Cob Jockey

In yesterday's post, I laid out my reasons for choosing a hard sided slow feeder over a haynet in my quest to ensure Connor has hay in front of him for longer, and the various other products I considered before settling on the Savvy Feeder.


In today's post, I'm covering how it's actually worked out in real life.  We've had it for two weeks at this point.

Dog for scale

I ordered the Savvy Feeder on a Saturday night, and I have to say, the company was AMAZING to work with in terms of customer service.  The scratch 'n dent model I originally ordered was going to come with a grate with holes too big for Connor's grass/alfalfa mix.

They reached out to make sure I was aware of what grate size it came with, to ask what type of hay I was using, and went WAY out of their way to make sure I wasn't getting the wrong product.  We probably exchanged over 20 emails after I ordered and before it shipped.  It shipped out Tuesday from Iowa, and arrived Wednesday.

Great customer service and product, questionable graphic and web design choices

The horses had already been fed when I got it to the barn, and I had to laugh at Connor giving me a sign that I was doing the right thing (if not by him, by my trainer who buys our hay!):


It comes with instructions on how to introduce your horse to the feeder.  They err on the side of assuming the horse might be frustrated with the feeder.


I found loading it to be super easy, and my trainer and our barn workers agree.  As shown in the images above and below, you flip it over, pull the springloaded pin that secures the bottom, slide the bottom over, drop the hay in, and replace the bottom and pin.

The feeder is big and sturdy, but light enough that it wasn't hard for me to carry it around.  I can definitely see taking it to shows without issue.

From top to bottom: bottom shown with cover slid out, top shown filled with hay, and the springloaded pin on the side that keeps the bottom in place.

The grate is secured to the sides with "heavy black fabric" (vinyl?), which allows the grate to move up and down as the amount of hay in the feeder changes.  The grates are replaceable and come in 3 sizes.

The size shown here is the medium size, which is recommended for "most grass and grass alfalfa mix hay.  Not for very thick or coarse hay such as first cutting alfalfa or peanut hay," and also for introducing horses to the feeder.

Small is for soft/fine grass hays like Bermuda, medium (shown) is for most grass/grass alfalfa mixes, and large is for stemmy alfalfa, peanut hay and old horses that have a tough time grabbing hay.

Connor took to it immediately.  I knew he would, and I was pretty lazy about introducing it to him.  I put hay in there, pulled some through the holes, and sat on a stool in his stall for a half hour, watching him munch hay and listening to the rain on the barn roof.

I gave it to him on Valentine's Day, and texted JenJ "Roses are red, violets are blue, I made your dinner harder to eat, haha poor you."

I've been happy with it so far.  It's no small hole hay net, but it definitely takes him longer to get a bite out than free-choice does (video below).  I may get the small grate at some point to experiment with slowing him down even further.  I haven't timed it, but he's taking longer to finish his hay in general now.  He's also wasting far less hay than before.


The biggest downside is that it is specifically designed not to be secured to the wall, which means at first Connor's stall was a disaster as he pushed it around to see if that would get the hay out easier.  His stall has gotten better with time as he gets better at eating out of it and has stopped pushing it around so much.

Here are two short video clips of Connor eating out of the feeder:



Bottom line:  This is totally my pick for a slow feeder haynet alternative.  I don't feel like I compromised on anything with this one, and it's doing exactly what I hoped it would do.  I personally feel like it's the best on the market unless you need to soak your hay inside the feeder, in which case you should consider something like the PortaGrazer.

What: Savvy Feeder
Price: $299 (new), $274 (factory seconds).  They regularly offer 10%-14% off coupons around holidays with a maximum coupon of 20% off on Black Friday.
Grate size choices: Small (soft/fine hays like Bermuda), Medium (most grass hays and grass/alfalfa blends, also recommended for introducing horses to feeder before using small grate) and Large (stemmy alfalfa, peanut hay, and feeders that will be used by senior citizens)
Colors: Dark grey, light grey and tan are standard, but they have occasionally had limited runs of other colors, such as red, lime green and teal.

One day about a month ago, I was walking around the barn and realized Connor was the only one without a haynet.

Now, I'm not going to get him a haynet just to fit in with the crowd, but given his probable successful ulcer treatment, I would like him to have hay in front of him for longer than it currently lasts. 

