Word of warning re:hay nets in stables

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Nitro mouse

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Hi all, please if you use a hay net in your stable please think twice about using them in future. I have been keeping horses for years and have heard horrible stories about horses getting caught up in nets. As a result I have always been extra careful about how I use them and have always made sure they were tied up as high as poss.I used them as I currently own two fatties (one laminitic) and have small holed nets to try and control the rate they eat.
Well horribly my mare managed to get her front legs into hers early this morn how we will never know how on earth she managed it as it was tied quite high? In her resulting panic and fall she managed to also smash her back legs through a very solid stable door. By some miracle she doesn't appear to have broken anything, but she is very battered, sore and bruised. She has hurt her eye and badly hit her head and face, which is now swelling quite badly. Vet has obviously seen her. She is an ex rescue and has been treated quite badly in the past there is only a certain amount of handling /fiddling she will tolerate and she is very frightened and wary of strangers. Best vet could do was put her on a high dose of painkiller and we will keep a close watch on her.
I will never use a hay net again.......
As as a ps: she is always wary about having her head collar on, now she is so sore it's a huge issue again, patience and lots of treats normally is enough to get her dresses, but if anyone has any bright ideas about how we can help us with this I would be very grateful.
Message is long but feel it's important that this doesn't happen to anyone else xx
 
Hope your mare is ok :(

As for haynets, accidents will always happen - sometimes you can just get unlucky :(

We always use haynets tied to string - therefore if horse does get caught it will break under strain.
 
My boy has broken more haynets and bits of string from getting his feet caught than I can count! They are tied high but he thinks its a game. To try to preserve his legs and the haynets I tie them to a piece of bailing twine that I have split in half (make a loop, then in the thread of the twine split it and tie up so it goes through the twine not the loop) so its very week and breaks easily when any pressure is put on it. Incidentally I tie up in the same way to try to preserve leadropes and headcollars as he used to have a nasty habit of pulling backwards and breaking free - much safer IMHO
 
Hi Nitro mouse,
im sorry to hear about your mare hope she gets better soom although i get the idea its going to stay with her after here injuries heal... :/ although im sure you can do a good job in gaining her trust in handling again ..good luck!!

P.S are u going to feed ur lami off the floor now? i have a lami but use a small holed haynet like you to stop him eating too quick but now i mite just feed of the floor i dont want him to be injuried... :/

hope she better soon x
 
Hi just jb yes I am going to feed lami from floor, to be honest I was given him some in net and some on floor anyway. He can get a bit wheezy when he is in, so it's soaked too.
 
I never use nets have seen lots of accidents, horses have also damaged mouths getting teeth stuck then pulling away violently, i guess the need to restrict food intake and the fact alot of people use shavings as bedding has to be an influence.

I have my stables on deep litter straw with a bit at the front bare this is where i feed hay on the floor horses are all good and dont make a mess but it wouldnt work with sahvings as they would mix so would be alot of waste, i think haybars are a good idea as feeding from the floor is alot more natural, although i do wonder about over exhuberant horses getting a leg inside these and wonder what happens in this instance would love to know if anyone has had a problem with this.

I guess with fodder being at such a premium everyone just has to weigh up what they think is best for them and take all precautions.:)
 
I'm sorry to hear about your mare. I hope she makes a quick recovery.
We have never used haynets because when sis and I were first learning to ride (40+ yrs ago) RI told us that she wouldn't use them as she had seen a pony hang itself when she was a child and she could do nothing about it. Nasty dangerous things!
We restrict our good-doers' intake by mixing straw with hay/lage, so that they get plenty of fibre to keep them warm, without the calories to make them fat.
 
I use them loose in the yard sometimes (for dieting) with the cord fixed inside. I don't like them tied for the reason you and your mare have sadly experienced. Hope she's ok soon.:)
 
Awful things, would never choose to use them! Seen far too many accidents and near misses to ever risk it. As to feeding them off the floor - that's idiotic IMHO. Have seen so many haynets get caught inbetween shoe and hoof, and nasty panicing horse accidents as a result - just wouldn't go there.
 
RachelFerd said:
Awful things, would never choose to use them! Seen far too many accidents and near misses to ever risk it. As to feeding them off the floor - that's idiotic IMHO. Have seen so many haynets get caught inbetween shoe and hoof, and nasty panicing horse accidents as a result - just wouldn't go there.
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glad my horse is not shoed, as ive also heard and seen this often .
 
