For your exact situation a Porta Grazer was a god send. My horse was only stalled overnight and the big corner PG would last him two nights.
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You need to leave. For your horses welfare. The longer you board out, the quicker you recognize things are not as promised and/or they left a few things out of their marketing pitch. Or maybe things are starting to change since you decided to move in.
Be aware that short feeding, reduced bedding, staff cutbacks, putting off repairs and such are bad signs for the longevity of the barn. They simply canāt afford to continue the previous and/or promised level of service.
You can try to address the issue with them but either you assumed things they never agreed to or their ship is sinking. Either way, you risk being told to shut up or get out.
Always a good idea to have a plan B in place should things really go south. But trust your gut about staying or leaving.
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I tried putting half a bale in each of their slower feed hay net for multiple nights and they just kept cleaning it out! Now this was before any weight loss was visible so I may end up needing to do that much again but dang does it suck! I think they come in from all day āturnoutā (dry lot) so hungry that they just eat it all. I donāt have much storage availability at home so that much hay daily from me will be a lot of work. Care is good and it honestly is my own naivety that I didnāt ask exactly how much hay was fed. Clearly itās not enough for being on a dry lot and the pastures are already pretty full. With having horses prone to being chunky dry lots are usually my best option.
Can you team up with another boarder to take turns? This is what I did at my previous barn (though I ended up doing more than a lionās share of the feeding, but thatās a different storyā¦)
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I really am trying to fit into the barn culture and if I try to bring something like those in I will do clearly say I am not like the others. 
I just may need to aquire more of the nets I like. I think I have enough space to hang multiple days worth and just tell them to always throw one in at dinner. There is no night check and with that no extra hay then.
I see. Well if I was a horse and was out all day with nothing to eat, Iād be hangry too.
No hay outside and minimal hay inside? I doubt you can salvage that situation
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Porta grazer!
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I am currently having more luck with a Hay Chix slow feed net than I am my portograzer. I question if it slows my gelding down at all at this point! He canāt get as big of bites with the hay net.
I would worry about ulcers. My guy is an easy keeper and that makes for a challenge! I do have both a slower feeder and a hay chix net and have his hay split between the 2.
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Ulcers, stable vices and explosive behavior would be my worries. My guy will mutiny if heās made to go without forage.
I like the Porta Grazer over slow feed nets bc I find the PG easier to fill, as did the staff at both boarding barns I had him at. Personal preference.
Mine isnāt such an air fern that I need to restrict his portions very much. For reference my horse weighs about 1400 lbs and I can put about 25 lbs of grass hay in his PG (slap full) and heāll still have some scraps left after about 24 hrs if dry lotted. I have the lid with 10 holes. At one point I was rationing his hay more bc the hay I had was higher calorie and I believe he ate it faster per lb if that makes sense. He eats slower if thereās always hay I guess.
Iām considering getting another PG with the 8 hole lid in hopes that those holes are larger for my oldie. Old horse finds the 10 hole PG too difficult to eat from even though his muzzle is smaller than the other horse and he has all his teeth in decent shape.
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At my last barn, a new boarder turned up with a portagrazer which she insisted had to go loose in his stall. That horse spent his time slamming and crashing that thing around until it drove the rest of us boarders stark staring nuts, and I hate to think of the poor horses who had to listen to that thing thumping around all night.
She was told to remove it to her turnout. She blew a huff and left.
So make sure the darned thing is fixed in one place, please!
I keep mine fixed to the wall but it is funny to see him use it as a soccer ball
I do love the Haychix nets. They are pricey unless they have a sale though. There should be one in a few weeks if they do what they have in years past. They do get their breakfast hay outside and that is their ādayā hay. They are not alone in the dry lot so I am at an impasse on how to get them more hay during the day without a) paying for feeding someone elseās horses b) risking that other horses do need that extra restrictive feeding program to not be fat. I am very grateful that the barn is safe and care is good other than this issue. I know there could be worse issues than trying to figure out how to feed extra hay but if my animals are not being maintained on what they are getting I have to find a workable solution.
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I left my last barn for this very reason. I offered to pay whatever extra she needed to keep hay in front of my guy. They would feed more for a few days then slack off. And he ended up with a raging case of ulcers. We moved to a more expensive barn who is feeding him alfalfa 3 times a day, a hay bag at night so he never runs out and he has never looked better. I used to buy my own hay and feed extra but going every day to do something the barn should be doing was exhausting.
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Thank you for this-- Iāve brought this up multiple times on the forum and gotten crap for it, but a barn I used to work at went through a treat ball phase. The boarders think itās a cute fun thing for their horse to play with. They just fill it up and leave. Guess who has to listen to seven out of twenty horses rolling treat balls around all afternoon? We also had one horse that didnāt have one and he never figured it out or got used to it. He would spin in his stall and stress about all the noise.
If your horse has shoes, Portagrazer is definitely safer than the small hole hay nets or a nibble net, but my piggies did better with the ones with the 1- 1 1/4 " holes. I engineered my own Portagrazer out of one and a 15-gal bucket with holes drilled in the bottom. Way easier to fill, too, than the hay net on its own. Everything tied with baling twine to be as safe as possible. Ended up being 10% of the price, too.
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No handler can 100% control a thousand pound plus animal in all situations, especially in those where other beings of free will (and rapid motion) are involved.
Itās not a question of āallowā and implying it is is putting blame where it does not belong.
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Also, most people in mobility devices like a wheelchair know they are likely to be perceived as a threat by animals and act accordingly.
Not with horses but with my dogs ā¦ I have never once had a wheelchair user come zooming up behind me at speed and try to pass close by or stop right in front of us demanding to pet the puppy. They have always called out and waited for me to approach them.
Compare that to the kids on bikes/skateboards who totally just zoom up on you, not understanding that some dogs are going to lose their sh*t about that behavior until you can get them accustomed to it.
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Darlin, you did ask why and as others have stated: If it were a good business model or if it was even not that profitable but otherwise enjoyable to run a barn, there would be Boarding Barns out there to choose from. I can tell you from experience that running a barn is pretty awful. The amenities that you ask for are hideously expensive. Do you have any idea what an indoor arena costs to build? And grass turnout with safe fencing? Itās not just expensive to purchase but the upkeep is expensive and back breaking.
And you may be a peach to have as a client, but many are simply not. Many clients treat a barn like a Country Club. āIām paying all this money, why is the arena not dragged? Why arenāt there fresh towels?ā So for me, having only training clients allows me to have like minded customers that are paying me enough for lessons, training rides, shipping, coaching, buying horses, etc that I donāt have to dwell on the money suck that is farm ownership. Iām not bitter about it. The hours are long, the responsibility is overwhelming at times but I make a profit.
I absolutely would not accept Boarders that werenāt paying me well.
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I need HOT towels dag nabbit
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I havenāt run a barn and honestly, I donāt even from an objective perspective understand why someone would run a full-service barn without requiring lessons/ training! Sometimes I think the reason backyard barns run out of someoneās house can be so crazy is that only a crazy person would put up with boarders they arenāt getting some kind of training or lease fees from (unless theyāre running a retirement place).
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