What Folks are Saying...
Dr. Peggy Miller Auwerda, Equine Specialist & Professor, Iowa State University
August 30, 2010
I tried the natural feeder as a method to provide hay to a group of horses. Three horses could comfortably eat around the feeder at once. The first thing I noticed was how horses were able to take small bites of hay at a time and were able to eat hay all day compared to the 2-hours it would take to consume 2 flakes of hay. In addition, there was no wastage of hay.
One of the horses, a nervous Thoroughbred was able to consume pasture but also consume hay all day which provided an excellent way to decrease his pacing around the door to enter the barn.
The feeder is easy to use, turn it over, place a bale of hay in it, cover it and turn it over. The grate size allows horses with different size mouths to consume adequate hay. The size of the feeder would allow it to be used for one horse in a stall or for a small group in a paddock or pasture. For a larger group I placed one feeder per three horses and each horse was able to consume enough hay to meet their nutritional requirements.
Dr. Miller teaches equine science, animal exercise physiology, training horses, and equine systems management. Dr. Miller also serves as an advisor in Animal Science Pre-Veterinary Medicine.
Debbie Knoll, Iowa Sept 21, 2010
I have been using two Natural Feeders for about 3 months now and find all the benefits to be true. I have three horses and in my case, the two mares tended to keep the gelding away from the feeder. I bought another feeder and I split the hay between them. This gives the gelding a chance to eat.The feeders are kept under a roof and out of the rain. They are easy to roll over, put the hay in and then roll back in place. The hay does not get trampled into the mud and does not blow away. The feeder keeps the hay off my sandy paddock area.One of my horses has a history of bleeding ulcers. I used to feed them two times a day and tended to overfeed in an effort to keep hay available for a longer period of time. I know it is important to keep hay available for my ulcer horse as long as possible, consequently, my horses got fat. Now my horses have lost weight and are healthier for that reason. My mare with the ulcer history seems less obsessed with eating. I think this is because it is available to her most of the time.
Chris & Brian Shulista, Iowa September 16, 2010
We used the feeders camping for the first time. The feeders worked great under the hitching posts. No mess, no fuss!
Thanks for the great product!
Tammi & Ben Morrison, Iowa October 16, 2010
We take our Natural Feeder with us on every camping trip since we purchased our first feeder in August, 2010. Many crowds have gathered at our campsite, wondering what the "blue thing is" and why we never have any stomped-on hay messes to clean up! We love never having to rush out in the chilly mornings to feed our horses before we ride, because we know that our horses don't run out of hay during the middle of the night. No ulcers here, and no obnoxious bad mannered horses that hate to be tied to the hitching post.
Kelly & Ginny Montgomery, Iowa November 10, 2010
Our horses wasted a lot of hay from the big round bales that we were feeding, and every spring, that unfavored a big clean-up. We saw The Natural Feeder™ at the Iowa Horse Fair and thought this could be a solution! After a month of using 2 feeders with 3 horses, we are very happy with the results! There is very little waste with the feeders. The horses have food in front of them all of the time and we expect to have way less clean up in the spring.
Cybele Geideman, U-Braid-It Braiding Supply Co. Santa Fe, NM www.ubraidit.com
Just a note that the feeder is awesome! We started with 4 flakes for the first few days and we're already working on the bale (12 flakes fit nice) with smallest grate. I just checked this morning to see how much was left, as I feared he'd make a pig of himself, but to my surprise he has what looks like enough to get him through an entire extra day, if not more. He's not hungry (this horse LOVES to eat) and is rather ho-hum with the whole thing. I'm so excited about this new feeding system. You're absolutely right about how fun it is to watch them eat from it. Looks like a grassy pasture in a big blue box! -
Update 3-16-11: We were praising the feeders a lot today—we can't believe how Levi has improved since he's had his. The Natural Feeder is the one of the best things to happen to the horse industry!
To read Cybele's blog on the feeder, go to http://www.ubraidit.com/blog.php
* We had the wonderful opportunity to purchase yak hair mecate reins from the wonderful folks from U-Braid-It and we love them! Nice weight & movement and beautiful!!
