Very small holed nets, can't be good for neck muscles

I don't like haynets either. Our horses and ponies are fed add lib hay in winter, they don't gorge themselves and they are not fat. It a much more natural way for them to eat.
 
I don't use them, unless travelling. I feed hay loose, on clean straw so there is always something to chew.
 
My horse is on Haylege and is very greedy couldn't give him ad lib he would be as fat as a elephant
(He's nearly there now )
I have just invested in some very small holes hay nets from marts nets and there brill because the holes are so tiny they have to use there lips to remove the hay if they yank at them they won't get anything out takes a bit of getting used to but loads better than the cheaper greedy feeder nets and they carnt chew through them
It would be great to feed from the floor as this is most natural but with a greedy horse I'd rather him have a thick neck muscle than lami or ulcers 😀😀
 
I think (the possibility of) building the wrong neck muscles is insignificant compared to risking laminitis or ulcers from lack of food.
 
ozpoz said:
I don't use them, unless travelling. I feed hay loose, on clean straw so there is always something to chew.
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Same here. My girls hay goes in a 90 litre bucket in her stable and I've not had any issues with that (Apart from her pooing in the bucket when it's empty on a couple of occasions!)
 
I use the hay pillows in our yards at night when we are away at rides. They work very well and I don't have to get up at midnight to refill nets (if they run out of hay they are not above rattling the yards all night to wake us up!).
Over here in Oz a number of people I know use a wheelie bin with a small hole cut at the bottom, covered by mesh. The bin is tied to a fence post. Easily moved from hay shed to paddock/yard and slows them down while still having their heads down to the ground.
Personally at home I mix hay with straw. 2 of my real fatties are ONLY on barley straw and they look extremely well even on that.
 
thatsmygirl said:
Iv just brought my greedy highland a shires greedy net and was stood back watching him tonight putting such effort in pulling and tugging the hay in all directions with such force to pull it out. I'm just not overly sure it can be that great for their neck muscles surely tugging with such force in every direction possable to pull the hay out.

Any thoughts on this out of interest
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Yes you are quite right, haynets are bad for horses - useful when travelling buiit otherwise, worse than useless imo. They encourage the development of under neck muscles, which is counter to what we want when for ridden horses, muscles in the back are also adversely affected.
Feeding from the ground encourages the development of correct musculature for riding and the drainage of sinuses, which is also a good thing. Horses, after all are meant to eat from the ground. They do browse in the wild but only as a smal part of their diet.
Owners who wish to restrict hay intake should provide an alternative forage, such as oat straw, imho
 
I do wonder about just throwing Frank's haynet in the stable as a hay pillow but for some reason still struggle to get my head round that!
 
ester said:
I do wonder about just throwing Frank's haynet in the stable as a hay pillow but for some reason still struggle to get my head round that!
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Yes I had thought that as well, but I'm not sure it would work, he's barefoot so no shoes to get stuck but I could just imagine the mess of his bed after losing his temper with that all night Lol he's really clean bed wise.
Thing that don't help is he's in no work due to me having major surgery for cancer ( got the all clear yesterday) so that will obviously help when I'm able to ride again. Think I will keep going with the net at the mo as I know that any food loose will be gone in no time and can't keep going there to split it up, when he's gone to bed I can't keep going back. Normally mine live out so they just pick what's around and need very little hay ( just when frozen mainly) but the fields are swimming so had to come out of them.
 
I do make sure I tie his lower than I used to, I have some spare old nets maybe I could experiment- he is also very tidy and if I do put it loose in the corner I remember why I don't usually! Though having just moved on to this years hay it is like owning a ganet so that wouldn't be a problem currently :p
congrats on the all clear. :)
 
I use shires small mesh but I don't get any grabbing at hay nets. I hang both a haynet and a bin of hay so there is no stress on them to gorge. Often they choose to eat out of the haynet before the bin, they do it calmly but they seem to like the novelty of the net.

I don't get the neck muscle problem as I hang the nets low. The bottoms when full are slightly above ground level. This keeps them cleaner than hay pillows but means they are grazing down onto the nets or at the worst horizontally and no upside down neck straining.

I don't use a drawstring so no risk of getting feet through. (I have barefoot horses) I wouldn't do this on shod horses, foals or small ponies.
 
I have a trickle net for my greedy cob. At first I thought it was great but he soon learned to grab and snatch at the hay so it doesnt slow him down much now. I dont think it does his neck/back muscles much good TBH. I now feed him some hay in that net some in a hay net and some on the floor. it doesnt seem to make any difference if the net is hung low or high.
 
Jazz gets one of the big Shires nets, but it's hung inside his haybar so he's not stretching up for it. He used to be fed on the floor when he had a massive stable, but the size of the current one means it all just ends up in his bed and I waste a lot of bedding and hay that way.
 
EQUIDAE said:
You can make your own haybars by screwing two batons of wood 3 foot from a corner then slot a piece of rubber matting down.

DSC00364.jpg
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That looks very professional!
 
My two manage very well with the Shires greedy feeder nets, although several have had holes torn in them and I won't buy another. They seem to nibble rather than tug, and don't get frustrated. I do the same as Paddy555, hang very low (also barefoot). I have used haynets on the floor quite successfully before also.

Without some sort of small hole net, my greedy horse literally stands and guzzles at speed until it's all gone. I tried adlib for a while - he just got fatter and fatter.
 
Sadly not all of us can feed straw etc alongside hay to slow/fill the horse up as they a are on strict diets for metabolic issues.... I soak drain and feed from the floor....
 
