Slow Ground Feeders

[Kylara]

I'm taking on a pony that isn't laminitic, but is fat and he's coming to me for long term schooling and general management of fatness! I have a small well fenced paddock that he'll be going in for half a day and he'll be stabled the rest - big stable and small pony so plenty of walking about room. He'll also be going on the walker daily for condition.

However, I'm not a huge fan of haynets and corner feeder won't be possible due to stable design (two corner mangers and a corner auto water that are blocked out so super safe). I've been thinking of some sort of trough with mesh on top to pop his hay in to slow him down and stop hay going everywhere in the bed!

I've seen a few around, but some of them are so expensive! My father used to work when he was much younger at a fibreglass place making moulds for a few years and can't understand why they are having to charge so much for plastic moulded stuff without even having to have some poor soul doing anything like with fibreglass!

So far the parallax feeder seems the cheapest and largest and comes withh a lid over the mesh so could put plenty in to keep him going whilst slowing him down, the eazygrazer comes next but looks basically like a bin with a lock in mesh - bonus is you can get a smaller holed mesh.

I'm worried about the ones with metal mesh as I don't know that is good for their teeth. I was thinking about maybe buying a plastic trough and fashioning some sort of non metal mesh myself but can't think of anything that would do the job of the mesh.

Thoughts and experiences of this sort of slow feeder welcome.

parallax haysaver

eazygrazer

 

[Auslander]

I've got one of the first type. It slows our laminitic girl down very slightly, but not as much as I'd hoped. She is, however, absolutely brilliant at bypassing any attempts to slow her down (can empty a trickle net in 30 mins). I give her a haynet inside the feeder, which helps.

 

[Kylara]

I hadn't thought of putting netted hay inside it as well, that's a good idea.

I'm not sure if he is a gorger or not, but I'd rather not risk it as he will be stabled for most of the day and the last thing I want is for him to run out of hay to eat!

 

[paddy555]

I'm worried about the ones with metal mesh as I don't know that is good for their teeth.

it's not. There were some pics on FB a while ago showing the considerable damage to teeth on a horse that had been "grazing" a hay box with metal mesh.

 

[ester]

Is he shod?

 

[Kylara]

Not shod. 11.2hh ish.

I didn't think the metal mesh would be good for their teeth.

 

[ester]

Ok, more options then hence checking not a random question!

I have been using a nibbleze net with frank for the last few months and although we use the larger (45mm) hole one as I don't particularly need to restrict him but I wanted him eating off the floor and not tugging at a net. Apart from the occasions where he has managed to drag it over his water bucket, feed bowls and grooming kit bag it has worked really well for us. Because it isn't anchored he also can't take great big tugging mouthfuls and I do like the tie mechanism. I have half replicated it on another net of mine but it isn't quite as good.

 

[Kylara]

That could be a possibility but I'd prefer something that won't get tossed all over the bed! Also pony is small so I'll be popping a stable guard on his door and the last thing I want is him upsetting a racehorse with a haynet half falling out of his door, or him losing it. (Door is designed for big horses and I doubt he'll be able to even get his little nose to the top, so stable guard is essential - I've been saving his stable for about a month now as it already has the rings in the doorway (saves me a job!).

Dragging through water won't happen because it's an auto water (though I'll have to check he can reach it! I'm sure with a big enough bed he'll be fine), and he's not getting food so also not a problem. Stable is huge hence why I was looking at the big trough type things, but I'm loathe to pay £125 - £175 for something I'm sure I could knock up if only I could find a plastic mesh thingy!

 

[Leo Walker]

Honestly, I have a fat good dooer and NOTHING slows him down! Even tiny, tiny holed haynets dont work. He has just developed a technique that means while hes chewing his lips are already dragging the next mouthful out. I have never ever seen an eating machine that is so efficient! Mine has ad lib food as I wont allow him to live any other way, but I just make sure that most of the ad lib food isnt appetising.

Hes out on a bare lot, but there must be grass there as either side is a foot deep in grass, but he is constantly wandering about looking for it. He gets 2kgs of high fibre low calorie haylage, a small feed with a mineral balancer and salt, and 2 tub trugs full of chopped straw. If that runs out his shelter is bedded down with straw which he sifts through if he has to.

