Whilst reading through some material at work I saw a reference to the hay pillow for feeding horses. There was a comment about them being good tools to feed horses hay on the ground. They were of appeal because they encouraged horses to consume their food slowly.
A quick search online brought up the hay pillow website. The products on this site are referenced as ‘innovative slow feed hay bags and nets’. Because of the way the horse’s digestive system is built, it’s important that they’re consistently feeding. Little and often. This doesn’t happen with horses that consume their feed quickly. Using a hay pillow encourages slow eating. The ‘pillow’ is a container of sorts that is able to be placed on the ground; it has small holes in it to encourage the horse to search out hay through the holes.
The added bonus with the hay pillow on top of slow feeding is that it can be put on the ground. Horses consume food best with their heads down – this allows for drainage of their nasal passages. Hay nets and bags hung up don’t tend to afford this possibility as the horse eats.
The Hay Pillow
As it says on their site, hay pillows are unique as they are:
- Only slow-feed hay bag designed for ground feeding.
- Easy to fill & transport. Place in multiple locations to encourage movement.
- 5 mesh sizes
- Netting is made & mounted on the square so the opening size stays consistent regardless of how full the bag is
- Interchangeable netting panels to change mesh size
- Less wasted hay with solid-back, durable design
- No more cheating – closures only allow access to hay via netting
- Machine washable
The hay pillow is an interesting idea for a horse product. It is a great example of a product that aids in horse management, particularly with regard to their nutrition. This is especially important if horses are stabled or yarded and limited food is on offer. It allows them to eat more naturally and take longer to consume the available food. This will keep things moving through the digestive system and decrease idle time that can lead to boredom and welfare issues.
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