HAYTIME™ Automatic Horse Feeder by Jigs and Co.

Horses are built to nibble forage almost continuously. Left to their own devices, they graze roughly every few hours, and their stomachs produce acid the entire time, whether or not there is hay to buffer it. The HAYTIME Automatic Horse Feeder by Jigs and Co. was created to bring that natural, steady rhythm back into the stall, dispensing timed flakes of hay through the night and across long days so a horse is never left for hours with an empty gut.

Mounted to the wall and powered entirely by batteries, HAYTIME holds two flakes of dry hay in two independent bins. You set the schedule, load the hay, and the unit takes over: at each programmed time a bottom door swings open and drops a fresh flake, mimicking the way a horse would naturally seek out forage on its own. No outlets, no stall rewiring, no industrial electrical hardware in the same space as your horse.

Why does timed forage matter so much for horse health?

Long gaps between meals are one of the biggest drivers of equine gastric ulcer syndrome, a condition estimated to affect more than half of all horses, and they are linked to colic, equine metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and the stall-bound boredom that turns into cribbing and weaving. A stabled horse that finishes its evening hay at 8 p.m. and waits until a 7 a.m. breakfast spends the whole night producing stomach acid with nothing to neutralize it. HAYTIME closes that overnight gap by delivering a flake while you sleep, and it lets you stretch out daytime feedings without rushing home or hiring help to cover the barn.

How does the HAYTIME feeder actually work?

Setup is deliberately simple. You program the timer for the feeding schedule you want, load one flake of dry hay into each of the two bins, and mount the unit to the wall with the included screws and washers. Each bin runs on its own timing and can be set to open twice a day, for up to four scheduled feedings in total, and a single loading can carry a horse through about twelve hours of automatic releases. The feeder measures 25 inches high by 17.5 inches wide by 19.5 inches deep, weighs around 27.5 pounds empty, and runs on nine AA batteries that are included in the box.

The body is molded from the same kind of durable, flexible plastic used in stable fittings, with soft rounded edges and no sharp metal hardware exposed to the horse. Because it dispenses whole flakes rather than forcing hay through grates or mesh, it sidesteps the frustration and stress some horses feel with slow feeders, and it delivers real long-stem forage instead of relying on pellets alone. The design is patent pending.

Who is behind Jigs and Co.?

Jigs and Co. is an independent, woman-owned company founded by Dr. Amanda Getto, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine who has been around horses since her teenage years and competed as a dressage rider. The company and the feeder are named for her own horse, Jigs. When Jigs developed gastric ulcers, Dr. Getto went looking for an automated way to keep hay in front of him on a natural schedule, found nothing on the market that fit, and built HAYTIME herself. The product is guided by a small bench of equine health advisors, including veterinarians Dr. Hollie Schramm and Dr. Nadia Saklou.

What do horse owners say about HAYTIME?

Owners who keep ulcer-prone, hard-keeping, or boredom-driven horses describe HAYTIME as both a health tool and a return of their own freedom. "I have a 25-year-old Ottb who is a hard keeper and ulcer prone but gets overwhelmed if he has too much hay, leading to waste," writes Colleen G. of Ohio. Debbie S. of Washington adds, "I love the freedom Haytime has allowed me, I no longer need to rush home from evenings away to feed them." Emma P. of Ohio notes, "We've primarily used the feeders to prevent boredom and hay waste overnight and it has helped tremendously in both scenarios." Haley B. of Tennessee sums it up simply: "It is so easy to set up, the customer service is phenomenal, and I have so much peace of mind."