This message is from: "Gail Russell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I got them from a source that is no longer making them. They are not available right now, but when I get some time (or maybe a Fjord list cooperative project?) I am going to try to get more made.
The story is that there is a wine grape farmer in the area of Lodi California who has a couple of quarter horses that he likes to take to team penning events. Often he has to leave early in the morning, and was getting tired of getting up at 5 AM to make sure the horses had been fed before he left. He is also a diesel mechanic. A completely, totally anal diesel mechanic. His shop (which he built) is PRISTINE! It had a huge diesel truck in it that he had just rebuilt the engine on, and I would have eaten off the floor! He is a welder, knows lots about electric (probably does that in the diesel) and is very smart. He designed himself a rotomolded polyethylene feeder that can be left out in the weather, is made using a timing clock that is used by a guy in Texas that puts out food for deer to lure them in so hunters can shoot them....basically creating easy targets. Anyway, this guy invented his feeder, had probably 100 rotomolded in LA, built aluminum parts for the feeder door that opens. He researched all the others on the internet at the time, (including Crickets feeders). I am convinced his were/are the most elegantly designed of all, including the ones currently available made out of metal that are designed more for stall feeding. They clamp onto a pipe panel, but can also be filled with water so they are free standing. The horses fight over them alright, but it does give each a "pile" of their own. They cost $500 plus, and that was a steel about seven years ago. (I found them when UC Davis told me to feed a discharged horse 8 times a day, spread out around the clock as much as possible. I was desperate.) The builder sold all of them out. They would have to cost at least double or more now to build due to the rise in prices of materials and labor. Even at $500, he did not make much at all for his time assembling them. Recently he tried to partner up with a Montana (I think) company that has its own rotomoulding equipment and makes horse feeders. It might have been High Country Plastics. It turned out that the company really did not have the skills to assemble them correctly, and it was just going to cost him money trying to push something forward that was going no where. I recently talked with him about building some more. (I bought ten, and am nervous that they will wear out some day.) He was having too much fun riding his horse, and was feeling like life is too short to deal with the hassle. So...I do not know if there is any way he could be persuaded to start up again. Or whether we could create some kind of Fjord venture capital company that would try to get a bunch built. I suppose, if we created a cooperative to get them built with PREPAID funds, that I might be able to lure him out of "retirement." They are wonderful things! The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