But...I don't like haynets.  In fact I would say I hate them.  It's just a personal thing.  I don't like the angle horses hold their heads at to eat out of them.  I don't like that you can't hang them low enough for optimal respiratory system health.  I don't like that they're rope, since Connor's gotten himself caught in one before.  And I really don't like filling them myself or asking the barn staff to fill them.

Haynets in trailers are a necessary evil though.

So I started looking into alternatives that would slow him down but allow him to eat as naturally as possible, with the enthusiastic blessing of my trainer (anything to cut down on hay waste!).

I did a ton of research before settling on one, and thought I'd use this blog post to help guide others looking for the same type of product.

High Country Plastics Slow Feeder Saver Jr

Product: High Country Plastics Slow Feeder Saver Jr
Cost: $189
What I liked: Easy to fill, nylon webbing, cheaper than others, good reviews, seemed durable, designed to be strapped to the wall
Why I passed: Reviews were overall fantastic but there was one thorough review that completely turned me off, saying horses ended up getting their noses through the generous webbing openings and scratching their faces.  One review also said the edges of the box were sharp from the molding process.  Several reviews mentioned that it was a great hay saver but not a good slow feeder.

Porta-Grazer

Product: Porta-Grazer XL
Cost: $259
What I liked: Easy to fill, plastic "lid" instead of nylon webbing, overall good reviews, you can either strap it to the wall or the horse can roll and play with it if they want (Connor would)
Why I passed: Horses have to stick their head all the way into the cylinder to get to the end of their hay, and several reviews said they noticed horses not finishing their hay because they didn't like that.  One also said the inside of the tube got hot and humid in the summer and her horses developed skin funk on their faces.

HayLo

Product: HayLo Horse Feeder
What I liked: It's similar to the Porta-Grazer but seems overall better designed and is slightly wider, hopefully eliminating some of the issues with the PG.
Why I passed: Doesn't ship to the US!

E-Z Feeder

Product: Health E-Z Hay Feeder
Cost: $37.95
What I liked: Leah loves it! You can hang it from the ceiling to really slow them down, the price can't be beat, easy to load hay in
Why I passed: Although the manufacturer says it can be mounted as high or low as you want, I didn't like the idea of it on/near the floor.  I am considering getting one for my trailer though.

And finally, the one I decided to buy:



Product:  Savvy Feeder
Cost: $299 (I paid $235.64 + shipping with a 14% off coupon and by buying a "factory 2nd w/minor scratches")
Why I bought it: I scoured the internet and could not find a single negative review for this one.  It ticked all of my boxes: won't scratch his face, won't damage his teeth, allows him to eat with his head down, slows him down, and won't make him put his face in a dark tube to eat.  It's also easy to load.  Bonus, it's light enough to travel well.

Tomorrow I'll review how the Savvy Feeder's working out for us.

One thing I haven't had to do in a while is think about Connor's diet.  He's on Tribute, first of all, which I love.  I got a Bachelors in Equine Studies, which doesn't make me an expert, but according to Dr. Marks "This Equine Nutrition class should make you skeptical of snake oil feed and supplement salesmen for the rest of your life," and it has.

Reasons I love Tribute:

- It's fixed formula - they're not going to change the ingredients based on whatever was cheapest that week.
- It's low starch/high protein/high fat.
- Dr. Dan Burke came to speak at the farm on equine nutrition a few years ago, and he's the only feed/supplement salesman I found myself nodding along with throughout his presentation.

The type of Tribute he's been on has changed a few times.  When he first got to the farm, he was on a mix of Essential K (ration balancer) and Kalm N Ez (low starch, 14% protein, 6% fat).  About a year in, we switched everyone over to a mix of Essential K and Kalm Ultra (low starch, 6% protein and 14% fat).

