bale feeders causing neck damage?

05jackd

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8 January 2014
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I might be way off the mark here but I just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar.

I have a mix of big youngsters and ridden ponies.

I have noticed that two of the horses are starting to almost get a ewe neck. One is an older mare who is very fit and competes up to elementary in dressage and goes a huge amount of hacking. She works correctly and in a good outline. Second horse is only just broken and gets ridden as and when. No serious work.

They share a field with a cattle hay feeder and I often see them reaching in to ring the hay in the middle. In general they would spend several hours at the feeder through out the day. They both now have an 'upside down' bow in their neck and I am seriously wondering if it is from the feeder?

Youngsters are not showing this. They are a similar size but they are only yearlings.

Has anyone else noticed similar?
 
I always pull the Haylage to the sides for them so they don’t have to reach in, not least because it's quite a vulnerable position for a horse to be in when leant right towards the middle
 
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