He has lost 50kgs in about 10 weeks and is happy and content. A hungry Frankie is not something you would ever want to deal with :lol:

But honestly, if they are hungry and determined then no slow feeder will stop them. Mine had a Martsnet trickle feeder, made of fishing net and it didnt slow him down at all The trick is to keep their bellies full and always have food on offer. Mine hates the straw chop and to be fair I dont blame him! But he does eat it when hes genuinely hungry and not just being a pig I've also found that if he has adlib food, even if its not the food he wants, then he loses the hysterical edge he used to have when he was restricted

 

[Pearlsasinger]

When I wanted my mare to lose weight, I gave her a small amount of hay loose, (can't stand hsynets) and a big trug of plain oat straw chaff. She would staff the hay down as fast as she could, then nibble on the chaff. As

 

[Equi]

I know it may be super annoying, but the best thing for them is bare paddock with crap hay/straw chopped into a chaff and spread about sparingly to imitate grazing - the small paddock if ate down well will be perfect 24/7. Grazing a few hours won't do much, cause they will stuff their faces for the entire time unless the grass is very sparce and short and they have to find it inbetween weeds etc. I can recommend a haynet from minihorsesales they are very small holes, and fit about one leaft of hay. but it won't get them moving, nor will these contraptions. They need to move to loose the weight - so even the hay spread about in hand fulls over the stable/paddock will make them move and have to work for it.

 

[Kylara]

I'm not messing up my individual turnout field with hay everywhere and pony can't eat straw. He's going to be on the walker twice a day and exercised 3 times a week, so the weight will come off from that too. He's not humongous but he just despises the grazing muzzle he has at the minute and it's rubbing him a lot.

He's not obese yet, just fat. He loves being stabled as well so this arrangement should work very well for him.

I'd rather avoid haynets if at all possible as they are not helpful, the action to remove food is not good for their poll and neck and loose ones are a very last resort. Hence why I am not looking for opinions on how to manage the pony, I know how to do that, and have managed plenty of ponies and horses over the years. What I want are thoughts on the slow feeders I have mentioned and any other non metal mesh ones I may have missed. I need something I can pop his day hay in that will keep it tidy and hopefully slow him down eating it (I don't know if he is a gorger or not) and that I can put his overnight hay in and not worry about him running out too quickly before morning.

I can't have him out 24/7 as I run a livery yard and other horses need their turnout time and he will be going in the individual turnout field for half a day. Other horses will be in it the rest of the time. I may even put a ring of fencing in it to make a tiny track system to keep him moving if the small amount of grass is too much.

I've always fed ad-lib to horses on restricted diets as they gorge less, but that's been at home where I don't mind bits of hay blowing across the yard when fed loose and with very neat and tidy animals.

If I can't decide on a slow feeder then he'll just get it loose and I'll give him a slice at a time throughout the day and see how fast he eats it and how much he trashes the place.

 

[ester]

I guess that's the whole point of using hay pillows, it stops all the bad bits of tugging at a haynet but still slows them down. Although some people do anchor them too.
He makes less mess with it in that than he does with loose hay.

This is another alternative that was my other consideration

It is a flexirac trickle feeder, you can adjust the height to change the speed of eating.

 

[Kylara]

That looks interesting ester. I'll look them up. Hay pillows might work for overnight as his door will be closed so less chance of them ending up under the feet of a racehorse!

 

[only_me]

I have the first one, the hay saver.
it sits in the yard where he mooches about (attaches to stable) so isn't eating from a Haynet all the time. It takes a full bale of hay which is great in the winter if field is too wet/frozen, so does him the full day - it goes in in the morning and I don't put another in until the next day.
I did have problems with it - he is very playful and likes to investigate - he soon learnt to take off the "lid" of the box and then remove the grill lol. So that was tied down so he couldn't lift it off. He wasn't happy with this so he resorted to just tipping the box over!!
To stop this I put a big stone in the base of it, but this means that I can't use the grill as it wouldn't work properly. Luckily he isn't a gorger so only eats when Hungry and doesn't stand at hay all day!

I definitely prefer feeding from it, makes life so much easier!

 

[Fishfingers]

A chippy or a good handy man could knock you one of those up in a few hours at a fraction of the cost

 

[sychnant]

We have tried both of the feeders in the first post. ASBO Pony can remove the "grills" in a matter of seconds, which means that they don't work at all in slowing down his eating, and he can still take out all his hay and poo on it.

Both companies reassured me pre purchase that they'd never known a horse remove the grills.

Yeah, ok