40/ APRIL 2020 THE RIDER OptiMize Feeding Hay: for You and Your Horses


By Sue Wilson. Getting home late from work and seeing


their horses pacing the fence was always stressful for Carol and Barry. Their 7 horses live outside most of the time in 3 paddocks at their hobby farm near Uxbridge. Fresh hay was fed every morning and evening, but often the horses would gobble or partially waste their ration, and then they would be hungry and impatient by their next feeding. Horses evolved to consume small amounts


of forage gradually throughout the day and night. A recent article reported that horses spend about 10 to 17 hours each day grazing, and that this is broken up into about 15 to 20 grazing periods. (Barry, can we link the reference: Production and Environmental Implications of Equine Grazing) In Ontario, our grazing season is limited by our climate, so we rely on feeding hay as forage for many months of the year. But trying to simulate natural grazing with hay can be challenging. The experts agree that horses should have hay available all the time, as long as consumption is moderated.*


Over the past 10 years, we have kept a small


herd of horses at our farm near Guelph. We strive to keep our horses safe and healthy in a natural environment. One of our goals is to let them al- ways have access to forage. However, we quickly learned that when forage was unrestricted hay, a lot of it was wasted and our easy-keeping rocky mountain horses grew obese. So, we have tried numerous systems that would reduce waste and moderate hay consumption. We also learned that our system had to be practical and above all, safe for our horses. We started with slow feeding hay bags and


found that there is a wide range of styles and qual- ity available. Trial and error taught us that soft, high strength knotless nylon nets last a long time and are gentle on the horses’ lips, teeth and tongues. The hay bags worked well when we hung them low to the ground, but that was not always possible. We did not like hanging them unnatu- rally high to keep them out of the danger of en- tanglement in horseshoes. Another challenge with hay bags was the time it took to collect them all up, fill them, and then rehang them around our paddocks. For our herd of 8 horses, that single task took well over an hour every day in the win- ter.


We also used the first generation hay Opti-


Mizers. These feeders were invented in 2004 by Matthew Bulmer who is a hay farmer near Guelph. The first generation feeders were de- signed to hold 2 small square bales of hay, with a screen that floated down as the hay was con- sumed. They were easy and fast to load, signifi- cantly reduced waste and sturdily made out of galvanized steel. The horses ate their hay in a nat- ural head down position, but we found while the 6” grill on the screen slowed our horses’ hay con- sumption … it was not enough. In 2018, we started to work with Matthew


to develop a new OptiMizer that would incorpo- rate slow feed netting. Carefully considering our requirements, Matthew built 4 prototypes which we tested and kept improving for our 8 horses. Two breakthroughs were:


1. Using a rotomoulded base (I call it the manger), which is designed with smooth, beveled edges. This base is made from the same polymer


Update on Ancaster Fairgrounds


used to make playground equip- ment, so it is super safe, durable, temperature and UV resistant. It is also lightweight, so we can reposition the OptiMizer around our paddocks. 2. A stainless haynet assem- bly that is really quick and easy to open and close. We tried sev- eral sources of knotless nylon nets (Canadian, Asian), and tested 2”, 1 ½ “ and 1 ¼” netting. The integrity of the Canadian sourced nets was superior - with no holes in 18 months and count- ing!


During prototype testing,


we braided a GPS into the tail of our alpha horse and monitored his position every minute for over 1,000 hours. We studied his location in our barn and paddocks ver- sus time of day and weather conditions. Among other things, this data helped us choose the 2” net- ting for our horses to simulate the best amount and quality of grazing time. We also measured our hay consumption and conservatively estimated that the prototypes saved 150 bales of hay over 6 months. Hay savings were due to less waste (hanging hay bags results in some waste under the bags) and less overeating from the first generation hay OptiMiz- ers.


