What do you put in your Snack-a-ball/Decahedron stable toy things etc?

LauraBR

LauraBR

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I am absolutely stunned, shocked, and thrilled at how well Sam is coping with box rest. He has to be walked out twice a day for 10 mins and he has been nothing but a total gentleman- no barging, no tantrums, nothing! The perfect patient *touches wood so as not to tempt fate*
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Anyway, he LOVES his decahedron ball, always has. He is very accomplished with it and I have to make the things I put in it rather big and awkwardly shaped for them to last any time at all. I mainly use chopped up bits of carrot as the bagged treats you get fall straight out.

Any other ideas to vary it a bit? Was thinking chopped up swede might be good but other than that I am stuck for ideas!
 
Is he having any hard feed? I put Daisy's normal feed in hers so that it would last longer. She only gets Happy Hoof so its a bit awkward to get it in but as long as there is something else in there as well so that it makes a clunky sound and she knows to keep knocking it she'll eat her Happy Hoof like that
 
He does get a bit of feed but it is mixed with sloppy speedibeet to keep him regular so I don't think it would work so well in the ball unfortunately! Would work well otherwise.
 
The hole in the decahedron is far too big for small nuts, they all just pour out. Hmmmmm wonder if I should invest in the snack-a-ball... had assumed they were very similar...
 
Mine all have snack-a-balls with fibre cubes in- it's got a plastic plate in the middle of the ball which the cubes have to wriggle arounf, so they don't just pour out of the hole.
 
I just use the cheap Pegasus nuts in mine, then you can give them a fair bit, my horse loves his ball and will often play with it before he eats his feed
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I used to have one of these but it made my horse's territorial behaviour in the stable even worse. He would pull the worst faces when we took it away until it came back again. I really believe it was a bad thing for him. He's the same with the licks. He gets so annoyed with it, desperately trying to break it up with his teeth....which he does, and the whole thing is gone within 5 minutes.
I'd say a good thing for your horse may be grass nuts, or anything that is low in energy.
 
I give mine a mixture of pony nuts and sometimes chopped carrots but mine gets through them pretty quick.
Its good to hear Sam is getting on ok on box rest. We've just done a spell so I know how stressful and how much work it is. Hope he carries on being a good boy.
 
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The hole in the decahedron is far too big for small nuts, they all just pour out. Hmmmmm wonder if I should invest in the snack-a-ball... had assumed they were very similar...

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Hey glad to hear ur boy is coping well with his box rest
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I have both the decahedron and the snack-a-ball and would thoroughly recommend the snack-a-ball. I fill mine up with nuts and it takes my horses ages to finish them
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last winter I was using chopped up carrots, swede, parsnip (which didnt go down too well lol), pony nuts, happy hoof and crushed polos for variety.

I have the rock n roll ball but will be investing in the snackaball as i've heard wonderful reports on it.
 
Glad to hear your boy is doing well.
I had the round ball for my box rested girl last spring...but she was totally disinterested in the feed, and instead, used it as a sort of stress ball. When she was in a grump or had been told off, she'd kick it so hard it bounced off the walls of all the stables with a terrible crashing noise (never really seen her kick so was quite shocked!)
It did actually seem to help her 'vent' so we just let her do it when she felt the need.
S
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I just put carrots in mine, but big bits and long sticks so it takes longer (he seems to have perfected booting it across the stable, so lots of bits fly out!!!)... I occasionally pop one strong mint in too so he knows there is something exciting in there aswell.... he never seems to get bored of carrots though!!!
 
My sheltie has a Snak-A-Ball which she absolutely loves. I put high fibre cubes in it as they fall out best. The hole in the ball isnt big enough to cope with anything like chopped up chunks etc.
 
I use pony nuts and alfalfa pellets but for box rest would just fill with the alfalfa. Mine won't eat swede/turnip but chunkc of parsnip are good too
 
Glad hes coping well with box rest!

My chap will leave his dinner for his ball, he loves it so much.
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I try to vary what he has in it so he doesnt get bored so any variation of carrots, swede, brocoli, cabbage stems, parsnip, apple, orange (in segments) horsey treats and I cut most of them with a mandolin (cheffy thing that cuts veg in batons). Basically anything you can cut into batons that horses are allowed.

NB I would only put orange and apple in if you know your horsey will carry on until the ball is empty otherwise they go all soft and squidgy and you will never get them out!
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The other harder veg will be ok for a day or two.
 
I put the Badminton High Fibre cubes in mine because the nuts are HUGE and quite herbally smelling and so do not fall out very easily but smell strong enough that the horses really want to get at them. A little known secret as well is that this feed is EXACTLY the same as the 5kg tubs of Badminton Treats that you can buy for about £5...compare that with the fact that you can buy a 20kg sack for about £6.50 max then the sack option is the way to go as it lasts for ages!!!
If mine start getting through them too quickly though I do tend to stuff some Hifi inside to slow down the flow.
 
I found that out the other day
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we got a sack between us girls and filled up our tubs and will save us a small fortune in the future!
 
I know!!! I used to work in a tack shop and so knew that 'trade' secret for a while but used to be under strict orders that the only people we were allowed to tell were close friends as you make a lot more money by selling the tubs than you do out of 1 bag of feed.
 
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