Lynne Bombinski, AZ December 8, 2010
I've been experimenting with different ways to load the hay since I have the larger bales out here. So far it seems to be working fine. One of my horses was getting a bit large around the middle, but he seems to have stopped gorging himself. My mare has eaten just what she needs from the beginning. I'll reserve any comments about the male/female brain power. The gal I board with is happy to have me use them and I even took them to a clinic with me. I put one in each of the pens my horses were in and they did great. This was wonderful since I didn't have to get to the location early enough to feed before riding. Not that I am lazy you understand. :)I got lots of comments from other participants and we will see if this might work into some interest out here. I just wanted you to know that we are happy so far with the feeders.
Lynn Eberhardt, WI December 8, 2010
I'm hoping that you can ship the other one soon! Our horses won't eat hay unless it's in the feeder now! and we have to "fluff" it since it's baled tight and don't put in quite a bale - they love it!
Mike Schrad, NE January 4, 2011
The feeder is working well. The mare managed to kick it over a couple times -- but no real problems. It has saved a lot of hay from being wasted. So far so good. I am pleased with the purchase.
Natalie Randall, Iowa January 8, 2011
I began using the Natural Feeder in late spring of 2010 to provide hay for my two Quarter horses, Chloe and Digger. I’ve found many benefits to using this feeder, and the following are just a few:
First, we live in a part of central Iowa that gets a LOT of wind, with flat farm field spanning the north and west sides of our property. Prior to using the Natural Feeder, I could not feed my horses hay outside on windy days because half of every flake was lost to the wind! Now, there is no wasted hay (which saves us a lot of money when hay costs $5 a bale!).
During the winter, my horses spend most of their day in a dry lot attached to our barn. When I used to feed the horses hay outside on the ground, I always worried about them ingesting too much sand and colicking as a result. To prevent this, I would buy and feed them psyllium husk supplements. However, with the Natural Feeder, their hay is off the ground, so I worry much less about the potential for sand colic.
I’ve also found that the feeder provides me with much more flexibility during the day: because the feeder design slows down the rate at which the horses consume their hay, I don’t have to rush home after work/day trips/errands to feed “starving” horses, as the hay has lasted them much longer with the feeder! This is especially helpful in winter, when the horses need regular forage throughout the day/night to stay warm.
Prior to using the feeder, my mare Chloe would turn into a beaver as soon as she became hungry and chew on any wood surface. As a result, I would have to buy anti-chew sprays and supplements to counteract the damage/desire to chew. However, the wood chewing is no longer an issue because the feeder helps keep Chloe full for longer.
One of my favorite features of the Natural Feeder is its ability to accommodate various amounts and types of hay. Depending on the circumstances, I can either load an entire bale into the feeder, or choose to “top load” several flakes of hay (by just lifting up the grate, slipping the hay underneath, and setting the grate on top of the hay). Also, I can “fine tune” the horses’ consumption rate of hay by what grate I use (small, medium, or large) in conjunction with the type of hay (fine, medium, or course), and whether or not I choose to leave the twine on the bale (which keeps it packed tighter).
Often, I’ll set out a flake of hay for the horses to eat to distract them while I’m loading the feeder. Interestingly, I’ve found that they’d rather eat the hay from the feeder than the loose flake on the ground. I asked Julie (Olson) why this might be, and she suggested that the design of the feeder really encourages the “foraging nature” of horses, as it allows them to nose around to find the tastiest morsels. I also really like the fact that the horses eat from the Natural Feeder with their heads down, so debris and chaff cannot migrate into their nasal passages, as can happen with some other types of livestock feeders that raise the level of hay above the animal’s head.
There are many other good points to be made about the Natural Feeder (safe, durable, easy to use=husband friendly!, etc.), but I just wanted to share a few of the biggest benefits I’ve seen. I think Mark and Julie have done a fantastic job creating an excellent product that solves many of the common problems horse owners face related to feeding!
Note - Natalie is not just a pretty face who represents our feeder. She is an accomplished rider and trainer, having qualified to show at the AQHA World Show
Marcia Sadler, Riverside California
February 8, 2011
I am very excited about being a distributor here in Southern California! The Natural Feeder® liberates the horse owner from having to wake up early or rush home to feed their horses!
