Should we feed from hay nets – or not?
Haynes are great for prolonging feeding time, but they do come with some drawbacks. Here are some things to consider when using them.
Haynes are a wonderful invention. Not only do they make feeding less messy, they also slow down the horse's rate of eating, thus enabling the horse to have access to hay for a longer time period. For many people dealing with easy keepers that are pone to laminitis and metabolic issues, hay nets are a life saver. Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks to using them too.
When we think about what's best for our horses, it often helps to think about what's natural for them and then try to mimic that in our horse keeping practices. Obviously, picking pre-cut dried grass from a net is not a natural way of eating for horses. In nature, horses spend the majority of time grazing at ground surface, browse shrubs and occasionally raise their heads to reach a tasty tree branch. While they do vary their feeding positions, they spend most of their time with their head low. This enables them to rely on the ligamentous system that runs along the spine and from the withers to the poll to support their posture. Grazing requires little muscular effort. As soon as the horse has to hold his head higher to eat, the ligamentous system isn't fully taken advantage of, which means this posture will need more muscular effort.
An Italian study (Raspa et al. 2021) looked at the impact of different feeding positions on the horse's posture and found pretty significant differences. The lower the horse's head while eating, the more neutral his posture. People often tend to hang hay nets higher, to ensure the horse doesn't get his feet stuck in the net, but this practice might be detrimental to his postural musculature. A better way to use hay nets is to attach them to the bottom of ground feeders. This way the horse can eat from ground level, while not being in danger of getting stuck in the net.
Another thing that we need to consider is the way the horse eats from the net. If you observe horses eating from nets you might see a variety of different strategies. Some horses learn how to eat from nets calmly, while others will act as if they want to murder the net. They will jerk and toss their head to get to the hay and will pick out the hay in sharp sideways motions. It doesn't take a genius to understand that those jerky motions can have a negative impact on the soft tissues of the neck. This can lead to uneven development of the neck musculature and tension in the poll muscles. In the long run, this can negatively impact the horse's dental balance as well. Not to mention the negative impact of chronic frustration on their mental wellbeing. With horses who want to murder the net, changing the size of the holes or repositioning the net to ground level might help, but not always. In those cases, it's worth reconsidering feeding from nets. Another situation where feeding form nets isn't advisable is with horses with neck issues. Poll issues, degenerative joint disease of the neck vertebrae or chronic imbalance of the neck muscles are all contraindications for hay nets. If we already have neck problems, we want the horse eating from ground level, with as little jerky movements as possible. Obviously, if we have a hard keeper with neck issues, this can be challenging. Unfortunately, not everything with horses is an easy decision. Sometimes we need to weigh the pros and cons for every specific horse. To recap, if using hay nets, make sure to feed as low as possible (safely!), and observe your hose to see how he's eating. If your horse has neck issues, consider implementing a different feeding system.
While feeding from ground level is the gold standard, there are actually many benefits from varying feeding positions as well. More on that next week.