double the opinion

My opinions, and Major's too, on recent stuff:

Boot Fitting
Mel from Boot and Saddles was nice enough to come out and help me with my Renegade boot fit. Good thing too! Major needs a cutback boot (I'd been using the regular fit), and the style is different than the last time I ordered (more than 700 miles ago!). She gave me a few tips on boot retention, and that the cutback will help some of the issues. Of course I'd just gone 19 tough miles the day before with no problems, so I think I'm getting the hang of it. She was also really nice as we chatted school and endurance and horses!

Major: What? There was someone here? My Mom gave me a wheelbarrow of hay and I just ate the whole time. I like the wheelbarrow better than the travel hay net, and she said she'd have to walk all the way over to the trailer to get the hay net, so I got the yummy wheelbarrow. Oh, and some new orange things on my feet. That are not carrots. Can I have a carrot?


Freedom Feeder
I wanted to review my Freedom Feeder after six months of use. I also moved to a different paddock, so moved the feeder. Major hasn't eaten any holes in it, and though the way I mounted it tore a few strings, it is still sturdy. The material seems flimsy, but it obviously very strong. It is very easy for the barn manager to fill, and Major seems to like it. His hay lasts a bit longer, and I've almost convinced the barn owner just to stuff it full all the time, which they do on colder nights. I think he would regulate himself.

more interested in his mash!

Major: Dinner! Here comes dinner! Oh, I still have some leftovers from breakfast, yum, this stuff is tasty. Oh, they're putting it in the net. That's OK, I've figured it out. See, tiny bites through the net, just like grazing! Oh, but Mom is here, let's go for a walk! I don't really care about leaving dinner so much. It will be there when I get back. Look, I have a carrot in my mash! I knew I was special.

And my friend Friday has a travel size version! I saw it and really needed a snack before the trail ride. Friday didn't want to share, but see, I'm eating lower than him, and I'm cute (and annoyingly persistent), so he let me.

Cleaning the Tack Area
Little mice were finding the tack area very hospitable. So I got a trap and caught two live mice (which will be eaten by another boarder's boa constrictor). I'm sure there are more mice, but there was some mess I needed to clean up. How do two mice chew up/eat a whole sponge in less than a week? And not die? Anyway...I really needed to organize, and how does the tack area accumulate so much stuff? I took everything out and restructured and cleaned. I have a few things that need to go in the trailer, but some things, like why do I have two circular metal curries, that I haven't used in at least two years? (I use the shed flower, I love it). And two giant bottles of shampoo? It only took an hour, and the tack area is much better, though I need a better boot organizing system (the plastic tub is too hard to access quickly)

a small area, so much stuff to fit!

And I'll watch for symptoms of hantavirus/bubonic plague for the rest of the week. And I got home, changed my clothes, and still had a tick crawling up my neck when I sat down to dinner, ahhh! Time for a shower!

Major: What took you so long? I thought we were going out? I watched you drive up, and say hi, and then you disappeared. I kept worrying. (Me: No you didn't, I saw you grazing) Did you find the carrots when you were in there? Or the oat treats? 


Grazing Surcingle
To be fair, I don't actually own this product, but saw it in a catalog and laughed.
A grazing surcingle, to hold your lead rope. $79.99. Really? I have one of those too, it's called my hand. Ok, is it that much easier than paying attention? I admit I'm pretty slack and Major sometimes steps on the rope or gets it between his legs, but usually I'm paying attention because I'm walking a 900 pound animal on the end of a rope! I'm glad that Major doesn't panic (I've mentioned before where Major does the opposite of panic: he keeps grazing until he hits the end of the rope, and stays there, "stuck" until he randomly moves a foot or I help him.) If you did have a horse that worried about ropes, I wouldn't attach it to the side of him. I'm going to save my $79.99.

Major: We're going for a walk, look there's grass! Oh, I can't pull, sorry Mom. Now I can eat, yummm, this patch is better over here, no, this patch is greener. Ugh, I can't quite reach, I'm stuck...oh, I'll eat this patch right here, oh, now I'm not stuck. Remember the one time a carrot fell from your pocket and I found it on the ground? That was great.

slow feeder

Our horses stand around much of the day, maybe playing with friends, or resting, but often waiting for breakfast or waiting for dinner. They get anxious to eat (as anyone knows who feeds too late one day), then devour their hay so quickly. They were meant to graze all day, but there are few of us who can provide that.

I've been intrigued by the slow feeding movement for awhile, and more motivated when a really great independent nutritionist (Clair Thunes, Summit Equine Nutrition) at the recent HorseExpo event talked more in detail. I did lots of research myself, enjoying the paddock paradise wiki and thinking I could make something myself.

There are so many types of feeders: bags and barrels and timers and grates and more. I decided to make a simple barrel and net feeder. It was pretty easy, until I realized that Major's shelter didn't have an easy way to mount it. It needed to be easy to fill for the barn staff (they have a tough enough job!) but at the height needed Major kept trying to eat out of the top, and an easy solution for all couldn't be found.

Since I didn't really have the time to make something else, I decided to try a basic, well-reviewed net, the Freedom Feeder. I choose this one because I thought I could easily install it on the pipe panel for Major munch on and the barn staff to fill.

True slow feeding is best: you keep the feeder full 24/7. At first the piggy horses eat more, but when they realize food is always there, they begin to self-regulate, not worrying when their next meal is coming. They stabilize at an amount, usually not any more than they were already being fed, without wasting hay on the ground, grinding it into the dirt, or otherwise being disgusting on it. If I had my own barn, I would do this for every horse.

Major eyes his new freedom feeder

Since I board Major, the next best solution is just to slow him down, so dinner is done in three hours and not one. It's better for his digestive system to have food in it longer (like the constant grazing they evolved with). The feeder was easy to install, opening like an envelope to the outside to fill, and Major enjoyed helping by chewing on the net, standing in the way, and not even flinching when we needed to remove a board with the power drill. I did a test run, adding some grass hay (his usual meal) and he was a little confused at first but just started munching.

The feeder has been in use for two weeks, no damage yet. If a horse chews a hole in the net you need to sew it back up so he's not rewarded by getting a big bite. I'll be keeping an eye on it, but so far, so good. I watched Major contentedly eating, and then saw the poor mare across the way, who is on tiny rations as her pasture is too lush and she is too fat. A slow feeder would make her work for it, and she wouldn't be done in 10 minutes, banging at the fence for more.

I'll see how this experiment works, and report on how the net holds up over time.

"How do I eat outta this thing?!"

Major "helping"