Expensive small hole haynet - worth the money?

Snowy Celandine

Snowy Celandine

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Please excuse all my numpty questions but is it worth investing in one of the more expensive small holed haynets? Do they really last longer than your normal nets? Any recommendations as there are a few makes available (assuming they're worth buying)?
 
I'd recommend Martsnets on Facebook - less than half the price and just as tough.
HOWEVER be aware imo that they can cause neck problems.....Martsnets make haylage nets in personalised colours as well which are incredibly hard wearing too

https://www.facebook.com/martsnets.co.uk/
 
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Don't think so - spent all my pocket money on one once and it was shredded in 2 minutes. Try double netting or get a hay bag - they're very good and you can get ones with non-rippable material, which is what I've got now haha :D.
 
Will take a look at martsnets but I'm sorry I don't understand about the neck problem aspect. Please can you explain? Thank you. Would I be better off feeding from the floor? I was going to do a mixture of both.

ester, no, she's not shod and neither is her companion. Again, can you explain that to me please? Is it in case she got caught up in the net overnight?

Jill, I'm looking at the Shires ones on Amazon but they get one star from 4 out of 5 reviewers who say they don't have small holes and are not even by Shires! That put me off straightaway.
 
Another 'beginner' question - what size of haynet do I need? What capacity I mean. Both ponies are good doers and I haven't a clue how much hay I should actually feed :o I'm going over to the yard soon to talk to my lovely YO and will ask a million questions and take copious notes but I want to try to get some knowledge into my brain box before that if possible :o
 
The very very small holed hay nets, because they dispense only a tiny amount of hay per pull at the net, can cause the horse to become frustrated and and yank VERY hard at the net - I know of two horses that a chiro diagnosed tightness in the poll and neck which stopped when then went back to to haylage nets. (I'm talking about the "slow feeder" "trickle" net size mesh ones here, not the 35mm haylage nets)

My Martsnets are about 5 years old now and survived hay soaking for several hours a day for two of those years. Lovely company and you can have any colour you choose.
I had red, black and white. I had the 4 ft nets I think for a show cob weighing 600kg, they easily held 5-6kg (10-12 lbs) of hay each. If that helps?
 
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Thanks for the further info jnb :) I will add it to my list of questions for YO but I do like those nets, especially if you can potentially have them in your own favourite colours.
 
Just be aware that as he makes them while he's at sea (on an oil rig, I think?) you need to order them in advance possibly a few weeks as they are made to order.
Unless of course they have what you want in stock.
 
Golly, that's a great way for him to pass the time! I'll talk to YO first and maybe bring her normal nets home with her when she comes here and then order the marts nets :)
 
I've bought genuine trickle nets in the past. My horses can't get anything out of them, plus they are incredibly heavy. I don't use mine.
 
I had a trickle net for my old mare but it wore her teeth in a strange way as she yanked haylage out. It may have just been her, but it's something I would keep an eye on.
 
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.
 
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
 
I liked the look of a hay feeder that was linked to on a thread yesterday - of course, I can't remember who makes it! It can go out in the field and was pictured with 3 horses sharing it. Not sure how it would be here, it would probably have b!own away this week!
 
I agree nets are far from ideal but everything else I have tried either blows away or the hay gets devoured far too quickly by the greedy, prone-to-weight-gain mare that lives here. I would like a big hay hutch - need to save up!
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Jill, I'm looking at the Shires ones on Amazon but they get one star from 4 out of 5 reviewers who say they don't have small holes and are not even by Shires! That put me off straightaway.
Click to expand...

I got mine from Wynnstay locally, having looked at the ones in Robinsons a week or two before, and they were different (better and cheaper) in Wynnstay. Have you got a saddler or similar near you to check them out before you buy?
I use mine as hayballs, on the ground in the field with the neck cord tied back on itself and then all loops tied up as well, so long as it isn't too muddy. Work well, particularly as none of mine wear shoes but I think the mesh on the Shires ones is too thick to catch under a heel. I like the metal ring in the base, means I can tie up the neck cord really tight so it isn't a risk.
Or in the stables they are tied into a rack made of a board across the corner, again at floor level but they can't spread the hay across the floor then.
 
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Thanks everyone :) I like the look of that blue container that goes on the ground. Does it have a name please?

Pearl, I know my pony gets some hay fed on the ground at the moment but also a net sometimes. I think I know how to tie them up as I used to travel her with a net but I will definitely ask again to make sure that I am not going to do anything to endanger her. No advice can be too basic for me so please do keep giving me any pointers that you can everyone as I want to learn to do this properly from the outset :)
 
I use tricklenets. Yes they are expensive and heavy, but they last forever, mine have taken all sorts of abuse and any "normal" nets I've tried to use have fallen apart in a few weeks. I use them at ground level only (unshod). When I was stabling regularly I used to always provide a small large-holed net of hay (tied up high) and also loose straw chop in a trug, as it did use to frustrate him when he came in hungry if a tricklenet was all he had to eat. Providing he isn't starving hungry he nibbles from the net without damaging his neck / teeth. These days they are used in the field / yard occasionally as hay pillows with the loose cord securely tied into the net, so if he does get frustrated he just throws it about rather than yanking. In the winter they often end up buried in a mud patch or thrown over a wall and can be easily hosed off and carry on with (so far) no damage done.
 
laura_nash said:
I had one of those, sold it and bought some tricklenets! My thug cob used to tip it over and roll it around the field to get the hay out - so the hay was spread about the field and loads wasted. This was the 2 horse one.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is useful to know.
 
Sparemare said:
I've bought genuine trickle nets in the past. My horses can't get anything out of them, plus they are incredibly heavy. I don't use mine.
Click to expand...

Me too - everything I tried it on got pissed off and just wouldn't eat (none were being dieted though, I'm sure a greedy hungry pony would find a way)
 
I use haylage nets and ordinary large-holed ones. I found that my ponies prefer these as the very small mesh nets really frustrated them. We split the hay between two nets and tie them opposite sides of the stable and put a small amount on the floor for when they first come in - found this works well with ponies - they go from net to net rather than just stand munching in one place.
 
I presume OP is talking about the "Trickle Nets" which have done their turn on here as well as other social media like FB, to boredom-level unfortunately.

The price of them was (back along) £30. For each haynet. Which IMO is silly money. The people selling them will try to justify this by saying that you will soon save this money by the amount of hay that isn't wasted.

I pay £25 for a big size roll of haylage; add another fiver to it and there you have the cost of one of these nets, and (holy wow) look at all the money you've saved!! What tripe, sorry.

What I do buy for my great greedy-guts cob, is one of the smaller-holed bog-standard haylage nets; I buy twice as many as I'll need and then double them up so it really does slow the great gannet down considerably. Much much cheaper!
 
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