What do people put in treat balls?

ElleSkywalker

ElleSkywalker

As excited as Kitty about to be a bridesmaid
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Evening,

Got baby pony a treat ball as she's developed an alarming lip flipping hobby so I think she's telling me she'd like some entertainment :)

Anyway after choosing her lovely purple glittery treat ball I can't decide what to put in it.

Needs to be low protein, low sugar and low calorie but can be a hay replacement type thing. If possible quite big nuggets so they don't all come spilling out.

She currently is not being fed any hard fed, just hay and grass :)

Left over from Halloween toffee whirls for all :)
 
I put Emerald Green grass nuts in mine :) Horse goes mad for them. I read that you can mix a bit of chaff in to make it harder to get the nuts out but haven't tried it - I use mine as a distraction when she's left in the yard on her own, so a big payout is better :o
 
I don't like toffee so you can keep that lol

But baileys fibre nuggets are great. They are the shape and size of normal horse treats but are healthier. They can be fed as hay replacer too
 
the Baileys fibre nuggets do contain molasses though so if you want to avoid that then best to choose something else. That's what I like about grass or alfalfa pellets, there is nothing else in them :)
 
I use a handful of baileys Fibre Nuggets for my highland, who is stabled overnight. He's a very good doer and food obsessed!! He gets a "feed" which comprises a handful of unmolassed chaff with a measure of lol cal balancer just because he's in a barn with others who get fed too so he'd kick up a huge fuss not to be included. I sweep his bed back about 3 feet and put the ball on the swept floor, so he spends quite a long time finding all the feed bits. I rarely find any he's missed ..... !
 
I use a small cup of fibre cubes . My friend uses chaff , I'm not a fan of the chaff as it could end up being in it for ages and going bad . You're more likely to be able to manage to get the old stray fibre cube out than chaff remnants .
 
I've used alfalfa pellets. Low in sugar and starch, but higher in protein. Why is higher protein a problem? It would still be a smallish amount in the overall ration, and a bit of quality protein doesn't sound like a bad thing for a growing youngster. I think Simple Systems sells a larger type of alfalfa cube ("lucie cobs"). If you want purely hay, you could try Wiesencobs from Agrobs (these are meadow hay only). Don't know what the sugar/protein levels are for these though.

Also, does the youngster have turnout and company to run with? Maybe a management change of some sort would help hold off the boredom/stress.
 
i put equi-bits in mine, Levi kicks his about the place... he us to have a stable ball with a rubber handle on the top.. he through it at the yard staff.. its been confiscated for free school time only now.. whoops
 
ElleSkywalker said:
The grass pellets the feed shop had were very high protein which I was a bit concerned about. Really hay pellets would be the way forward but don't think they have been invented yet! :eek3:
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Yes they have - Agrobs make super hay cobs that are excellent for treat balls - mine get them in their stable and in the field, they are bigger than grass nuts so don't fall out quite so quickly and have nothing in them except compressed herby hay. Also not horrendously expensive - about £11.50 for 20kg and last ages. I sometimes chop veg and fruit into largish chunks to mix in as well.
 
supsup said:
Also, does the youngster have turnout and company to run with? Maybe a management change of some sort would help hold off the boredom/stress.
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Yes she's out every night with company and has a friend next to her with a talk grille so she can chat in the day. Also plenty of hay. So its just she gets bored in the day a bit :)

Will try and find the wiesencobs :D
 
Pony nuts and liquorice bitten (by me) into small pieces. Trouble is they have tie ropes across the door and the beagle puppy goes in and more often than not raids his snackaball before he's even had chance to sniff it!
 
I just put in a handful of his usual pasture mix on the rare occasions I use mine. My horse is so greedy he won't leave it alone until it's empty and the noise of him constantly kicking it about the stable is annoying so I prefer hanging up parsnips and carrots or a forage brick for him to gnaw on. Be careful how much you put in the ball, especially this time of the year when there's a lot of moisture in the air; someone 'borrrowed' my snack ball at my last yard and filled the ball to the top with normal feed. It took ages for it to be eaten and although it was in a dry stable, the mix of sitting in the ball for ages and air moisture from having rained for days meant the food turned into a solid mouldy mess inside. When I finally found it in their stable and reclaimed it, it took me ages of soaking and scrubbing before I could use it again.
 
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