Pony problems

I have a 2yr old (Which some of you know) paint gelding.

He has a serious problem of attacking the feed bucket. He paws at it while eating, he throws his feed out of it, he bolts it, he just terrorizes it.

Its a side feeder so its attached to the wall. Before feeding he gets his feet stuck in the bucket pawing at it. If I use a removeable bucket he knocks it over and wastes food. But with the side feeder he knocks the food out of there he just is a pig. I have put rocks in the bucket, I have tried everying that I personally could think of. Have any ideas? I can get infront of him and the feed and he doesn't so anything, no pin his ears or get aggressive. I tried working on his patience, and it just makes him go for the food 10X worse.

Any ideas?

Perhaps wet (soak) his food so that he has to dig through the water to get to his grain...that would help with the bolting, but not the mess...

A feedbag would help with the wasting of the food, but it wouldn't help with bolting.

What about a creep feeder like they have for mares and foals? (at least that would keep him from being able to swirl it around)

Other than that, I guess i'd try feeding him very small amounts at a time (?)

Oh, and I saw this doggie dish that made a lot of sense to me - I don't know how a horse person could duplicate it, but here it is: Brake-Fast Anti-Bloat Bowl - Food & Water Bowls from SmartPak Equine

I'v tried soaking the feed. He still throws it, makes himself sticky, gets it everywhere. He throws it so much he gets it in his water bucket :roll:

I bet you won't like my answer much, but... Some horses are just messy. It's not going away with age. My neighbor's 9 yo tb spits the grain everywhere around the bucked. Lol! And number of horses I worked with are even worse than him.

I did have problems with my horse digging the water bucket like crazy. Not aggressive, but she had fun sticking her leg in and dragging it 10 feet away. What I did I put it on top of the other bucket high enough she couldn't stick her leg in and secured is with the wire around the sick fence post (so she couldn't move it).

that's expesive stuff he is spilling everywhere =[

Does he bolt to the point where he chokes?

If not, the feedbag (although looks silly) would eliminate the waste...

No, but he would tare down the feedbag, trust me. He is a trouble making thing.

He would tear it off of his face?

He would throw it around like a rag doll and yes, he would tare it off his face.

Hmm...might be worth a shot though (i say this because i'm out of ideas) :)