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Discussion on How to slow down hay consumption
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New Member:
Piaffe52
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003 - 9:31 am:
My 19 year old gelding is on a reducing diet. Our barn feeds very high quality hay so we have cut his grain completely. His hay has been cut back a bit as well. He has no pasture access.
The problem is that he is a "hay vacuum" - he will eat his hay very quickly, and then has a tantrum because he is bored/hungry.
We are scattering his hay around the stall to make it a bit harder, but he still zips through it. Any other suggestions?
Louise
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Member:
Sunny66
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003 - 10:19 am:
I have an extremely easy keeper that vaccuums his hay as well. What I did was purchase pasture pal -as the horse uses it's nose to turn the drum, the drum dispenses pellets one to four at a time. I've cut back his hay 1 pound and put oat pellets in the drum...He's EXTREMELY happy he just loves it!! BTW, when I brought him back home from the trainer's, he went straight for the pasture pal (;)
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Member:
Penner
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003 - 11:34 am:
I have a manger & I put the hay in. Then I keep 6 to 10 softball sized (or bigger) rocks in the manger.
My horse then has to move the rocks around to get to the hay (or whatever feed). This helps slow him down.
I also have a Pasture Pal with treats (bermuda blend pellets only), but I found the cap comes off way too easy. Aileen, how do you keep the cap on it tightly?
Thanks! 
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Member:
Sunny66
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003 - 11:44 am:
It's not the kind he rolls around on the floor, his is attached to a plastic base and I haven't had any problems with the cap. However, the side the cap is on is near a wall, so it would be difficult for him to get in there to mess with the cap (;) Hope this helps!
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Member:
Karene
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2003 - 7:05 pm:
Have you considered a hay feeder? Saw one called the Grazer a few year's ago at Equitana and one of the benefits it claimed was slowing down the horses intake.
When I ran a search, came across the site below which sells their version AND has info/links to the competitor's (including the Grazer) so am including it in case you want to look into it further.
https://www.robswest.com/
K-
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Member:
Piaffe52
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 13, 2003 - 7:04 am:
Karen
He makes his own hay feeder in his stall - takes the hay, puts it in his feed bucket, and stands and muches away!
I like the idea of the Grazer but would worry about all the sharp edges and metal in the stall.
He has a kind of hay feeder in his paddock - we may try the "rock" idea out there - sounds interesting!
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Member:
Dartanyn
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 13, 2003 - 4:45 pm:
Louise, with a 9 month confined horse, I found that placing his hay into a hay net, double bagging it into them when he got better at getting it loose; really slowed him down and made the hay last and stay neater. The hay nets are just made of nylon; don't expect them to last much beyond 6 months, but you can re-tie any breaks to buy time on their useage, they are fairly inexpensive - I've found them for as little as $5 each. Maybe that could help, if not, post for us all what does/did work; thanks, Dawn
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Member:
Piaffe52
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 6, 2003 - 10:49 am:
Just an update - we have had some success using the "rock method" posted above, except we put the horse ball on top of his hay in the feed tub. He has not figured out that all he has to do is pick up the ball and remove it from the tub!
We are also continuing to scatter and bury the hay in his shavings so he has to pick it out piece by piece.
He has lost some weight and seems to be more occupied.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 6, 2003 - 6:30 pm:
That's great Louise,
DrO
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