He's been on the 1 Kalm Ultra to 1/2 Essential K recipe twice a day for years now (really if we're talking in terms of the big plastic scoops most everyone uses, he gets 1/2 KU and 1/4 EK) plus the scoop, maybe 1/4 cup, of ground flax all of our horses get with every meal, and I've been so happy with that:


And yeah, I know Mary's grooming skills were a big part of this, but you don't get here without good nutrition too:


New barn does feed Tribute, but they feed Essential K and Kalm N Ez, what Connor was on when he first got to my current barn.  They also don't feed flax, so he'll be taking a big hit in terms of fat, mostly.  And his NSC content will go down, which I am kind of interested to see what that does to him:

He'll be going from the Moderate to the Low category in terms of NSC (plus some Essential K on the far left)

 I'm fine with the change for the most part, but I'm not thrilled about losing the flax and the fat content of Kalm Ultra.  I'd really like to keep that macro as consistent as possible, and the only way to do that is going to be with a SmartPak, which the new barn requires if you feed supplements, as so many do.

So that his system doesn't get overwhelmed with so many changes at once, I've already identified the supplement I think will fill the gaps the best, started him on it and took him off flax a month ahead of time, so that the only change he experiences when he moves is the actual Kalm Ultra to Kalm N Ez adjustment.

But before I reveal what I chose, I'm interested in hearing from you guys: Does anyone currently feed a supplement available in a Smartpak that is mostly flax?  What did you choose and why?

I took a tour of the new barn Saturday afternoon, and guys...I'm kicking myself for not moving sooner.

Ya'll are gonna get all kinds of tiny website photos on this post since I didn't want to be creepy taking photos on the tour yesterday.

In all the best ways, it's just like what I have now, only it took me EIGHT MINUTES to get there from my house.   I could go to the barn 7 days in a row and my total drive time would be just slightly longer than a single trip to my current barn.

But wait, there's more!

- Only two other boarders, total of four horses.  One is my age (and is the BO, technically) and the other is a retired woman who comes out and toodles on her half Arabian, and also does stalls and feeds occasionally.

- They are perfectly set up to accommodate Connor's weirdness about catching thanks to a very intentionally laid out facility. All the stalls have dutch doors on the backside that open into a sacrifice area with nice footing, and that then opens into the turnouts, so they usually let the horses walk into their stalls.  The only person that will have to deal with my hard to catch horse is me - and even then they have "more pastures than horses" so if I do want private turnout, it's no big deal.


- They still feed Tribute, which Connor is currently on.

- They use Connor's previous vet, who I have no problems with (although I do love my current vet, a fellow eventer).

- They don't allow kids, and they don't enforce their posted rules (like hours) with responsible adults, just like my current barn.

- There's enough room in trailer parking that I might be able to leave my truck there too, which would be awesome since we really don't have room for it at my downtown house.  I may even be able to leave it there and hitched on days I know I need to make a quick exit to a lesson, since I can drive the Vibe there and switch vehicles.

Indoor.  BO found out I was a Dressage rider and offered to let me put up letters.

- He'll be 20 minutes from the Hoosier Horse Park, and an hour closer to the Kentucky Horse Park.


To top it all off, I really hit it off with the BO too, and I feel nothing but good about this decision.  April 30th can't come soon enough!

I did turnout/feeding/stalls on Sundays for so long, I wasn't sure I would remember what life was like before I started.

Things I get to do now that I'm not doing stalls anymore.

Stalls gave me the chance to own Connor three years before I should have been able to afford it.  I'm also, if I do say so myself, pretty damn good at it.  Gotta use that Bachelor of Science in Equine Studies degree somehow, right?

Overall, not doing them anymore has been a positive change.  I get to stay out late on Saturday night, sleep in on Sunday, and spend more time with my husband (who flies out every Sunday night or Monday morning, and flies back every Thursday night).

Sometimes, I miss it though.  I miss moments like this now:

And I miss out on the day-to-day details of Connor's life:


Although I really don't miss doing 17 stalls + feeding + turnout in the snow/subfreezing temperatures!  It took about an hour longer in the winter - and it was already a 4-5 hour job, if you were fast.

That bird is sitting on ice.

Days when chores were HARD.

(I do miss it when I get my board bill each month...)

I still try to do Connor's stall on Saturdays and Sundays, if I get out there in time.  I know how important just one less stall is to the girl that took my place, and I also like to keep an eye on his stall patterns.  It's weird not knowing him in that way anymore, and it helped me feel involved in his care, even as a full boarder.

Even now, I can't leave the floor dirty.  Must...sweep...

