NEW!  From Happy Horse UK, a range of Hay Steamers to suit every yard and every horse owner, bringing to Australia the benefits of steaming hay to improve the nutitional value of your hay, and therefore the health and wellbeing of your horse.  Hay Steaming has great advantages over feeding dry hay or against tradtional soaking, particularly in our dry climate.
Click to view the Stable Mate, the TF Portable or the Traveller Hay Steamer.

Why should I be steaming my horse's hay?
1. Help prevent respiratory disease and problems: Our increasingly changeable climate means that good quality hay has become extremely difficult to find and repeated exposure to the dust, dust mites and fungal spores in poor quality hay can permanently damage your horse's respiratory system. Steam is used by the Medical and Veterinary professions for sterilization - they do NOT simply wash their instruments in fresh, cold water and the same principles and benefits apply to steamed hay. Steaming your hay ensures that fungal spores, bacteria and dust mites are killed off (something that is not done simply by soaking) and all potentially airborne dust particles are sufficiently dampened down and neutralized, helping to prevent respiratory damage.

2. Steaming retains the nutritional value of the Hay: We have all been told, "If you steam your vegetables you retain all the 'goodness'". When we soak hay we lose much of the nutritional value as essential vitamins and minerals are leached out into the soaking water and then thrown down the drain! In comparison, steaming hay ensures that all the nutritional goodness is retained in the hay, thus ensuring a well balanced, natural diet for your horse.

3. Helps you save money: A Happy Horse Hay Steamer is an investment. While there most certainly is the initial outlay to consider, many of our customers feel that the systems can save them money in the long run. When you soak your hay, the vitamins and minerals lost into the water must be replaced in your horse's diet through extra feed or expensive supplements, but with steaming your horse is able to get maximum nutritional value from his hay. Additionally, by helping to prevent respiratory disease you could help to reduce illness in your horse and so avoid costly vet bills or missed competition expenses!
View the Independent Test Results Here.

4. Easy and convinent to use: Happy Horse Hay Steamers are incredibly easy and convenient to use. Simply fill the hay chamber with hay, fill the steam generator with water, switch on and off it goes! If you have ever had the misfortune to need to soak hay on a regular basis, you will know what a messy and unpleasant job it is. A Happy Horse Hay Steamer will make all this mess and hassle a thing of the past.

5. Helping reduce environmental damage: Waste water from steaming hay is significantly less polluting than waste water from soaking hay. The vitamins and minerals that are leached out of the hay into the water dramatically increases the biological oxygen demand (BOD) of the water left behind, which is a measure of how polluted a water supply. Research undertaken by Myerscough College on behalf of Happy Horse Products found that waste water from soaking hay is highly polluted, with an excessively high BOD - up to 6 times greater than that found in the waste water from steaming hay.  Additionally, it can take up to 50 litres of water to fill a container suitable for soaking hay, whereas it takes just 7 litres to steam a full standard square bale in a Happy Horse Hay Steamer, so the sheer volume of waste water from soaking is a huge issue too.

Did you see Happy Horse Haysteamers at Equitana 2010? (or did you smell that lovely, fresh smell in the Epsom Hall?)  Southern Stars Saddlery is proud to bring you this fabulous innovation in horse health.