* Marcia is also a distributor for Equicast - a wonderful product for rehabing and stabilizing the barefoot hoof. See their inovative products at www.equicast.us
Heather Paton, Washington
February 17, 2011
The QH is my IR guy . Used to be he would never leave a pile of hay so I was a little worried when I started using the feeder but he has lost weight and walks away because he knows he can grab a bite later.
So this feeder has worked very well for this herd of 4. It is much easier on horse sitters to feed with this feeder. I cannot fit my whole bales in the feeder cause they are too big , I can't lift a 115- 120 lb bale anyway, so I can alternate how much I put in the feeder depending on the circumstances. Thank for coming up with this feeder. I love it!
Yvonne Weltz, Editor and Creator of The Horse's Hoof, Litchfield, AZ www.TheHorsesHoof.com
March 9, 2011
Thank so very much for the Natural Feeder. WE LOVE IT!!!! I snapped shots on the first day with Belle happily eating frm it immediately. She loves it, and just took to it right away, no problems whatsoever.
I put Kendra into Belle's stall one day to see what she thought, and Kendra loved it, too. Even when loose hay is around, they still prefer to eat from the feeder. (I think we will have to get one for Kendra, for sure!) It is working out perfectly. I can't believe how long the hay is lasting, too.
My vet was out last week, and really liked it also - she wrote down all the info and said she will be recommending it to her other clients. It really helps for people to see it up close.
Only drawback - yeah, we have pretty much only the extra large size bales around here, so they don't really fit - have to unwrap the bale and stuff in a couple flakes at a time. But when that's done, that's it, so not really a big deal.
Update 5-25-11 - The feeders are fantastic! We got the new one just in time before we left for our week long trip to Canada. Our stables feeds the horses 4 flakes of hay per day each, but my two big girls need at least 6-7! So it has always been hard leaving, and having the horse sitter dole out the extra hay (since the stables doesn't want any hay laying around). Well, The Natural Feeder to the rescue, we just filled them up, and the girls were good to go with their hay until we returned home. No mess, no problems, they just happily eat away. Priceless!
Cris Martin, British Columbia, Canada March 20, 2011
I was finally able to get my hands on two of the six feeders that you shipped to the Horse Barn in Kamloops and I want you to know I am very happy with them. They work as advertised and give me great peace of mind when I am working long days and not always able to feed the horses in a timely fashion. It is such a load off my mind to know that are eating they way nature intended whether I am there or not. As an added bonus, riding no longer revolves around their feedings, which means I can often squeeze in a quick ride after work or first thing in the morning.) Both horses took to the feeders quickly, no problems whatsoever. Right now it is quite icy here and the horses are enjoying shoving the feeders around like giant curling stones. I have been grabbing all my horse friends by the lapels and shaking them until they promise to buy these for their horses.
Thank you for a great product.
Best wishes, Cris Martin
Ruth McDermott, Iowa, April 25, 2011
I wanted to say thank you to the folks at The Natural Feeder for agreeing to donate a feeder as a prize to the 2011 State Show!! This makes them a Banner Sponsor. Whoever wins this feeder is very lucky.
I bought one this spring after raking and hauling load after load of hay out of the pasture that was ruined by my horses when they pulled it out of of the manger to eat it on the ground of their sheds. So a lot was walked on and muddied and ruined. We have fed that way for years but this year, after seeing ads and a demonstration of the feeder, I finally had enough, and took the plunge and ordered a Natural Feeder.
It is light enough that I can move it around and heavy enough it will not blow away. Very little of the hay is lost to the ground and the horses take all day to eat it. In bad weather I can keep it in the shed and in nice weather I can place it outside in the pasture. The 2nd best part is that if you keep it outside you can move it with every feeding so you don't get bare spots and mud holes in your pasture. The best part is that a petite sized woman can operate all of it alone! You don't need a tractor or another person to help you.
