Slow Feed Hay Nets and Other Mysteries

Every time I feed Grace I am reminded of why I own only one horse. She most defiantly eats better than I do! At this time her daily diet consists of 2 feedings of the best Eastern Washington orchard grass hay I can find, which is now mixed with the same quality alfalfa/orchard grass mix. 3 pounds of rolled ration twice a day, Miracle Clay, Dynamite vitamins, Dynamite Free and Easy, Chia Seed and Organic Black Strap Molasses to mix it all together. I will soon be adding papaya powder to this mixture for digestive health. This diet keeps Grace fat, slick and shiny while being ridden 6 days a week and showing at least once a month. There is one big issue I've been facing for at least the last 6 months; Princess Grace won't clean up her hay. 

At one point I was feeding Grace 6 flakes of hay a day. She has experienced ulcer flare ups in the past and my idea was to keep hay in front of her all the time.  Again - I feed the best hay I can find, I don't mind feeding extra as long as it doesn't go to waste, but I found I was adding more and more of it to the manure pile before it went through the horse. I had a ton of 1st cutting that has some stem to it so I thought that was the issue, but then the 2nd cutting with the soft beautiful grass arrived and she was leaving even more of that behind. I cut her back to 4 flakes a day (2 flakes twice a day) and she was still leaving perfectly good clean hay behind. I found that if I took away all of the left over hay Grace was better about cleaning up the new meal I put in front of her. This works for a feeding and then she starts leaving hay behind again. It was killing me to fill a wheelbarrow with perfectly good hay that any other horse would eat and dump it into the manure pile. Sarah suggested that I start feeding Grace out of one of those slow feed hay bags. I filled one and hung it on the trailer at a day long horse show; Grace wouldn’t touch it so I shelved that idea. This weekend the ½ ton of orchard/alfalfa arrived. Grace is currently inhaling the one flax of alfalfa mix but she then leaves most of the flake of orchard grass behind. Again – BEAUTIFUL hay – I would eat it! I have to believe that if there was another horse to compete with for food; this would not be an issue. Grace is still fat, shiny and happy but I only see dollar signs in the manure pile. I also want to get this under control before the rain returns and makes a mess of things.
  
Last night I pulled the slow feed hay net back out and filled it with 3 flakes of the orchard grass hay. Before hanging it up I pulled hay through the small openings so Grace would get the idea. I fed her flake of alfalfa mix on the floor of the shelter and then hung the hay net in the corner. I prefer to have my horse eat with her head down, but I am at the end of my rope with the hay waste. I left her for the night convinced that she would be starving in the morning with a full hay bag hanging in front of her. I also had the creeping thought in the back of my mind that she would somehow hang herself up in the hay net event though I knew I hung it safely.

When I went up to the pasture to feed this morning I caught sight of the hay net in the glow of my head lamp, it was still hanging. From a distance I could tell the shape of it had change, it was longer and narrower! On closer inspection Grace had not only eaten from the hay net, she had eaten about 2/3rds of the hay in it! I searched the ground under the hay net – no hay on the ground; she had also eaten all of the alfalfa mix from the night before. I have no idea why Grace prefers to eat her hay in the bag, but I was really surprised by how much more she consumed in one feeding. I plan to get a second slow feed bag so I can have her morning hay ready to go the night before. I don't even want to think about how much hay I could have saved if I had just listened to Sarah the first time. Sigh...