How many of you feed your hay from floor in stable?

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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Don't want to use haynet as think the big boy will just rip holes in them as he's very strong and impatient!

Going to buy his stable mats tomorrow so he'll have 1/3 of stable with
shavings.
 
Yes I always feed mine from the floor. They are good though and don't drag it into their beds so it doesn't get wasted. I prefer it, its a more natural position than from a net would be.
 
Moggyinmanolos said:
Yes, I feed Seren her hay from the floor if stabled or outside, I very rarely use a net
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The only thing I am unsure of is how much more quickly he'll pig it but I reckon he'll prob do that even with a net! Plan is to give him hay/hifi lite plus his feed of happy hoof just to give him lots of fibre and stop him getting bored. Oh and he'll have a Himalayan salt lick xx
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
We always feed hay in the stable off the floor. It's safer, too many horses get tangled up in nets.
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Yes, dangerous. I found a horse upside down with his hind hoof caught in the haynet once. The firebrigade had to come and help get him up, as he'd panicked and become cast as well.

Also, by constantly tugging away with their noses high in the air, they are developing unwanted muscle just where you don't want it, and it's not great for their wind eating in this unatural way.
 
My boys have hay bars but at my old yard I always fed them off the ground as it is more natural and encourages them to stretch the muscles along the neck and back. I never use haynets as it is an unnatural position for a horse to eat from and my dentist doesn't like them as he says it wears down the teeth unevenly.
 
However, if you have 2 would be pigs like I do, if you feed from the floor then it is gone incredibly quickly. Mine both have haylage as well. The gray boy is such a pig that when we used to feed him his haylage loose but behind a "manager" which was a corner of the stable sectioned off - he was too impatient and would simply lift up the board with his teeth and chuck it across the stable. I appreciate and agree with the muscle etc but have to factor that against mine having nothing to eat for most of the night. I bought ultra tough large haylage nets for both of them.
 
i feed everything from floor - read a study that the act of head down and grazing relaxed horses - its natural - then back lady asked if fed nets and when said no she said hallaeuha - the act of puling hay from net creates pain in back and neck - all i know is both my 2 love eating from floor as horses should do :)
 
I have always used the floor unless using soaked hay (drains into bed- rubbish home made stables), or making a lot of mess.
Even at work we have always fed off the floor.
Hay bars piss me off- theres always hay i the bottom that the horse can't eat, and seeds etc which you can't just sweep away.
As far hay racks either me or the horse always manages to bash our head on them!
 
Large black tub tied in corner, dry unsoaked hay goes in that, he pulls it out onto the floor, I don't like hay nets as he got his foot stuck in one once, he was stuck for hours overnight judging by how many poo's were behind him :(, anyway off the floor is better for there backs teeth and the dust doesn't go straight down their windpipe, so more natural allround :)
 
Yes I feed mine from the floor, unless they are tied on the yard being groomed in which case they have a net, but they are supervised and its for short periods. My mare has excess muscle under her net and i have been advised to feed from the floor by the vet and back man. She can also be prone to choke which has happened when she was fed from nets before, because she was fighting with the haynet and getting cross with is i think she gulped it down before she chewed it properly, so now only use large holed nets if i use one on the yard.
 
i feed hay in huge tub on floor when in (not very often in) and a home made hay hutch when outside..ie a water butt with two holes cut out of it with large stones in the base to stop it getting dragged round the field. liked the hay hutch idea but cost was very huge!
 
I changed to floor when moved to the Cairngorms and 3 months of frozen taps meant NO soaking possible therefore no need to use haynets! Best thing I ever did, have regained about a million hours of free time, neither horse has any breathing issues and now I can buy my own hay it is good stuff that doesnt need soaking to get black yuk out of it.....
 
Well tbh, I had enough of the wastage, I fed from the floor, they chomped away happy for a bit no doubt then turned around their behinds and dragged it half ways across their beds. Did their number ones and twos on half of it, which left them deciding not to eat that particular wastage part, so I bought haybars. That then ended up in it all being dragged out and quite a bit being generally trod and shat on and wasted. Sold my haybars on Gumtree. No way was I even going to consider trugs after that. Now we are back to haynets, tied safely, large nets, small holes for the bigger ones, smaller nets, small holes for the incy ones. None of mine are shod, none of mine wear headcollars and I tie them to ensure any rug catches, they break. I got sick of the wastage of good hay.
 
Yes.

Just chuck their hay over the walls into the stalls, certainly can't be bothered with faffing around filling and tying haynets up.
 
Joe has a haybar and Ralph gets his from the floor, when i have Jazz (currently on loan) she has to have a haynet as she drags it round the bed and then won't eat what has touched the bedding pain in the neck
 
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