I removed my slow feed netting from the trough....I'm trying to see if there is a simple way to make the net ends stiff by placing some type of non flexible material on the edges. The lattice worked so nicely but broke so easily. Frustration. I love my Nibblenet. It's perfect and works so nicely!
Even feeding in the trough, of course without the slow feeding attachment, lots of hay gets on the ground. Dani steps on it with a muddy hoof or lately, because it hasn't been warm enough to really dry things out in the shaded stall, her feet have pee mud on them. She's also peed ON the hay! Urge!!!!! One of many reasons to use a feeder is to reduce waste. I don't understand why some horses will pee on their hay. At least it's not too regular of a thing but I've noticed it a couple times. I just need to figure out a permanent fix for the trough slow feeder or just go out and buy another Nibblenet. I don't want to spend tons of money on solutions that may not work nor spend that much time on it with the other projects I have going on in my life. At least this issue doesn't seem to faze my mare....
Update: Just did a quick search and got an idea!!!
This idea will take very little extra hardware and cost me less than $10. Granted if I had just bought a slow feeder....expensive as they are, I would have probably saved money! LOL. Sometimes trying to retrofit something it's the best plan. Nibblenets will be my future purchases but I'm gonna make this trough work darn it!
To Be Continued.....
3 comments:
I don't like to think that horses are dumb, but what is their reason for doing things like this? My stalls are always open, and I like to provide bedding, but that is the chosen toilet for all my animals it seems. The donkey will literally walk into her stall and pee, and then walk out again, every day. She pees directly next to the trough (at least not directly into it!). If my animals would just pee outside, I would bed the stalls very deep. But that would cost me a lot of money because they think of their beds as a toilet.
However out at pasture horses clearly define their grazing areas and their toilet areas (the roughs) so what is up with that? One possible answer I suppose is that in the stalls they can avoid splashing themselves when they pee in the deepest bedding/hay. However, even when I've removed all bedding and there are just rubber mats, the donkey walks into the stall, pees, and walks out again. Infuriating.
I was going to suggest that they use the hay to avoid splashing, too. Some horses do not like to be splashed on!
Ponies.....
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