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Hay Nets For Greedy Horses

You carefully research, choose and weigh out your horse’s forage ration, soak or steam as necessary, hang on at the yard for as long as possible before giving him his night net… and it’s gone in less time than it takes to fill and soak it! Sound familiar?

By nature, a lot of our native type horses and ponies have large appetites and can live quite well on fresh air! Slowing and limiting our horse’s forage intake helps enormously with weight management and weight loss while more closely mimicking natural feeding behaviour which is healthier for the horse’s digestive system overall. We can do this by restricting grazing and by making sure our horses are eating hay and haylage more slowly.

So… which hay nets are best for greedy horses?

While it’s healthier and more natural for horses to eat hay from the floor, this isn’t always feasible for many horses. Many horses will eat far too quickly or hay is wasted by being walked into the bedding.

Hay nets will help to slow horses down and prevent wastage. The best hay nets to use for speedy eaters are the designs with smaller holes - look for haylage nets, “Greedy Feeder” nets and other similar designs. As a general rule, the smaller the holes the more effective the net at slowing down eating - look for nets with 1” - 2” hole size. Some designs promote better durability of the rope used and work well for horses that get impatient and irritated with having to eat slowly!

We would recommend the Shires Greedy Feeder Net, Le Mieux Hippo Hay Net or Shires Deluxe Small Holed Haylage Net.

Another top tip is to double net - fill your hay or haylage net then slide another hay net over the top to make the holes smaller and more challenging.

Slowing the horse’s forage consumption has multiple advantages:

Encourages more natural trickle feeding behaviours Helps to manage and help with weight loss Prevents boredom and stable vices Reduces any waste and saves you money

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