Expensive small hole haynet - worth the money?

Oops, sorry for being boring :o I'll get me coat :p Seriously though, the re-homing lady has told me to use a small holed haynet and so has my YO so I think I must take notice of that but also investigate other options. Is using two normal small holed nets much different to the trickle nets though?
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Oops, sorry for being boring :o I'll get me coat :p Seriously though, the re-homing lady has told me to use a small holed haynet and so has my YO so I think I must take notice of that but also investigate other options. Is using two normal small holed nets much different to the trickle nets though?
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check what they mean by small-holed nets. My sanctuary pony has what are sold by local agri store as haylage nets - that's what was meant by small-holed in our case - about 2inches rather than the 4 inch haynets
 
Thanks Haniki :) That looks exactly like the ones she's got at the moment, even down to the girly colours. I think I'll stop thinking about fancy expensive nets now to be honest and just wait to see what YO says. I am probably overthinking everything :o
 
sorry I was gymming SC! Not read replies but just to explain myself (wasn't worth it if shod)

My reason being because if you don't attach a haynet to anything and leave it on the floor they 1) can't grab at it so don't pull on their neck constantly.
2) it forces them to eat more slowly because they have nothing to pull against particularly as the net empties, they have to use lips to wiggle it out.

I use nibbleze nets, on the floor unattached. They come in 40mm and 20mm hole versions, F is plenty slow enough with the 40mm, the 20mm has been trialled on a very greedy section A who would empty a double small holed net in a couple of hours and was successful.

You can hang them up too but you can tie them in a special way to make them safe on the floor (and my mum has tied it wrong so many times and it has still been fine!, every time I go home I show her again!)
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Oops, sorry for being boring :o I'll get me coat :p Seriously though, the re-homing lady has told me to use a small holed haynet and so has my YO so I think I must take notice of that but also investigate other options. Is using two normal small holed nets much different to the trickle nets though?
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SC, when the Draft horse arrived here, she was MASSIVE, to the point where the farrier was predicting a bad end, you know how farriers are full of doom and gloom. She was immediately put on a diet, she had a small amount of hay and huge trugs of plain oat straw chaff, she lost the weight that she needed to lose and is now able to have ad-lib hay, which she does not gobble down, because she never felt that her forage was restricted, even if she did think we offered her tasteless stuff.
I realise that you must do what the rescue lady advises but there is a better way!
 
Leo Walker said:
I wont use them anymore the small hole ones just seem to cause back and neck pain where they are so hard to get the hay out. Mine has a haybar and one of these:

Parallax-HAY-PLAY-blue.jpg
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Hi, what are these called & where do they sell them? We have a trickle net which is great, give her hay in a haybar & the trickle net so not starving but slows her down but these look ideal as a slow down tool.
 
Thanks ester, Pearl and everyone else :) I will talk to the rehoming lady again as I think feeding from the floor, albeit in a slower fashion, does sound a far better option after having the facts explained to me. Thanks again for some much needed information and common sense :D
 
Martsnets are great, unless you have a canny cob like mine who just chewed a hole in them once she realized the hay wasn't coming out as fast as she'd like haha
I just started double netting with cheaper haylage nets!
 
I use Shires "greedy feeder" nets. They are tied at neutral level (chest height), and my guys do tend to lip the hay out most of the time, with only the occasional frustrated bite lol.

When there is no grass in the fields, I undo the knot in the neck tie and use them as hay pillows (their stables aren't big enough to use hay pillows indoors). They aren't shod, so there is nothing to catch on/put a foot through.
 
I have used both a hay dome (that ball that Leo Walker posted) and Martsnets for my greedy horse.

For my horse the hay dome was totally ineffective (I am actually looking to sell mine if anyone is interested) as he is very much a horse that lives to eat and he emptied it of hay in abut 30 minutes. It is a shame really as I love the product and think it is an excellent idea to avoid neck strain / similar repetitive strain injuries that they can get from using nets but it sadly doesn't work for my boy.

Martsnets on the other hand have been a huge success. As he lives out all the time I got him the floor feeder ones that are closed up by a bungee cord. Therefore there is nothing for him to get his feet caught in - do note though that this is only recommended for barefoot horses as shod ones could still get the net caught between the shoes and their foot. The holes are small but not small enough to cause frustration and they allow him to get enough hay out at a time whilst stopping him from gorging himself.
 
