# Feed Buckets: What Type of Bucket do You Use?



## horseponycrazy27 (Nov 15, 2015)

Good Evening everyone,
I know everyone has their different opinion on how you should feed your horse(s) their grain, grain and hay or whatever you feed your fur-legged friends. 

Is there a better way or not stressful way for a horse to eat? Does eating higher put stress on the horse's muscles or anything of that nature? 

Feed buckets, which type do you use? Hanging bucket, corner bucket or ground bucket? What about hay: in hay trough, hay net or on the ground? 

Thank you and have a great evening.


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

My horses eat from rubber pans on the ground for pellets. Water is in a 100 gallon trough. Hay in a small hole hay net. 

When horses come in barn which isn't often in winter. Water is in a heated 16 gallon bucket,on stall floor in front corner. Feed pellets same as when outside hay same as when outside. 

Don't use hanging buckets for feed or water.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Horses are designed to eat low.

My horses come in at night, out during the day.

1. My stalls are pipe panels. The feed pans are ten quart pans that hang over a pipe rail. When the horses finish eating (which they don’t get more than a pound per meal) the pans are removed, washed, and set on the barn counter for the next meal.

2. One horse eats his hay off the stall floor. My stalls are matted and I keep one corner clean for hay. 
The other horse likes his in a big rubber tub.

FWIW, I fluff their hay, so they don’t have to toss it around trying to separate it. Less stress for them and less wasted mess for me

3. You didn’t ask but, I will not hang water buckets high. The buckets are on the floor and snapped to the wall so they can’t be knocked over


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## farrieremily (Jul 8, 2018)

We use rubber pans for any grains and hay nets if they are getting hay inside. 
I would like to feed on the ground for hay but they tend to just make a bed of it in the stalls even if we rake the corner clear. 
Outside they just get hay on the ground.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Mine have round bales of grass hay out in horse hay rings. Their peanut hay goes into half barrels cut long wise so there is plenty of space. Feed goes into large rubber pans on the ground.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Pretty much all kinds of feeders are in use here. Corner feeders, straight wall feeders, a rubber pan, and one that hangs on a gate. A couple of them are about lower chest high but below the withers and most are about knee high. When the minis are in their summer lot they eat out of buckets sitting on the ground and attached to a post because they can't reach the wall feeders in that barn. Hay is round bales in round bale feeders for the big horses and the minis get fed from square bales and I use an old water trough to put it in (not that they keep it there) or if it's raining I toss some inside the barn on the floor. Big horses have 100 gallon water troughs with drain plug heaters (winter) and the minis have a 50 gallon trough which unfortunately doesn't have a drain plug so they have a floating heater and a plywood board over half the top of their tank to hide the heater under so they can't toss it out.

Feeding time is pretty low stress here because they aren't hungry. They only get a handful of oats every day so that they stay in a routine of coming in and I can get a close up look for injuries or if they don't eat those oats I know they have something REALLY wrong. Every one of them goes to their spot, waits for me to shut gates and dump their grain in. Mini mare gets a little anxious and paws while waiting for me because I don't run to her stall like she does so it takes me longer to get there. All of them are free to come and go as they wish 24/7 so coming into the barn isn't something they associate with "YAY! Time to eat!".


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## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

I feed hay outside in an elevated round bale feeder with a catch platform a foot and a half off the ground. The horses are fed feed out of 3 gallon rubber pans on the ground. In the stall that is open all the time has a wall hay feeder. The 150 gallon stock tank is on the ground out side the stall door.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

For breakfast/dinner, my horse is brought into her stall (she's only in to eat, then she's out the rest of the time), & has a bucket to eat from that's hung in her stall (it's hung low, but not low enough she can get caught in it LOL).

We have 4 horses at the private barn total, so we have a few hay nets hung outside on posts, then we have a big hay feeder (just so they have options). In her stall, she has a hay net as well. 

Rubber pans are great as well for feeding.


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## Nubs (Jul 25, 2019)

I feed my horse grain 2x a day in a feeder that hooks to the fence. I put it on the middle board so he can eat easily. Hay is on the ground and water is in a big trough, unsure of the gallonage.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

For feed, I use those black rubber pans, on the ground. I use small ones, because I only give a tiny amount of feed. Teddy used to paw his over, but he doesn't do that much any more.

For water, I have a 30-gallon tub in Moonshine's stall, on the ground, and a larger one in Pony's paddock, also on the ground. I sometimes use those hanging buckets, and in that case I put them as close to the ground as I reasonably can. 
They're in stalls today and tomorrow because of the weather, but usually they are out on pasture 24/7. They have round bales right now; when they don't they get hay tossed on the ground. For their stalls today, I put some hay on the ground and some in hay bags. I think it's better for them to eat on the ground, but they tend to make a mess of it and waste a lot (including by going to the bathroom in it) when I do that. I agree it's better for them to eat off the ground, but I feel like for a couple of days it doesn't matter.


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## jolie.ervin (5 d ago)

for grain, i use a corner feeder for my horses. i put their dampened hay on the stall floor and i use two 5 gallon water buckets for each stall which i refill every time i feed (twice a day)


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Older thread. Closed.


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