The feeder is sturdy and has stood up to abuse from the 3 horses at my place for weeks now and it is still solid and in good condition. As a person with not a lot of disposable income I thought on this for almost a year before I purchased the feeder...and I am happy I finally bought it. And NO I do not get a discount for telling you about the feeder either.
The folks at The Natural Feeder are great to work with & they returned calls when I had questions after it was delivered. They also called me a few days ago to see how it was working out. Nice people and good product. Developed locally right here in Iowa!! You can see a demonstration on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FELSmJ_ppk or check out their website at http://thenaturalfeeder.com/
Ruth
Bonnie Flitsch, Minnesota, May 3, 2011
Tried the feeders out on Saturday. AWESOME!!!!! Of course, my horse, clown that he is, grabbed it by the end with his teeth and stood it on end!! They are all getting used to it and I think they prefer to eat out of it rather than to eat hay out of the tires. I throw a handful in the tires to give them something to do while I fill the feeders and they keep coming over to eat out of the feeder. They weren’t happy when I changed the size of the grate, but all seem used to that now too.
Update 12-5-11: I had to laugh the other day. I put hay in the blue feeder and in two tractor tires. They still prefer to eat out of the blue feeder! . They really like it!
Debby Young, Nevada, May 3, 2011
Feeder is working great. I only wish it were big enough to hold a 3 string bale of hay. Horses would rather eat from the feeder than the hay nets in the barn, even in bad weather. So the horses are pretty happy!
Jennifer Waldriff, Minnesota, May 4, 2011
I wanted to let you know that my horses love the natural feeder. It took them all of 30 seconds to figure out how to get the hay out of it. Needless to say it is well worth the money I spent for the feeder. It was great talking to both of you and I hope you will be at the expo next year. You have a great product!
Sincerely
Jennifer
Deb & Denny Fjelstad, Wisconsin, May 4, 2011
I have to say I really think you guys have developed the perfect solution to hay waste and overfeeding horses. At this time of year, our horses are a bit spoiled with wandering back and forth to the pasture. Our pasture doesn't last all that long though and so the feeder is the perfect match to pasture grazing. They've always had us "well trained" by standing by the feed bunk and begging for hay when the pasture wore down. Now that we are working on breaking that bad habit, they are becoming much more self sufficient! They have sure tested us for some time though to see if we'd continue to make life super simple for them. Old habits die hard.The hay in the feeder lasts much longer than any we've thrown to them in the past. And the best part is that they actually are more relaxed and resting in between feeding, instead of gorging themselves. They can act like horses afterall ~lol. I continue to be glad we saw you at the Expo.
Lewis White, Alabama, June 3, 2011
Wanted to update on the feeder. At first glance I was skeptical that the draft boys would ever progress lower than the "large" grate. Boy was I wrong. They are currently using the small grate and it has definitely slowed their eating. No more blowing through half a bale in 3 hrs and looking for more! We have no waste on the ground even when they turn the feeder over or move it across the lot---Yes, this feeder has taken some abuse. 3yr old drafts seem to view everything as a toy that they can "play" with or drag around. It is a credit to the construction of your feeder that it stands up to the daily workout. (bunk feeders don't fair very well at all!!) It is easy to move, easy to use and the fact that it doesn't pool water in the bottom is just the cherry on top of the sundae.