At our routine spring vet check in 2019, our


veterinarian concluded that our horses had their best winter ever: all horses were in great health and our easy keepers were not (too) fat and our hard keepers were in excellent condition. (One of the hard keepers is a 17 year old, off-the-track thor- oughbred, that was not blanketed and did not re- ceive additional winter grain.) That was the final verification we needed, and so we decided to com- mercialize the next generation OptiMizer, with a target to introduce the product at the Royal Agri- cultural Winter Fair in Toronto in November, 2019. Fast forward 7 months, and the new Opti-


Mizer was front and centre in System Equine’s awesome booth at the Royal. And that is where Carol and Barry come back into this story. I hap- pened to be at the booth when they visited. After discussions with me, System Equine and our man- ufacturer in Newmarket, they decided to try an Op- tiMizer. After the first big snowstorm in December,


they were hooked and bought an OptiMizer for each of their paddocks. On January 19, 2020 I re- ceived this lovely email from Carol: “So pleased with the hay optimizer that after


buying our first one, we decided to buy two more. I love the fact that the horses are so content. They no longer pace the fence waiting for their hay. I feel calmer too as I don’t have to race home from work to get their evening hay out. I also love the conven- ience of being able to put two bales of hay in at a time. The horses slowly eat their hay through the soft netting and there is no waste! Thank you for designing such a great product.” This winter has been pretty easy for feeding hay at our farm near Guelph. Our herd is now 6 horses of which 3 are easy keepers and 3 are hard keepers. We only need 2 OptiMizers and feed hay once a day. The horses always have hay and all look and feel great. To learn more about our story and the Opti-


Mizer, please visit our website at www.hayopti- mizer.net. OptiMizers are available for sale at several fine retailers in Ontario.


Sue Wilson Founder, Wishing Well Services Ltd.


*survey of attendees at the International Sympo- sium of Equitation Science, University of Guelph, August 2019. 82% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed to “Horses should have access, all the time, to free-choice hay as long as consumption is restricted (e.g. hay nets or slow feeders).”


has launched its Rooted in the Community – Growing for the Future Capital Campaign. In- terim financing has been secured to cover the con- struction phase of the project which is estimated at $4.5 million. The Society would like to provide an opportunity for others to make an impact by offering various sponsorship opportunities and by seeking donations. The AAS is looking for part- ners that would like to be involved in the project. There are several “naming rights” opportunities that could be claimed, depending on the size of the capital donation. Funding support through grants and fundraising activities will also be pur- sued.


taken a little longer than anticipated, but progress is being made. Site plan amendment approvals are in the final stages and the tender package will be


The City of Hamilton approval process has


Fairgrounds on a daily basis, but the question everyone is asking is “when is the new building going up?” In order to not disrupt current event bookings, the plan is to start construction of the new 75,000 sqft equestrian, livestock and events building right after the Ancaster Fair at the end of September 2020, with estimated completion in early summer 2021. A beautiful new 150’x365’ outdoor sand ring has already been installed in preparation for the new Build. “For this summer only, we have 4 outdoor rings available.” said Tammy Quinn, Manager. The Ancaster Agricultural Society (AAS)


Many things are happening at the Ancaster


Martina Arth (Volunteer Sponsorship coordinator) martina@ancasterfair.ca 905-648-6198


tunities and how you can help, contact Al Payne (Capital Campaign Chair) at Al Payne payneal- lan@outlook.com 905 541 8490, or Tammy Quinn (Manager)


tammy@ancasterfair.ca or


easy access off of major highways and the Hamil- ton International Airport. They see over 400,000 visitors each year, with events happening every weekend. The expansion of the facilities fills a void for the lack of available equestrian, livestock and events facilities in Southern Ontario. “Our current facilities are at capacity and it is rare to find a free weekend throughout the year” says Quinn. The ultimate goal is to create a legacy en- riching agricultural heritage in the community for future generations. For more information on Sponsorship oppor-


issued shortly. Plans were delayed when it was discovered the Agricultural Society would have to pay $1.4 million in development charges. There was an oversight in a bylaw that was ap- proved last year that should have exempted all Agricultural Societies in the City of Hamilton from paying development charges. Thanks to the work of Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, and City Fi- nance staff, a solution that provided the Agricul- tural Societies with a compassionate grant was found so the development charges would not need to be paid unless the property is sold. The Fairgrounds are in a prime location with


Whispering Hearts


is a non-profit organization that relies on public support and donations.


Our mandate is to provide care and


rehabilitation to abused and neglected horses. We assist community members that can no longer care for their horses in an


attempt to prevent innocent animals being subjected to auctions and slaughter.


Visit our website to see how you can help!


Hagersville, ON (905) 768-9951


www.whhrescue.com whhr08@gmail.com


Where the Whispers of Many Horses in need are Heard!


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