The Problem
We have three horses. Two are what they call easy-keepers. They pretty much get fat on air. Not really, but it doesn’t take much to keep them at a healthy body weight and condition. Our other horse is constantly struggling with weight. He’s 18-years-old and considered a senior now, so this struggle is only going to continue. ( He doesn’t have worms or anything like that. ) So, we had a dilemma in regards to how we fed hay. Pendleton needed to free feed all day, and Willow & Rowdy needed to be forced to slow down or they would inhale their day’s worth of hay within an hour.
Why DIY?
We searched and searched for slow feeder solutions. We tried hay nets for awhile. They were great until clever Rowdy figured out he could rip them open and gorge himself. We looked at other options, and they just seemed too expensive for our budget. So, we of course decided to build slow feeders ourself. Now I don’t have a tutorial or building material list because I’m not the builder. Husband is. But, I’m sharing with you detailed pictures of each so that you can recreate them if you’re handy and in need of a slow-feeder solution.
The Project
The Result
Please excuse how worn the feeders look. I didn’t think to take pictures of them until about a year after we have been using them. You can see how they’ve held up. There is very little hay waste so therefore less wasted money. The horses are able to eat forage steadily throughout the day and not all in one sitting. Our Rowdy is so clever that he has broken a couple of the grids, but it hasn’t been a big deal. We just pull them out and staple or nail the pieces back together. Each slow-feeder box cost about $50 to make. Ours were cheaper since we used our scrap leftovers. Either way, it’s way better than paying over $300 for one!
thehomesteadkings.com 
I don’t own horse but I have friends that do and this is a great idea. I will have to share it with them later. Thanks.