How do you feed hay?

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vicm2509

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Following on from a previous post, it has now got me wondering how you all feed your hay/haylage?

I am on a large yard with about 50 horses, and everyone I know uses haynets.

I use small holed nets and Baron does not like it when I put it on the floor.

Please feel free to add your reasons.
 
I put on the floor as i have sciatica and my back is too sore to get it up in the rack!! Some of mine wont eat from the rack anyway!!
 
I have 2 horses but could only pick one option so I picked haybar.

However with Lance, if he is getting fat he gets his hay in small holed nets so it lasts longer.
 
I feed it on the floor although it messes up my bed/s. It's so much better for the horse - keeps the neck in a good shape so you don't build up sternocephalic or brachiocephalic muscles too much. I think it also helps with respiratory health as the head position allows drainage of mucus etc.
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Small hole haynets because they're very good doers, and it makes the hay last all night. Also, the haylage is included in the livery price, and YO doesn't like us to feed it from the floor as it is more wasteful.
 
Our 4 outside ones have if from Hay bars, The 3 inside ones have troughs at the back, as it is a converted milking parlour and they have it from there, and the two in the gpt shed have it from hay nets. We would feed it from the floor if we didn't have troughs/hay bars because I think it is more natural, some say it helps with their breathing and easier. The two have haynets because in their stable they have to have a proper straw bed covering the whole floor, and if they hay is on the floor they eat as much straw as they can.
 
I have a small hole haynet so it last him longer as he is a ganit and eats it to fast. He does make a lage hole in his haynets though so he can get it quicker which results in a new net about evey 3 weeks!
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I put on the floor as that is how I feed J at the moment. I'd like to get a hay bar though. Pony has a net as a) doesn't really matter if she builds up wrong muscles as she is not ridden. and b) she has a straw bed and refuses to eat the hay if it gets mixed in!!
 
Haynets in stable at night, I've fed hay on the floor a few times but can't bear it all over their beds, gets everywhere, so I then spend longer mucking out. They have their heads down all day outside.
 
I feed off the floor or for the messy eaters I feed it in a large plastic bucket- they were sold as feed bins and have a lid ( don't use this bit!) and that works quite well.

I feed from the flow to promote good respiratory health and to minimise things in the stables that can get caught in.

I do use haynets when travelling though we stop every hour or so on long journeys and encourage the horses to put there heads down to clear airways. Carrots good way to tempt them to stretch down...
 
I feed in small hole haynets because George is also a gannet, and it lasts him all night this way. I do however worry when I watch him eating from it as he really rips at it and it can't be good for his neck muscles. But if I out it on the floor he tramples it everywhere, and I'm considering a haybar, but I suspect he would just hoover it up.
 
I feed two from the floor, because I feel it is better for them. However, have had to compromise for the other two - one treads hay into the floor so has a hay rack and the other is a very good doer so have now resorted to a small holed haynet for her.
 
No not really - LOL

No that stupid -

Do you soak it? Have you found that when you come to hang it up you get wet front and legs and in the wellies?

I reckon I am going to get a hay rack to save time stuffing nets, the floor is good yes, but makes waste a and messy beds.
 
I always feed it off the floor on the advice of my physio and dentist. One of my horses puts his neck and poll out with a haynet because of the way they have to twist and pull. My dentist says eating from haynets can cause unusual wearing of the teeth from eating at a strange angle.
 
I would love to feed from the floor or a haybar but he won't eat it off the floor, he just poos all over it and he is a cribber so I can see the haybar being wrenched off the wall pretty quickly!
 

Mare and foalie eat it off the floor but mostly because I am paranoid about foalie getting caught up in the haynet.

My other mare has haynets as she poos on it if on the floor so is a waste.
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Although she does 'attack' her haynet like it is a horse-eating monster....
 
Off the floor because if I put it next to his water he will duck it him self! If its in a net he still dunks it in his water but makes more mess and he has to step back and forth, so what's the point saves soaking it to. although I do have a very dirty water bucket every day! His mum did the exact same thing so I guess he thinks that's how he's supposed to eat it!
 
I have had two or three horses dunk their own hay! They tend to drag it across the box, in chunks and dunk. I don't mind the dirty water and they probably don't need a drink by the end of all that dunking!
 
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Wow shilasdair you are a mine of information - are you a trainer/qualified/examiner? do you work with the beasties?

I feed them hay in their mouths.

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Don't be mean.
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none of our five are stabled but do have stables open on the yard for shelter. They all get haylage off the floor. If the weather is nasty, the haylage goes inside, if not, it's outside on the yard. We have two youngsters and can't take the risk of accidents with haynets.
 
Idk if its a haybar exactly, but our stables are built inside a barn, and are the american style, and in the corner of our stables, he has put a peice of wood across, and we put the hay in there, im sure its the same as a haybar though, just without the fancy name across
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I'm feeding from the floor at the moment as they're 7 month old foals and I don't think foals and hay nets tend to mix very well. It does mean that I waste a lot (they quite like lying and pooing on it) but it is safe! With an older horse I do use hay nets but feeding from the floor is much better anatomically as Shilasdair has pointed out - it's a horse's natural method of feeding.
 
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