Opinions: To feed hay, is it better on the floor or a net?

i use nets! purley because he's a messy eater and he eats sooo much! if i were to put it on the ground it would take up half his stable!!!!! :P

others have it from the floor as much spimpler!
 
Always from the floor better for muscles, airways and digestion.

By the sounds of it your mare is getting PLENTY of hay, especially as she has access to it 8 hours a day in the field, so I wouldn't be too concerned about her not having any left in the morning...chances are she is only without for a couple of hours - during which time she is probably having a sleep! If she had none left in the morning and was then being turned out for 8 hours with no hay and little grass, I would be a bit concerned as it would mean that her stomach would be empty for long periods of time.

I would however, be very careful with large volumes of bucket feeds - even to an underweight horse as, she could gain weight quicker than you can manage it, causing her problems in the next month or two when the grass comes through... most of it will be going straight in one end and out the other anyway as the horse's stomach is only the size of a rugby ball...
 
you generally get a mixed reply with this question

personally i prefer haylage hack racks for both hay and haylage, some of my liveries feed from the plasters baths .
some from hack nets and hay racks.

I find allot of time feeding from floor or baths and bars. Horse eats to quick and then goes hungry for part of the night.

I think double haynets haylage racks or trickle nets are the best.
 
My youngster has a home made hay bar, fed ad lib, and doesn't pull it all over the floor, what he doesn't eat stays in the haybar. My older horse does pull it into his bed and then won't eat it, so he has a haynet tied very low behind his haybar. I don't like small holed nets, as someone above said I think they can cause teeth problems, but I've also heard a physio say they cause poll problems due to the wear and tear of the constant head movement as they pull small strands out. However, my older horse has been putting on weight (middle age spread) so I have been using one while he is on reduced rations, but I also put some of his hay in a net with very large holes so that he can satisfy his hunger when he comes in without getting too frustrated! :)
 
my vet showed me what damage feeding from a small hole net does to a horse's teeth, jaw and neck muscles so for me, mine gets fed out of a large hole net and on the floor.

Is there no way you can have both net and loose? (sorry haven't read all replies so if you've answered this above then do ignore) :)

This is one of the reasons I moved away from part livery yards because of the silly rules that don't cater for individual needs
 
I do both!

I feed soaked hay from the floor and he also has 2 large haylage nets, 1 either side of the stable. He is in from 6pm-8am and always finishes everything :(

He has the hay from the floor for drainage etc and then the haylage nets are supposed to keep him busy til morning.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I'd NEVER use a haynet- nasty dangerous things! Especially if they're hung low!
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I would be inclinded to agree with you, apart from when we had a horse that the vet wanted everything that he ate weighed, so for a short period we used haynets, as the only way of doing this, without spending hours in the morning picking hay out of his bed.

My point: NEVER say NEVER. You don't know what might come along.
 
I use both but my vet said its best to feed off the floor as its the horses natural feeling position - but then I reckon that only works if you dont have a horse that drags the hay through its bed....unlike mine who hoovers up every morsel
 
jaxz85 said:
I like to feed on the floor...but!

But I use one of those really big flexi tubs. You can pick them up in B&Q etc cheaper than tack shops, this way the horse is still fedding from ground level but its tidier and the hay dosent get dragged in to their bed and wasted! :D
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Ali2 said:
My preference is straight from the floor but my two are good doers and need restricting! Little fella has his hay soaked, double netted and tied in his haybar. Big fella has his soaked, netted and secured in massive tub trugs that are attached to the wall with a tie ring:
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They then get the benefit of eating close to the floor but are slowed up by the net. I've just ordered Trickle nets for further spring/summer restriction and having both boys BF I may go with the hay pillow suggestion as above :)
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Are either of your horses shod? I like this idea for my daughter's pony but he's unshod for most of the year... The TB is fully shod atm and I'm not sure if I could get the quantity in place that he eats...

Although I'd much rather him eat in a more natural position if I could wangle it in some way...
 
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