Hay-Feeding Solutions

[jyuukai]

Chanda - Those were interesting! I am definitely going to look at more of those!

mydaddysjag - 20 lbs is excessive for a 300lb horse, and it's on the edge of excessive for some full-size horses!

happyappy - Thank you for that! I wasn't sure how much it would actually slow them down. That's surprising, with what I keep reading I thought for sure it would make the hay last!

minimor - The two were getting obese on the amount of hay, and I was not comfortable with leaving them on it. While my mare was a hard keeper as a foal she is now DEFINITELY an easy keeper! The gelding is a bit harder to keep but he certainly has no trouble maintaining his weight. The two of them are on minimal grass and still a bit chubby imo! The gelding gets worked maybe once every few months, and by that I mean he carries a kid around for about 5 minutes. My mare does not work at all during winter. They don't need much to keep weight. In my experience they are the type that people say 'Oh she just looks at food and gets fat!'

 

[muffntuf]

Oh I hope you get some other solution - the whole water thing is what bothers me - if it doesn't freeze - if they are consuming hay in winter - they need water. You are looking at a possible colic just waiting to happen. Hope you get this worked out....

 

[jyuukai]

We learned from experience how long their tank of water lasts them, and that is about 4 days on average in winter. We are going to experiment with ways to keep it from freezing, but of course if it is going to be 10F or something asinine like that we would see if somebody nearby could go out and kick at it.

I'm not worried about the water. I'm worried about keeping hay in front of them without them blowing up like little blimps.

 

[ksoomekh]

CinchChicks make excellent hay nets. http://www.cinchchix.com/

I am currently using the 1" mini hay net with my new mini, keeping hay available to him 24/7. I am going to watch his weight, and restrict his access, probably over night, if he starts putting on too much weight.

 

[shelia]

You said a neighbor keeps an eye on them. Could you ask him or her to throw some hay over the fence once a day. maybe you could put a tub of water where the neighbor could see it in addition to your other tub of water.

How long to you expect this situation to last? If it is for a short time maybe the neighbor would be understanding. If it is long term you may have to find a more permanent solution.

If your horses tend to overeat you could have a real problem.

Since you will be going there every other day you should be able to judge if the neighbor is feeding correctly by how much hay is gone.

 

[JAX]

I am using the large round bale slow feeder net from chinchchix for my two large horses and it is wonderful. It has added an extra week to each round bale and the waste is almost nothing, but I do keep it under a roof. The squares are 1.25" I believe and I am considering special ordering the Extreme slow feeder net so that i can start trying the minis on round bales again for the winter. I tried round bales for them before but they wasted at least a 1/4 of it and they gained way too much weight. They told me that soon they will be available without having to special order.

 

[ksoomekh]

I have been using the 1" mini bag from http://cinchchix.com/ for my new mini. This company makes terrific hay nets. I've also been using the large bale bags 1 1/4 " for my large horses. I put them in a HayHut since they are wearing shoes. If anyone is planning to order a cinchchix bag, I'd suggest you do it soon as they will be having a price increase fairly soon.

Sorry for the double post. I don't know how to delete it.

 

[jyuukai]

I don't think asking the neighbor to feed them is really an option here as they are not friendly. The notification that my mare was a few feet out of the fence was more like 'if you don't put the horse back in the fence I'll call the cops and have her taken away' despite the fact that said mare was still in a field and not in the neighbor's lawn!

The situation would likely last the entire winter. I'm not sure how the wife's recovery is going to go, I've been told her leg is going to be amputated.

Something like the cinchchix bag is what I'm thinking! I'm thinking square bale size filled up with the right amt + some of hay! I'm not thinking 1-2 flake net. I plan to anchor it inside of a shelter to keep it dry and in one place. Neither pony has shoes, though the gelding has a minor crack on a front hoof so I want to keep it anchored if possible.

JAX is it possible for you to measure the squares? The net I was looking at had 1.5" sq and I wanted something a bit smaller since the gelding has a rather refined muzzle. Of course, he is less prone to over-eating than my porker of a mare!

 

[Minimor]

So--the neighbors keeping a watch isn't really as good a thing as it first sounded? This guy will phone if a horse gets out....but would he bother if he saw a horse caught in the fence, of if he saw the horses had been attacked by dogs?

 

[ksoomekh]

I've been using the CinchChix nets for over 2 months with my large horses. They have not torn any part of the hay nets.

 

[JAX]

Yes mine are 1.25" squares but they do have a net for a 60lb square bale that has 1" holes http://cinchchix.com/online-catalog.html. That is the one i am planning on ordering next as the larger works fine for the large horses but I think smaller would be better for the minis.