Slow Feeders

Ever since we brought the horses home we have been trying to devise a way to stop them from  wasting hay.  Horses like to eat the best stuff first and will throw out the rest in their search for the perfect piece, which leaves lots of hay on the ground for them to stomp on and pee in.  Since hay is so expensive and I hate wasting it, we have tried several ways to slow them down and keep the hay contained.  In the last few weeks we have finally perfected the design thanks to some other blog posts by fellow horse people.

Here Matthew is building our first "slow feeder".  It is basically a box with a lid and a grate inside that slides up and down on the hay.




















We tried plastic lattice as the grate at first, but the horses learned how to bend it around and eventually broke it.  Plus, the width of the plastic bars made it hard for them to grab the hay.





















The horses can sometimes share but usually have to have separate hay bins.

















So, we built another slow feeder.

















This time we used metal grating from tractor supply.  It seems to work perfectly and the horses have no trouble eating through it.  They have barely wasted any hay since we built both feeders!

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