody else's feed once he's finished his...
 
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