One of the most daunting tasks of being a horse owner seems to be the amount of money, time. and energy spent on trying to feed hay. Especially since it is, or should be, one of the core building blocks to your nutritional feeding plan. After driving over an hour one way to go pick up my hay, paying a pretty penny for it, and trying to neatly stack it in the feed room… the last thing I want is to watch what looks like dollar signs to me, and a yummy snack to my horse, be flushed down the toilet. This is why slow feeders have been an incredibly valuable resource to me. I’m often asked what slow feeders I use and where you can purchase them, so I wanted to share that with you!

The first hay net I bought is The Hay Pillow. I might be a little obsessed with them because they’re seriously a life saver. These nets are incredibly durable and super easy to use. They prohibit a horse from sucking down their hay too quickly, while still allowing them to eat in a natural grazing position. The “bag” is made of a nylon material which really helps the life span and also keeps the hay off of the floor (as long as your horses don’t frequently flip it around like mine like to do) which helps keep dust from your stall out of your hay! The netting part is totally customize-able and comes in different sizes. Both of my nets are 1 inch large holes, but they come in sizes smaller or larger as well.

The best part is that they have a miniature sized pillow! I have two miniature sizes that stay in the boys stall, I like that they keep the boys moving around since there is two of them to choose from, plus they like to push and flip them around sometimes which keeps them active like they would be if they were out in the pasture grazing. The mini sizes hold up to two pounds of hay which is plenty for my boys. The first one I bought I’ve had for a year now and have never had any issues or damage done to it. It’s also super easy to re-stuff everyday with the very durable zipper it has.

Since Jasper and Wallace are stalled together, I like to make sure they have plenty of options for eating hay to eliminate competition for food, so I do also provide them with a hanging net. I went through a couple different nets until just recently finding the perfect one for us! The first net I was using was just a standard hay net that I found in the barn. The holes were very large which did not restrict hay intake at all, so the boys would just gobble it all up quicker than I would like them too. I also didn’t like how easy it was for them to get their faces into the netting (or a foot! which thankfully never happened) so I purchased a small hole hay net online. This net was also a 1 inch mesh material; however; the rope it was made of was not the best quality and didn’t stretch out very well, so the boys were never interested in it. They literally let the hay sit for weeks in it until I finally pulled it out and put it in our new Kensington Products 2 Flake Slow Feeder.

On the left was the first time putting that same hay that was in the previous net they didn’t care for, into the Kensington slow feeder. The right picture was the next day! They ate that same hay that sat for weeks right up. I also love how cute the bag is with its plaid pattern, which just adds some fun flare to their stall! It also comes in different colors, but I went for the Deluxe Black because I have a matching large luggage bag and small grooming tote, so I thought it would be a perfect slow feeder hay net to bring along when we take trips off of the property and to shows. I am a huge fan of plaid patterns and being matchy-matchy (because who isn’t) so I’m pretty psyched about this!

Another reason I really love this bag, is how easy it is to fill. I am really not for any hay feeder that I have to work extra hard at. I find the traditional net bags a pain to untie, take down, wrestle with to hold open and not get tangled up in while filling (usually spilling hay all over the floor in the process), and finally tie back up. This bag takes all of that stress away! All you have to do is unclip one of the rings, the bag stays in place and open for you – fill it up, and reclip. So simple, I literally never have to take it down to fill it up, just toss in a flake and go!

Unclip just the front ring and the bag stays open for you to fill!

The slow feeder hay nets are a super important tool to make sure that my horses can still have access to hay 24/7 while not having to worry about them eating it all too quickly or leaving behind a huge mess. While the two different slow feeders that I use are a little more pricey than your average hay net, I find the efficiency and simplicity to them makes it totally worth it. They are super cost effective for how much hay I save since there is little to no waste, but they are still comfortable eating from them. Plus, the durability will help you rest assure that you will not have to buy a new one every couple of months. Honestly, the fact that I can fill them up fast with no mess, and be on my way is my favorite feature. I do only use them indoors for now, but will hopefully incorporate them to feeding hay outside next winter.

Find the miniature Hay Pillow HERE

Find the Kensington 2 Flake Slow Feeder HERE