Is she eating through a slow feed haynet? You can give her hay all day while still trying to limit quantities. I have several easy keepers who have access to hay 24/7 but through a haynet which is inside a nibble net. They have to work hard at eating and they still nibble all day.
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I’d be backing off the free-feeding then. You don’t want horses to stand around with an empty stomach for hours on end, but you also don’t want obese fatties. They come with their own set of health problems that are as bad as ulcers or colic.
Horses do not need hay in front of them 24/7. Especially if they are in turnout and can browse…as well as making them pick through hay before moving onto the next hay net. Given enough time, most horses will eat the stemmier pieces and pick up broken pieces from the ground…but why bother if someone just hands them a full hay net?
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She’s too clever for hay nets, flings them around and gets all the hay on the floor and eats it that way. She can eat a flake and a half of hay in an hour from a haynet. I was thinking floor feeders like a savvyfeeder might be better? If she really has to dig and can’t cheat I think I can at least slow her down so overall she won’t eat as much.
I noticed both mares prefer not to eat from the hay bin with the tied down net feeder–they can’t fling it around and cheat essentially. They go find the hay nets and devour those first for sure.
I think I’ll give it a week, if she isn’t regulating I’ll pull it back and go back to scheduled 3x a day. Maybe if I can really slow her down that’ll be the best option, so even if she does spend all her time at the feeder she still won’t be able to totally stuff herself.
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I’m not sure how much you’re interested in investing in feeders, but I straight up adore my Porta Grazer. It’s super duper effective. Slows the horse down, completely eliminates wasted hay on the ground and the mess, easy peasy to fill, holds a bunch of hay, extremely durable, no worries about teeth wear from nets, and simple to secure to a fence or post or wall. The only draw back is the price point.
I have the corner XL feeder. I could easily stuff enough hay in it to last my big eating 17 hand horse for a full 24 hrs.
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I am actually looking at non-net slow feeders since my mare outwits them! That’s good to know it fits a good amount, I was worried about the porta ones since I wondered if they’d be too small. I have my eye on the high country plastics and savvy feeder too but it looks like all three are similar in price range. I’ll look into the porta grazer! At this point I think whatever helps her slow down and avoid a vet visit is worth the money.
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There are a few different models. The smaller ones hold less. I have the big corner one. I’m fairly sure in the description it reads “designed to only need filled once per day” or something like that
I really love it!
Occasionally I have used it loose, not attached to a wall or anything, and my horse rolls and flips it around on purpose. It’s held up to that abuse beautifully