I got to train my replacement, and I told her "I'm constantly thinking of two things when I'm here: What could possibly go wrong in this situation, and what can I do to mitigate that risk?"  My example was, don't turnout the middle field horses first, which is separated from the track by coated high tensile wire, and then send the big field horses down the track, and run the risk of the two groups playing over the high tensile, getting a shoe stuck in it, and getting hurt and/or pulling the fence down.  It's never happened in the history of the farm, but I know it's possible.

My replacement is a good, responsible kid that I really respect, but we all know as equestrians that it takes time and a few mistakes to really think in terms of risk and the important details all the time.

Things I miss out on now.  Can you tell this is an eventing barn?

I firmly believe that just like every restaurantgoer should be waitstaff at some point in their lives, every full boarder should be a barnworker at some point too. You never see the barn staff the same again after you've been there, and I try to be their easiest boarder if I can help it, and I know (hope) they appreciate it.

Have you ever done stalls before?

What's in Connor's Smartpak?



Nothing!  Equine Nutrition was my favorite class in college, I always liked the science-based classes best.  My favorite quote from that class was from the professor, Dr. Marks, who said, "If you get one thing out of this class, you will learn to be skeptical of feed and supplement reps, and you will gain the knowledge to intelligently question and explore their claims."  It's been one of the more valuable classes to me as a horse owner.

Our eventing team is sponsored by Tribute and that's all my barn feeds, so it's a good thing I really like it.  Fixed-formula low starch/high fat with lots of good things in it, such as added biotin and B12.  Some of their feeds even include joint supplements right in the feed, which I think is great, but we don't feed those right now.

Connor gets 1lb of Kalm Ultra and 1/2lb of Essential K ration balancer plus two flakes of hay at both his AM and PM feeds, and has access to free choice salt.  Additionally, all of the horses at the barn get a scoop of ground flax with each meal.  That's it!

It's been a while, hasn't it?  It's been a rough week at work and at the gym, and with my normal weekday riding lesson moved to Sunday due to an outside clinician, I haven't seen the pony in a week!  But I fixed that today, with an outdoor ride.  But first!  It's time for our first monthly body condition photo! 

He's coming out of winter very nicely, looking like a pony that has spent a good deal of time with his face buried in a round bale.  I'd say he's about a six on a body condition score right now, and this is with getting a handful of Tribute Kalm N' EZ and a scoop of flaxseed once a day.  Love these hardy breeds!  Topline muscling is improving, and will continue to do so as he learns better how to carry himself.

Now for the blooper reel, aka all of the pictures I had to take in order to get the semi-decent one above.  Why is it so easy to get pictures of this pony in which his head looks massive and his body looks tiny?  More than any other horse I've owned, he's so good at making himself look awful in photos.

Massive head, tiny body, no feet.

Distracted head-shaking pony (but a nice shot of his lovely shoulder angles).

Is it just me?  I think he looks like a hot dog with legs here.  A cute hot dog, but a hot dog nonetheless.

Well...this just didn't go well at all.

Today was our second ride in the outdoor.  You may remember the first outdoor arena ride.  He wasn't spooky today, but he had a quick walk going and was much more interested in turning his head to look at his pasturemates than anything else. 

I decided to use that very fast, forward walk to my advantage by very dramatically asking for that walk plus more, to where he was almost breaking into a trot, and then very dramatically slowing the pace of my gliding seatbones to ask for a more compressed walk.  It took once or twice, but those big, dramatic, flag-waving signals were exactly the stimulus he needed to focus on me, and to realize that the outdoor means work just like the indoor does.  Subtlety would have been lost on his brain today.

So the lesson was primarily an elementary walk school, with lots of transitions within the gait, and down to the halt, and lots of figures.  I asked for softening on the inside rein, and I focused on giving him a consistent, obvious "space" in which he was to work - this space did not allow for turning his head to look at his friends in their pasture, as he found out.  When I had what I wanted everywhere except in the very far corner nearest his pasture, I asked for the trot, and was stunned to find that he gave me a steady, appropriate, non-rushing rhythm.  It seemed that walk work really put him in the right frame of mind for work, even outside.

In the end, it's all about communication.  He's like a kindergartener that doesn't understand the difference between playtime and work time.  I'm the teacher trying to come up with the words to tell him that we can have class on the playground or on a field trip just the same as we do in the classroom.  And we really do get a little closer with every outdoor ride.