For years, we tried every feeding method you could think of to make the eating time last longer. But what ended up happening was that even with several carefully weighed, fine-mesh hay nets placed all over the paddock, our Icelandic horses would run out of hay just about 2 hours after their morning feed – and then they'd be without hay until dinner, which they'd also finish in about 2 hours.
We were disappointed to admit that despite all our efforts, we unintentionally ended up doing exactly the kind of binge feeding with really long breaks between meals that we desperately wanted to avoid. It was only with time-controlled hay feeding that we finally managed to sort out the problem.
All information published here and our recommendations are based exclusively on our own daily practical experience. Our observations have led us to believe that the following three factors are crucial for the well-being and health of horses:
- Hay Quality: If you try to save money on good hay, you'll just end up spending way more later on supplements and vet bills.
- Dosage form: Individually tailored to the individual needs of each horse,
- hay freely available for the poor doers,
- with hay net feeding, avoiding long breaks between meals (max. 3 hours),
- all the way to time-controlled feeding around the clock for horses that are super efficient at digesting their food (often Nordic breeds).
- Group of horses:
- Small, harmonious groups of horses with similar dietary needs, where even the lower-ranking horse always has the chance to protect itself from the cold, wet weather, and mosquitoes in a shelter or stable.
- To make sure there's no fighting over hay, the number of feeding spots should ALWAYS be more than the number of horses. So, we recommend a maximum of 1 horse per hay rack side – and ideally, only 3 horses for one hay rack.
- Horses are generally peaceful and love to get along. That's the only reason humans can work with them. Constant biting, fighting, and bullying in a horse herd goes against a horse's need for harmony. Not only does it cause injuries, but it's also really bad for their physical and mental health. No horse should have to endure that kind of constant stress.