What do you use...

[RachelB]

... when feeding hay from the ground (ie anything but a haynet)?
I'm looking into feeding hay from the ground but I can't feed it directly off of the ground, Maiden still isn't used to having paper bedding and thinks hay on the floor is straw bedding and poos and wees on it!

She gets 2/3 large slices of soaked hay per day, I do have a tubtrug I could use (a friend uses a huge plastic bucket but Maiden is a bit clumsy, I'm too worried that she'll shatter it and hurt herself) but I don't know if it would be big enough. Other than that I'm a bit stuck, so just looking for ideas really of what everyone has, where they got it from, and how much?
Cheers!

 

[flyingfeet]

A Tub Trug is fine, the other thing you can use is a large tyre. This stops them from chucking it round the stable.

That said I use nothing and seem to end up bedding them on haylage by the end fo the winter!!!!

 

[Fiona]

We use plastic tubs (the ones with the rope handles), and recently found in Halfords I think even larger rectangular ones which would def take 2-3 flakes of hay. Sits tidily in the corner of the stable and horsies don't seem to pull them about. Could add a clip though in the corner and clip it onto the rope handle.
Fiona

 

[RachelB]

That is the type of thing my friend uses, I have one hanging around (used to be a water bucket) but I wouldn't trust my mare with one, she's a bit of a clumsy lump and has mahoosive stampy feet - she'd break it!
Might take my tubtrug up to the yard and see how many sections I can fit in it, I can't have it spilling over though as she'll poo all over it.

 

[KatB]

Lol!! Know that feeling!!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Get a Haybar they are fab. Effectively allow horses to eat from ground level, without mixing hay and bedding together in a big mess. Horse size can hold up to 1x small bale of hay. Wouldn't be without mine.

 

[RachelB]

I did think about that, but I'm not sure where I'd put it in the stable unless I got rid of the corner manger... I'll have a talk to my YO and have a shop around for cheaper ones... any ideas where you can get it for £50 or less?

 

[seabiscuit]

No need to fork out on a hyabar- just nail a couple of planks of wood across one corner of the stable- and make your own little hay bar! My horses have this and it works fantastically!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Got mine new off ebay for £30 (bargin). However when horse was on Isle of Wight the yard there did have ply wood screwed across the corner of the stable as a hay manger, which did work quite well (prefer my Haybar though!! as much tidier and easier to clean).

Have you only got one corner in your stable?

My mare has Corner Manger in one corner, Haybar in second, Door in the third and a Stable mirror in the fourth!!!

 

[RachelB]

lol what I meant was, I don't want it over the bedding so that rules out two corners where she pees, and the door is in the other corner and the corner manger in the fourth. I could get the manger taken out though. I think I'll give it a go with a big tubtrug (I fitted about a section and a bit in a normal 42l trug, but I think you can get 75l gorilla tubs from builders merchants so I'll give that a go) and if she doesn't like that I'll see if YO can knock me up a wooden hay bar. And keep my eye out on eBay for a cheap one!
Thanks!