I have 4 black (large) Shires Greedy Feeders, each with a large hole chewed through it. I have a couple of the smaller size (blue) which are still going strong after 3 years. I have tried just about every small hole net, my fatty still manages to empty them pretty quickly. Nets loose on the floor he just puts his foot on so he has something to pull against. It's a constant struggle to keep the weight off :-(
 
Re the martsnets I'm unconvinced by the knotting and effect on teeth? It was something I liked about the nibbleze.
 
Landcruiser said:
I have 4 black (large) Shires Greedy Feeders, each with a large hole chewed through it. I have a couple of the smaller size (blue) which are still going strong after 3 years. I have tried just about every small hole net, my fatty still manages to empty them pretty quickly. Nets loose on the floor he just puts his foot on so he has something to pull against. It's a constant struggle to keep the weight off :-(
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I really can recommend replacing the hay with plain oat straw chaff, it keeps them eating as much as they want, so no risk of frustration, damaged neck muscles etc or ulcers, and they *do* lose the weight/maintain the desired weight. There are several brands available, I used Honeychop and Halley's.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We only ever use haynets for travelling, even though our horses are not shod.
Horses are developed to eat from the ground, for a net to be high enough to be safe, the horse has to raise its head to eat. That can cause all sorts of muscle/neck/poll/mouth problems. My old RI used to hate haynets because as a child she had seen a pony strangle itself with one, while she was unable to do anything to help. If you decide to use a net, please ask YO to show you how to tie them up high.
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We all know we should feed from the ground. I made my own version of a haybar for my stallion, only for him to pull all the hay out, spread it around and pee on some of it! I don't feel inclined to waste good hay at the price I'm paying to he now has a trickle haynet, which he beats up on, before eating all of it.
 
cundlegreen said:
We all know we should feed from the ground. .
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I suppose it depends how much a healthy horse is worth to you.

IMO, if you set the cost of a bit of wasted hay every day against the cost of a vet bill for treating poll/neck/back problems, it unlikely that the hay will be the more expensive - and if you add in the 'price-' of a comfortable horse, it's a no-brainer.

I must admit that I I had assumed that most people who use nets had been badly advised by YOs who can't see beyond the 'wasted' hay and won't have to pay the vet bill, while, IMO those who advocate small holed nets don't stop to think like a horse or don't think beyond the first problem that they are trying to solve.
 
Pearlasinger - bit of a sweeping generalisation there!

I have fed many horses over many years out of haynets with various sized holes. All my horses have had regular checkups from reputable physios/osteos/chiros. The two I currently use work internationally as well as in the UK - one of them was at the London Olympics.

None of my horses have had issues such as you describe. The only one which did have neck problems was down to an old jumping injury

It's wrong to tar all haynet users with the same brush and accuse us of being ignorant or tight.
 
spacefaer said:
Pearlasinger - bit of a sweeping generalisation there!

I have fed many horses over many years out of haynets with various sized holes. All my horses have had regular checkups from reputable physios/osteos/chiros. The two I currently use work internationally as well as in the UK - one of them was at the London Olympics.

None of my horses have had issues such as you describe. The only one which did have neck problems was down to an old jumping injury

It's wrong to tar all haynet users with the same brush and accuse us of being ignorant or tight.
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The person I quoted said "we all know we should feed from the ground" and went on to say that s/he doesn't do so, hence my reply.

If you disagree with the statement that I was answering, then my comments don't apply to you.
 
I have tried quite a few small holed hay nets, they all have them so I have about twenty, and value for money I like Shires, not the very small holes, I tried those and they just get chewed out. Even the foals learn quickly how to get the hay, and nibble it out. They are about £7 a net, I buy the biggest possible.
I had a martsnet, very well made and but it did get chewed out.
 
Knew a horse that would bite through a small holes haynet once because he got frustrated. Beware if you have a destructive and easily frustrated horse!
 
Regarding feeding from the floor, I use those big ton sacks available from builders' merchants/Amazon to avoid the haylage being spoiled from the ground up. Cut off the handles, roll down the sides to the required height and remember to weight them down with a paving slab or three, unless (like me) you have horses that enjoy improvised kite flying! Yes, they will probably only last six months or so, but at a fiver a bag it's hardly a big expense. I found it put an end to the haylage being toileted on too.
 
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