Imagine a herd of wild mustangs, majestic, running through the open plains, wind blowing their manes. Their thundering hooves rest only to refuel for the next burst. Peacefully picking through the tall grass to find their food.  A great heaping pile of hay…

Wait a darn minute, that doesn’t sound like wild horses at all, kinda started out right, but something is wrong with that description, what exactly is it. Oh what I know, it’s the part about mounds of hay on the ground.

I first got horses 7 years ago, and I always fed them on the ground, but for quite a few years now, I’ve known that wasn’t the best option. Lack of funds/time has limited what I could do, but recently I was able to invest in some slow feeder bags. I wasn’t sure if they would work, I know by the concept of slow feeding I should see an improvement, but I wasn’t prepared for the drastic change my horses and I where about to go through until I first set them up.

I started them with the bags slowly, leaving some loose hay on the ground for them to pick through while figuring out how to use the bags. Within a few days I started to see a difference already. Friday morning marked the first day, and now it’s Wednesday afternoon and here are the improvements I have already been lucky enough to see!

• No more “Feeding Time Frenzy” – The lead horses don’t bully the more subordinate ones as much at all.
• Absolutely zero waste! – Their consumption has been cut in half, leading me to believe they where actually wasting the other half in the mud.
• They eat slowly, and take breaks for naps/playtime etc.
• They are always ready to ride/work, as there are no feeding times (they always have hay)
• Relaxed for concentrate (grain) feedings as well!

And that’s only in the first 5 days!

An added bonus is if their consumption stays around the same, we will be saving 8 dollars a day on hay! That’s 2880$ a year! That with the added health benefits, how can we go wrong!

I will be writing follow-ups to this post as I have more information, but for now I absolutely love these slow feeders!

Check out N.A.G Bags website at http://www.slowfeeder.com/