Micky said:
Sadly not all of us can feed straw etc alongside hay to slow/fill the horse up as they a are on strict diets for metabolic issues.... I soak drain and feed from the floor....
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I would check out very carefully whether the horse could have at least some straw, as there is very little sugar/starch in the straw, as most of what the plant produces has gone into the seed, which, of course, has been used - possibly for porrage!
 
Micky said:
Sadly not all of us can feed straw etc alongside hay to slow/fill the horse up as they a are on strict diets for metabolic issues.... I soak drain and feed from the floor....
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I had my oldie on chopped straw because of metabolic issues.
 
I have to use small hole nets with Samuel to stop him stuffing his gob as full as he can before actually chewing LOL. He's fine with these nets, I don't hang them too high so his head is at a quite comfortable position while he's eating. I'd love to feed him from the floor but he'd just suck the lot up without pausing for breath.

My previous horse was an utter pig and when I used a small hole net to slow him down a bit a found the entire thing in shreds scattered through his bed the following day. Couldn't give him Likits in holders either as he'd smash them so he could scoff the Likit without the challenge of the holder.

He was a right lad was Ronan :)
 
I've never been a fan of haynets, but how else do you give your horses enough forage to last them from 4/5pm until 6/7am? If l put the requisite amount in the racks it would be gone by 8pm at the latest, l had a horse with gastric ulcers and don't wish to have any more.
 
I feed ad lib but have recently gone back to hanging a net for my younger mare as she weirdly seems to prefer it and will eat more overnight. She is a potential ulcer type so I want her to eat, so I now give her the choice of net and loose on floor.

Interestingly my 20 year old has on/off eaten from nets her whole life as she is a messy madam and has most definitely never built up adverse muscle, always had a fabulous neck when ridden and even now after 3/4 years retired has a good neck. I tried a hay bar with her at one point. ....she sat on it and broke it several times....
 
hayinamanger said:
I've never been a fan of haynets, but how else do you give your horses enough forage to last them from 4/5pm until 6/7am? If l put the requisite amount in the racks it would be gone by 8pm at the latest, l had a horse with gastric ulcers and don't wish to have any more.
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I tried Orca with ground fed forage last night. She is on a restricted diet, so had a mixture of hay and oat straw, meaning she can have a higher volume of forage than her paltry hay ration alone. There were a few strands of straw left this morning. This doesn't sound like much but I know if she were hungry, they would have been eaten too so I am at last satisfied that this solution meets the parameters of her diet AND digestion needs. An empty belly was a big concern of mine too.
 
I am not a fan of haynets having had a horse paw at his net and remain for most of the night with his leg stuck. Took a very very long time to recove fully (like 8 months). However, trying to feed Big Ears on the floor resulted in a huge amount of wastage, a hungry horse and a wrecked bed. I really persevered as well. I have given up and gone back to 2 big Shire Nets for his haylage. I don't recommend tieing the net too low because of the danger of the horse pawing it. Previous (greedy) horse managed fine being fed on the floor once he got it into his head that he wasn't going to run out and a haybar also worked.
 
Starzaan said:
I'm another who hates haynets. When I had my own yard everything was fed ad lib from homemade hay bars (piece of wood with handles cut out, removable so hay can be swept out from the bottom).

I never had any issues with horses gorging themselves. I specialised in box rests and had everything from an 11.2hh Welsh show pony to a Grand Prix dressage horse, and post surgery horses. Horses prone to laminitis, horses with ems etc. If horses needed a lower calorie diet they had soaked hay mixed with good quality straw to eat. All still ad lib. Topped up when I did lates last thing. Nothing was fat and I never had a case of lami.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but all horses I've met thrive on ad lib forage, and many only need a small amount of balancer rather than hard feed.

I hate seeing horses standing without forage for hours, and I hate seeing horses with upside down necks who obviously have to battle with a haynet all night.

Oops. That turned into a rant, sorry op!
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Oh don't worry about a rant, its all making interesting reading.
He still has his net which is hung low ( barefoot) but has his little bit on the floor to take his hunger away when he first comes in.
Really not happy how he pulls and shakes his net violently but I can't put it all on the floor and leave him standing all night with nothing. Really can't do at lib as he's a highland and not in work so got to be careful
 
I don't think hay nets are the cause of wrongly muscled necks; I've hung many a net for horses with magnificent fronts. The very small holed nets are annoying for most horses, I prefer to either soak or mix with clean straw (or bed on straw). If horses are so greedy they wolf through all their hay in no time then I'm afraid they're just going to have to wait until the next feeding time. I'm pretty quick with the chocolate; doesn't mean I get to eat pounds of it.
 
thatsmygirl said:
Oh don't worry about a rant, its all making interesting reading.
He still has his net which is hung low ( barefoot) but has his little bit on the floor to take his hunger away when he first comes in.
Really not happy how he pulls and shakes his net violently but I can't put it all on the floor and leave him standing all night with nothing. Really can't do at lib as he's a highland and not in work so got to be careful
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As I said in my post, I really don't recommend tying a net low. That was when my horse pawed at it and got caught up in his and did a lot of damage. Net was tied to baling twine as well.
 
With shoes on though? Or holes big enough to put a hoof through?

Cortez I guess in a lot of ways that is why I still use a net, we have no issue with wrong neck muscle although my dentist did wonder if it contributed to him eating in the same direction and wearing his teeth a bit wonky but I think that is just him.
 
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