We are loving the feeder here in Alabama. Thanks so much, Lewis White
Val, Canada, July 1, 2011
The feeder has been wonderful. We are working our way to the smallest grid rather quickly, as he is amazingly adept at pulling the hay out. The feeder has been a huge asset in all the mud and rain we're experiencing here. It was definitely worth the money for us.Thanks for all your help and taking the time to talk to me, Val
Cheryl & Russ Champine, WI, July 30, 2011
I love my new feeder, we just ordered our second one to have ready to go when the third
horse comes home from training. We found the hay feeders at the MN Horse Expo, I told my husband I wasn't going home without one!!! I had a hard time every summer not being able to have my horses on pasture grazing due to the sandy soil conditions we have here. Grass simply does not grow well. Now my horse's can "graze" all day which is much healthier for them then the twice a day hay feedings. No more boredom and chewing on the trees and wood in the shelter. They are more content and not craving the grass outside the fence.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Champine
Cozy Acres
Birgit Wilson, AZ November 13, 2011 
These are my two geldings Senior Mickey Jet and Gleams Sensation with their new Natural Feeder. They love it and I am loving it, too. I don’t feel guilty anymore, that they have to go hungry. Here in AZ I have to give the horse everything they eat, because I don’t have pastures. Just Sand. So I am glad, I found this solution. I hope that the Palomino will lose some weight because he is never going to run out of food again. Thank you for this invention
Birgit Wilson, AZ
Ashley Fawkes-Sylver, MA November 27, 2011
I used to have a mechanical, metal feeder. It worked well for about four years then started to disintegrate. It only
held about three large flakes. Yours is such a great improvement. One bale lasts a full 24 hours with my two horses and I love that it has no mechanical parts to break and no sharp metal. It is easy to move so I can use it both inside and out. Already after 1 day, the boys are "not all about food." I love that the best! When Guenther whinnies at me I know it isn't about food becasue he is standing at the feeder, grazing & very content.
Thanks, Ashley
Julie & John Erickson, MN December 5, 2011
We sure love our feeders. No waste and a controlled feeding program all in one. Feeders pay for themselves with the hay savings. These feeders are the best! Hope to see you around.
Note: Julie is a top10 world barrel racer, and has placed at the world show many times!
Linda Lane, IN December 8, 2011
I've had my Natural Feeder about a month now and wanted to tell you that I love this product! My mare is in an enclosure with absolutely no forage. Because of my work schedule I was only able to feed her early in the morning and then not again until I came home from work 10 hours later. If I left a lot of hay out she ate most of it right away.She also wasted a great deal of it by scattering it. Since using your feeder, she is much calmer because she is able to 'graze' all day.There is so little waste that I will pay for the feeder in hay cost savings within one year. The feeder is very sturdy, but easy to load and move. The construction is such that I do not have to worry about the risk of injury due to sharp edges or broken pieces (you know how rough horses can be on feeders!). Thanks again for developing a simple solution to a big problem. I am telling everyone I know about the Natural Feeder.
Linda
Jane Knaak, MN December 13, 2011
And now, for an update.....I've now switched to the medium g
rate. It's so neat to watch him eat....he literally grazes his way across the feeder, nibbling from one opening to the next & then back again. But the best part is he's not frantic for feeding time anymore!! Even though I had put out a lot of hay, he was a very messy eater, always tossing the hay from the hay tub & then eating off the ground, meanwhile, stepping & pooping on it also. There was a lot of wasted hay! I'm actually picking up manure piles now instead of manure & piles of hay! I can see where this feeder will easily pay for itself in a short amount of time! The other day I got home late. Normally he would have been calling for me the minute I stepped out of the truck. Instead he was munching away from his feeder, perfectly content! I wish I would have found out about this feeder a long time ago!! Thank you for a great product!!
Marty Benoy, TX (and Hottie and Toby) January 31, 2012
I've been meaning to write you both and tell you how much my two guys are loving the new feeder. I guess we are on our second full week and they think it's great to have hay all the time. It took a couple of days for my mare to be generous and another couple for the gelding to realize it wasn't going away, but now they are sharing and comfortable with it completely.We've moved to the smallest grate and the transition went well. We've also survived our first rain day (8 inches) and there were no problems at all!!Thank you again for offering the product and thank you, Jeff, for meeting us to deliver the feeder.I'm telling everyone I know about it - so hopefully you will hear from a few friends.This is Hottie and Toby loving their new feeder.
Sherri Turner, WY January 31, 2012
I wanted to let you know how much I like The Natural Feeder I ordered over a year ago. I've been using one for my two mustangs and I just love it. The horses are kept eight miles from my home which use to take a lot of time (not to mention fuel) to drive out there twice a day. However, I can now feed just once a day and they aren't hungry when I get out there the next day. Both of them are maintaining proper weight and their attitudes are improved. Another bonus is their hay does not blow away like it use to in our frequent Wyoming winds, saving me even more money. Please put me on your waiting list for two more this year and hopefully I can get a couple more next year.
Thanks again,
Sherri Turner
