Ideas for feeding hay in the stable

Tillypup

Tillypup

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 January 2011
Messages
492
Location
Sudbury, Suffolk
www.valleypoint.co.uk
I currently feed my horse his hay on the floor in a corner, however, he's a ****** for chucking it around and trample it into his bed. He has had a Haybar before and used to do the same, pull the hay out and it would still get trampled into the bed.

I am currently taking out more trampled hay than muck when I'm mucking out and it is getting frustrating as I can literally see my money being wasted going on the muck heap!! He doesn't necessarily need to slow down his eating, nor do I restrict his hay but I do want to try and ensure that he has hay pretty much through the night when he's in.

Whilst thinking that I need to bit the bullet and resign myself to filling haynets again (psoriasis on my hands makes this something of a pain) I have been doing a bit of research and found this; http://www.slowfeeding.com/ I like the look of the Optimal system, but, it is £90.26! Yikes!! I don't mind investing a bit if it will work, waste less hay and result in my mucking out being easier. It is a lot of money so I thought I'd see if anyone else has used it, or any of the other nets or, if people have DIY'd something similar themselves??

Any thoughts, advice gratefully received.
 
The offending horse, Oscar!
1509717_10151787026227587_1673746338_n.jpg
 
He looks very shamefaced [nice stables], but I think there is a danger of a horse getting caught if they try to paw the net.
Would it help if you had a gadget that holds a haynet neck open when filling?
 
Last edited:
Watching this with great interest, I currently use a haybar and horse will pull out hay and chuck it around stable before eating - driving me up the wall!
 
My boy soils his hay too, I have to feed wet and off the floor, so new ideas to reduce waste would be great!
 
I feel your pain. And I look forward to reading suggestions.

I have one of these:

695-2000__75939.jpg


The intention being that I only have to cart one wheelbarrow of messy gelding muck to the muck cart in the morning, as opposed to 3, saving approximately 15 mins on my morning yard run.

Said messy gelding is currently stabled. He's supposed to be out all day as he has a dreadful SI injury. The reason he's supposed to be out is so that he's eating from the ground and keeping that spine stretched as much as possible. However, it's very wet [see mud thread responses - we can match them and raise them 10] and YO has decided that although he said we could be out all day, we now can't. So I've been feeding him from the floor.

This morning I took three of those wheelbarrows out. Gah. The upside is that he is actually resting the other injury, the torn suspensory ligament.

He also tosses hay and haybars are for emptying. All over the floor. Natch.

Edited because H&H thinks I'm being rude calling him a hay t****r.
 
Mine does it to some extent too, he doesn't really purposely pull it around, but he does walk it through the bed. He's on pellets/shavings and it does annoy me that there's hay in the bed but I live with it. I won't give him nets as it is bad for his neck/back/teeth/breathing. When he was on straw I just used to put the left over stuff in his pee patch under the straw. Now I tend to just sift out what I can and live with the rest.
 
Get someone to make you one of these - less than £5, two pieces of plywood, two battens and some screws.

haybar1.jpg


Fix it at least 6" from the floor so you can sweep out the debris.

If you are not allowed to fix screws into the walls, a good bungee cord (or two) round a large plastic tub. You might need a weight on the top to stop him pulling it all out at once - helps if you shake it out well.
 
A cheap idea that stops them pulling too much onto the floor is simply a big trug, tied up with a thick leadrope:

Capture_zpsfb8100a3.jpg


The plus side of this is that they make exceptional kitty holders too:

Capture2_zps635cb6ba.jpg
 
I might just have to get a yard kitty so it can sit in a tub of hay!! lol I've been having a chat with my hubby about him creating something for me (as the horse is "his" apparently!)

Meanwhile I might see about the trug idea, a horse I used to loan had his hay in a plastic bath type thing.
 
And stamp it into their bedding in the process! They are ******* really aren't they! I have seen this thing from America, a wooden box with some kind of mesh lid that the horses eat through (the lid moves down as they eat the hay but is heavy). I was going to show that to my husband and see if he could knock up something similar.
 
I know of some people who have made a field one from wooden boxes that tiles are delivered to retailers in, a bit like a box made from small pallets. If your stable is big enough - get round your local builders merchants? Your OH might be able to add a grid to the top.
 
