Grass nuts/feed balls

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thehorsediva

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I am going to get my horse one of those feedballs as at his new yard he has to stay in when its wet so thought one of these may relieve the boredom. He gets really fizzy on hard food and is only fed some Hifi lite with his vitamin supplement and he keeps his weight well etc. A friend recommended low energy grass nuts? Is this a good idea and which ones are good? I really dont want him getting fizzy so something as low energy as poss that will do the job to provide mental stimulation would be fab. Also if anyone can recommend a good feed ball that would be fab. Thank you
 
I think the ball I use is called a decatron it has lots of sides so its harder to get treats out
I use high fibre cubes like Pegasus nuts but you could always chop up a apple or some carrots and use them hope this helps :)
 
Be really careful feeding grass nuts dry, my horse got choke off them, as did a friends horse when she fed them from a treat ball.

I didn't have issues with the high fibre nuts though.
 
I have the DECAHEDRON dispenser as I had the red ball but the yellow stopper kept coming off after a couple of kicks!
I put carrot in it, fiber nuts and those herbal meadow treats.

Other things to try to help with boredom are hiding carrots in his hay net, double netting his hay so it takes longer to eat, try a veg kebab. I got an old lead rope and drilled a hole in a Swede and slide it down the rope, you can add all sorts like apples, carrots, pears etc and hang it up.
 
Thanks everyone. My friend has lent me her snack a ball which I have filled with hifi and chopped carrots but don't think the hifi is proving v easy to get out though he seem to be getting the hang of it as I have left the lid off to start with.

Looks like fibre nuts are a good option? Anyone know which are the lowest sugar/ starch combo? Basically need the lowest energy option as he has plenty of that already and even more so when he is stuck in.

I will try the hanging swede idea as well thank you. Anyone know How they compare sugar wise to carrots? Been out and got him salt and mineral lick, plus some small hole Haynets so feeling a little more prepared for his long days in!! I love the winter!!
 
ApacheElf said:
Be really careful feeding grass nuts dry, my horse got choke off them, as did a friends horse when she fed them from a treat ball.

I didn't have issues with the high fibre nuts though.
Click to expand...
Agree, grass nuts do swell a lot when soaked so I would also use high fibre nuts :)
 
We use the decahedron balls for our lot and use the badminton fibre nuggets in them.
My mare had a bad choke when she had a bucket of them and had a huge mouthful of them however we've never had a problem with them eating the nuts from a treatball as they only let a small number out at a time.
You can mix in chopped up carrots/apples etc in the the ball if you want to make it last longer.

Feed value wise I believe the badminton fibre nuggets are about equvilant to hay or haylage - our extremely good doer cobs get about 3 double handfuls a day in a ball without any problems including my mare who goes fizzy on a handful of alfalfa :eek:
 
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