My horse once got a clip on the front of his rug caught on a hay net (no idea how as it was high up), thankfully he was fine and didn`t panic but ever since then i`ve fed from the floor just to be on the safe side :)
 
Hope your mare makes a speedy recovery :(

Easy to make hay boxes, you just need a couple of pallets and a nice strong man to cut them for you ( or woman!) one length ways, and one width ways; tie them up in the corners with bailer twine and you have a box!!
 
RachelFerd said:
Awful things, would never choose to use them! Seen far too many accidents and near misses to ever risk it. As to feeding them off the floor - that's idiotic IMHO. Have seen so many haynets get caught inbetween shoe and hoof, and nasty panicing horse accidents as a result - just wouldn't go there.
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Oh yes good point! I forget horses wear shoes sometimes.:o My lot are all unshod and I certainly wouldn't use nets on the ground if they were.
 
I hope your mare is feeling better soon, and gets over this stress.

I just won't use haynets - there are just far too many ways for horses to injure themselves. Those who feed from the floor from a hay net - are you actually mad?!! Dangerous just isn't even the word, especially for a shod horse, it would be so easy for the net to get caught between the hoof and shoe. I dread to think what would result.
Ours are fed on the floor. They are v good doers so instead of feeding from a net we do a normal evening stables with their tea and a couple of handfuls of hay, then a late check with the rest of their (weighed and soaked!) hay. They travel with nothing unless it is a long journey when they get a hay bag tied up with thinned bailer twine.
 
Accidents will happen with almost everything!

I've tried all sorts but nothing is good as a haynet as my horses just pull the hay everywhere, all over their beds.

I am a YO of a yard of 30 liveries, plus 3 of mine that all have haynets and in 3 years there has not been one accident involving a haynet.
 
FestiveNeighs said:
Those who feed from the floor from a hay net - are you actually mad?!! Dangerous just isn't even the word, especially for a shod horse, it would be so easy for the net to get caught between the hoof and shoe. I dread to think what would result.
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The jury is out on my madness. :) I use them intermittently for dieting purposes and the unshod ponies chuck them around at first until they learn to stand on them. I prefer a system of trickle feeding and even on diet I don't like them without hay for long periods regularly. When someone invents a reliable and 100% safe way of slowing down eating from the floor I'll be first in the queue.
 
Sorry to hear about your mare and hope she gets over her injuries soon. It sounds as if she was very lucky not to break a leg.

I must have been very lucky as I've used hay nets for over 40 years and never had a horse caught up in one yet.
 
amandap said:
The jury is out on my madness. :) I use them intermittently for dieting purposes and the unshod ponies chuck them around at first until they learn to stand on them. I prefer a system of trickle feeding and even on diet I don't like them without hay for long periods regularly. When someone invents a reliable and 100% safe way of slowing down eating from the floor I'll be first in the queue.
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Ahh, I didn't see that they were unshod, so apologies for my more extreme reaction!
I wish there were a safer way of trickle feeding. We just have to make more trips to the yard to spread their hay out better through the day. Left with their evening ration they would just stand and stuff it until it is all gone - so more visits is unfortunatly the only way of making it last! (what I would like is something like a timed cat feeder type thing that has sections you can load with hay, then the openings on top are timer activated - so eg you can get a new section opening every 3 hours through the night to give enforced trickle feeding!)
 
I HATE haynets with a passion. The only time I'd ever feed a horse a hay net would be if it had a severe forelimb injury.
Haynets encourage an unatural grazing position. It uses the opposite muscles in the neck that we ask for when working in an outline, thus hollowing the back, shortening the muscles and nuchal ligament in the neck. They're also extremely bad for the horses's teeth.
My 4yo has his hay off the floor, always has and always will. Yes, he does mess up his stable, but nothing a good Haybar can't fix.

ETA - the only time I use a haynet is for travelling and shoeing (still a silly fidget baby).
 
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Haynets are fantasticly useful ...... for weighing hay and carrying it across the yard without dropping it everywhere, for soaking it then carrying it to the stable to empty onto the floor. :P

I hope your mare recovers well OP.
 
Hi Nitro mouse, I am sorry to hear about your poor mare! :( I hope she gets better soon.

I am another person who hates hay nets. My dentist also disagrees with them as he says it causes the teeth to wear down unevenly. They are unnatural and encourage muscle build up underneath the neck.

Not much advice on what you should do I'm afraid. Probably best to keep checking on her regularly and give her a bit of peace and quiet on her own to rest.
 
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