A few years back when my TB was recovering from kissing spine surgery and not allowed a haynet and had to be fed from the floor, I made a barrel feeder. Basically, it was one of those 100litre blue barrels that you can get off ebay for £10 with a screw lid. To make it heavy enough and make sure the hay fell to the front of the bottom of the barrel I then poured concrete into the base of it when it was held on an angle so when it set there was only concrete on the base 3/4 across the bottom but 1/4 way up the side of the barrel also. Then three holes were cut out of the front at the bottom. The barrel was then tied into the corner of his stable with a heavy duty strap from wall to wall using ring ties screwed into the wall. Fill with hay from the top and screw the top back on.

It prevented mine from eating too quickly and he had to pull bits out of the bottom of the barrel. The hay worked its way down to the bottom of the barrel as he ate and the concrete on the angle made sure that the hay was in reach of the holes, as well as preventing it from being moved by the horse.
 
Tillypup said:
I currently feed my horse his hay on the floor in a corner, however, he's a ****** for chucking it around and trample it into his bed. He has had a Haybar before and used to do the same, pull the hay out and it would still get trampled into the bed.

I am currently taking out more trampled hay than muck when I'm mucking out and it is getting frustrating as I can literally see my money being wasted going on the muck heap!! He doesn't necessarily need to slow down his eating, nor do I restrict his hay but I do want to try and ensure that he has hay pretty much through the night when he's in.

Whilst thinking that I need to bit the bullet and resign myself to filling haynets again (psoriasis on my hands makes this something of a pain) I have been doing a bit of research and found this; http://www.slowfeeding.com/ I like the look of the Optimal system, but, it is £90.26! Yikes!! I don't mind investing a bit if it will work, waste less hay and result in my mucking out being easier. It is a lot of money so I thought I'd see if anyone else has used it, or any of the other nets or, if people have DIY'd something similar themselves??

Any thoughts, advice gratefully received.
Click to expand...

What about one of these http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com/munching-station-dual-feeder.html
 
Tillypup said:
http://www.grazingbox.com/howitworks.htm

The hay box thingy.
Click to expand...

I made my lad one of those - it was great for a week, then he figured out how to pull the corner of the grid through the top hole so there was a gap big enough for his head. Then the hinges on the lid broke and he pulled the whole lid off. Now he gets ad lib hay just in the lidless wooden box (and throws it all around his stable and wee's on it). Hopefully your hubby will be better at joinery than me!
 
Have a look on google at a porta-grazer. I have got some big blue barrels and have sawn the tops off, we currently use them like hay bars but I now need to design something with holes in to put inside.
 
When we were at a livery yard I bought two builders one ton bags, tied three of the straps up against the corner using the posts of the roof (baler twine first mind, just in case they did anything stupid), and literally filled the bags up. I only had to refill the bags twice a week that way and saved quite a bit of time daily. When I wanted to do a tidy up, I let the bag get quite empty and tied the remaining strap up out the way, then swept under the bag - hey presto easy. And they never dragged any into their beds which they do normally with hay nets, which was a bonus.
It also helped with one of the boys who was a bit spooky with bags etc, he had to overcome his fears to get food - his life revolves around where his next meal is coming from, so it only took the day to figure it out :-)
 
what about the wheelie bin with a hole cut in one side at the bottom, then you fix (get someone to fix) a metal mesh on the inside of the hole so that they have to work at it a little rather than just pulling out and throwing about, if you put a slanting piece of wood at the bottom tipping towards the hole then the hay will feed down as it is eaten.
 
The haybar was in the stable at the old livery yard so I'd have to buy myself a new haybar. I have thought about doing that with a hay net. The husband seems quite keen to have a go at making a feeder so I think I'll give him all the DIY ideas on here and let him go wild!!! ha ha!!!
 
debsandpets said:
When we were at a livery yard I bought two builders one ton bags, tied three of the straps up against the corner using the posts of the roof (baler twine first mind, just in case they did anything stupid), and literally filled the bags up. I only had to refill the bags twice a week that way and saved quite a bit of time daily. When I wanted to do a tidy up, I let the bag get quite empty and tied the remaining strap up out the way, then swept under the bag - hey presto easy. And they never dragged any into their beds which they do normally with hay nets, which was a bonus.
It also helped with one of the boys who was a bit spooky with bags etc, he had to overcome his fears to get food - his life revolves around where his next meal is coming from, so it only took the day to figure it out :-)
Click to expand...

Brilliant idea - I love it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top