"Breakaway" Shelf?

Question

Mr. Horse is part or all thoroughbred, isn't a good doer, and needs lots of grain to keep his weight up.

Mr. Pony (AKA Founder-Boy) is a greedy bastard who could live on thistles and air, but he's smart and he likes grain. Unfortunately it makes him fat in the long run, and in the short run it can make him founder (he's foundered more than once before, so he's particularly susceptible).

Our feeding stalls are laid out with a shelf about 18" high, for feed, and a window into the feed bay about 30" high. The windows are high enough that Mr. Pony can't reach through to get hay piled up on the floor of the feed bay, but Mr. Horse can.

Recently, Mr. Pony has learned that he can step up on the shelves and eat all the hay that he wants. Not only does this make him fat (and more prone to foundering), the shelves aren't strong enough for him, and he's already punched a hoof through the surface of one of them which just ain't safe.

So the horses are locked out of the feeding stalls while we ponder.

I'm thinking of replacing the shelves with something akin to a breakaway basketball basket -- i.e. something that'll handle the strain of Mr. Horse licking the thing clean, but will collapse when Mr. Pony tries to stand on it.

But I need a latch -- I'm thinking that a good strong magnet working on an iron strap would work, but would attract crap. Alternately, something akin to a BIG cabinet latch would do.

It has to support probably between 20 and 100 pounds of eagerly-licking horse, but not the 500 pounds of the front half of the pony, and in the "breakaway" position it can't have any protrusions that may cut up a (likely alarmed) equine.

Any suggestions?

charlie · Accepted Answer

a set of hinges and a couple large supermagnets buried into the shelf, and a piece of iron in the wall.

Tim Wescott · Answer

That's high on the list of possibilities.

Bob La Londe · Answer

How about pony burgers?

stans4 · Answer

Alternative, spring-load the shelf ala those dish handlers they use in cafeterias. Spring is stiff enough to hold up feed plus eager heads, heads floorward on a wall-mounted track or tracks when stomped on. Might need some sort of damping on the return stroke( car or mortorcycle shock?). Or use a pulley+counterweight instead of the spring, still would need the damper.

Stan

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh · Answer

"Bob La Londe"  fired this volley innews:gt7pic$t4a$     How about some gas springs with slow recovery?  The shelf would simply collapse under the weight, then gradually (rather than suddenly and dangerously) right itself.LLoyd

Tim Wescott · Answer

I suggested wrapping a come-along around the little bastard's neck and tightening it until grain couldn't get through, but SWMBO took a dim view of that (they're her horses).

Roger Shoaf · Answer

My thought is perhaps you can train Mr. Pony not to climb. My friend had a horse I used to enjoy petting. One time about 5 years ago I leaned a little too close to the hot wire while petting the horse and the path to ground went through the horses nose. To this day the horse will not come close enough to take a carrot from me.

Perhaps you could rig a photo electric beam in such a way as the taller horse could feed with out getting zapped but the smaller horse standing on the shelf would get zapped if he was sticking his nose where it did not belong?

Very pavlovian, but probably effective.

Joseph Gwinn · Answer

A simpler approach would be to rig it so the juice comes on if the weight on the shelf exceeds say 200 pounds. The natural deflection of the shelf under load plus a well-placed microswitch ought to do it.

Joe Gwinn

"Breakaway" Shelf?

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