Friday, September 6, 2013

New Stuff is Always Exciting

A true horse owner absolutely loves buying new stuff for her horses. I needed another slow feeder for the little guy (still thinking about Moose). The feeder I have is all netting and I feared with that many holes his little bitty hooves might get caught easier. So I found another version of a slow feeder and it came today.


Crummy camera phone photos, bear with me.


I really like this net. Its 10x easier to put hay into it, and I like that the small openings are not only on the bottom half but also smaller amount. My other net is time consuming to fill and I wonder if it even slows Milo down as there is greater access to the hay then this one. I may be buying another one for Milo. This one will easily hold two or three flakes at a time, although for Moose I only fill half a flake in it :)

I need to figure out another solution for Milo's feed situation. I am a firm believer in the slow feeders. Not only for the horse's health and well being, but it also keeps hay off of the ground:


This is what happens with trying to feed bins. Moose did the same thing.

For my schedule slow feeders work since I can only feed twice a day. But for Milo I cant safely put one up for him. I dont want to attach it to a fence post because the electric wire is so close. I fear him trying to eat and the bag flying around (as it does) and getting caught in the fence, or Milo getting caught or zapped. I also dont want it too low to the ground for him pawing at it. Attaching it to the farm gate wont work either as I dont want him shaking that gate too much (its heavy and all the weight is on one fence post), and the same issues apply with safety.

For the meantime I cant do much, but this weekend we are putting up a shelter for him so I'm not sure if I cant put up more panels like Moose has so I could attach a bag to that then. We shall see...

2 comments:

Rebecca White said...

Could you attach a piece of plywood to two of the fence posts, then attach I-bolts (eye-bolts?) to it for the feed bag? I thought my NibbleNet was worth every penny and they have a lot of different set-ups that might be inspiration for how to hang yours.
http://www.thinaircanvas.com/nibblenet/picturesframe.htm

Unknown said...

I have seen people make ones that are more like a wooden square (or whatever shape) that goes on the ground that has mesh or whatever material on the top (and a hinged top of sorts to fill it up with hay) so if its sturdy enough they won't mess it up!