1. What are your favorite Uncle Jimmy products?
Uncle Jimmy’s Hangin’ Ball! I started using that when I was looking for a product to put into our stalls to keep our horses from getting bored. We ride a lot of 2- and 3-year-olds and I wanted a product that would keep them occupied while being something that they wouldn’t go through too quickly. I have found it to be a great product to not only keep the horses from becoming bored, but it also helps them stretch their necks. We hang the balls around 12″ above each horse’s wither height and it works beautifully. At that height they don’t go through the balls too quickly and they have to stretch their necks up to reach them, which is good for them. Wild horses will stretch up to eat from the trees, but stabled horses rarely do that so this is a great way to encourage that natural behavior.

2. Which of the Hangin’ Balls are your favorite?
We’ve tried all the types of Hangin’ Balls. They are all great but my favorites are the molasses and the apple.

3. Do you ever have a problem with your horses getting sticky faces after using the Hangin’ Balls?
No, we don’t. I think you have to have them hung from the right height. We hang ours about a foot above the withers and we really have no problem with anything sticky being on their faces. Sometimes you have to adjust that up or down, but about 12″ is a good rule of thumb. And we have 30 of the Hangin’ Balls hanging up at our farm, one in each stall, so we have a pretty good idea about how to hang those balls.

4. Do you feed your horses treats throughout the day?
I do feed them. In fact, I have one mare, whom I showed just last week, that if she does well she looks for a treat. But if she doesn’t do well she doesn’t even ask for one.

In addition to feeding treats during training we give treats when giving shots. I find that really helps in getting them to behave well for me.

5. What is your favorite thing about Uncle Jimmy’s products?
I think that Jim and his team put a lot of thought into the products and we’ve always had tremendous success with the products. Our horses have to feel good in order to perform well, and I have found that the Hangin’ Balls are a big part of why my horses do so well. I don’t have cribbers or horses that weave or pace. In fact, I even did a little study on the horses and I found that I use less GastroGuard because of the Hangin’ Balls. We believe in the Balls so much that we even take them to the shows with us and hangin the Balls in the horses’ stalls there.