On your use of pellets. How long does it take for a horse, to clean them up? Your horses are in great shape, but do you feel, they need something to do all day, if they clean it all up, in say, a half hour?
That is the only draw back with pellets that I have found. They do clean them up fast, the reason I feed 3X's a day. Try to spread it out. I do have a tiny amount of pasture they wonder over to pick at. We have 5 acres divided into several runs. The only horse I have who has some boredom issues is the stud, but he had them before we got him.
I have been using them for about 12 years. There are times, especially winter and early spring when I'm trying to let the grass grow a bit, when I don't let them out in the "pasture runs". They can get bored and eat on things. Giveing them a ball or something to play with helps. But you know I've worked for several ranches that feed 2X's a day, grain and several flakes of hay, and they can go thru that stuff pretty quick too.
IMO, this one draw back is more then balanced out with the quality and less work involved with the pellets. There are ways to keep bad habits from developing, and once you get that figured out, it's not a problem. And the horse really like them. When I go on overnight trail rides, I always take some hay and hang a hay net for them to give them something to do since they are standing tied so long. I have yet to see one of mine even finish off one net full of hay, but really go after the pellets. So I don't think they are missing anything. I think that I ride so much helps also with the boredom.
Becky