Hay nets

I have always heard a lot of negative things about using hay nets. People complain about almost everything about them. They are hard to fill, a pain to hang and on and on and on. I use the slow feed hay nets ($8 slow feed nets) and love, Love, LOVE them. My horses can have hay in front of them 24/7 and something to pick at to keep them full, occupied and satisfy their grazing needs. 

I agree that filling them can be a royal pain in the ass, unless you have help. Someone back in the days on the FHotD blog had mentioned using a laundy basket.  I found a Lamper at Target for $10 not long after moving to Houston. 

Simply drape the net over the Lamper like a garbage bag. This will hold bout 3 flakes of hay. which will last my guys sometimes for 2 days. 

If you pull it over the sides where the bottom of the net is about half way down, as you drop the hay in it will pretty much fill itself as the weight of the hay will push the net to the bottom and pull the sides up. Then just pull the string to close it and also to get the net out of the "lamper". You have a full net in a matter of about 30 seconds or less. Hahaha 

Next net in and full.

Pull the strings up and closed.

Another thing I use is snaps on my nets. I like this kind of snap because there is nothing for the horse to grab to help them undo it.  They are also relatively cheap and they last. No more trying to tie the nets up, tying them up and having the horses pull them loose or any of that crap. It's also much quicker to hang them and also take them down to fill. 

Wrap the string over something high enough to keep the net up where it belongs and put about 3 or 4 sections of string thru the snap. Done!  Keeping the net up where the horse can't paw at it, reduces the chance of them getting a hoof or shoe caught in it. This also keeps the hay from getting wet or dusty from being on the ground. This also works in the trailer for hauling.

One of the girls at the barn that feeds for me had recently bought new nets. Since they don't come with snaps she told me the other night that now that she has to tie them, it's a total pain in the ass! She was going to buy snaps in the morning....

What's your angle?

The angle of the person at the barn that rides around as if trying to impress people? Yeah, he makes an impression all right, but probably not the way he intends to. He's also gotten a bit of an eye opener recently to how things can be done differently than his 'methods'.

He's very loud. As in yelling "HO!" repatedly. So much so that now his horses ignore him. So he yells it more. You can hear him from all over. There have also been times when he rides over near where I'm at and then tries to get the horse to do things, like stop, or spin and although I try not to look like I'm watching, I see what's going on and just cringe inside for the horse. He gives the horse a whole lot of mixed signals, which leads to confusion on both parts.

Since he's moved his horses into the barn, I haven't been riding my mare so he has no idea what I know or don't know. I haven't been riding because my mares right hind is all blown up for whatever reason. It started out with the swelling going all the way up her leg from her pastern to her stifle. Believe me, I've done everything I can think of to do and taking her to the vet- he told me to sweat it, (done that already) and gave her a shot of antibiotics (done that too!) and had no idea what the root of the cause is. So it's just puffy or not and sometimes bald or has fuzz as the hair grows back... It's an ongoing thing.

The other night when I worked my pony in the round pen, the guy at the barn got to see how I do things with my horses. On the advice of a good friend a while back, I started to give my horses signals as to what will come next. Stop is preceeded with a series of Whup, whup, whup's and then a quiet whooooaaaa. Turns come with cues as to whether they will be tighter turns or big sweeping turns. It's a matter of opening up the channels of communication between us.

The guy had walked up with his horse, waiting to use the round pen and stood there watching for a litle bit.  My pony was rockin it (as usual) and really working well. Katman was bent, soft, driving engaged, light and just awesome as usual as his little bad ass self is. There was no loud yelling on my part, my pony didn't ignore me and there was no running him around to wear him down. He worked like he knows how, we did some working trot, slow trot, extended trot, walking, stops, tuns and a bit of backing up. No muss, no fuss and we called it a day.

What I later found out, this guy is loud to get people to notice him so they will talk to him. That's how he meets people. He was also asking my friend if I train horses, since he realizes that what he's doing obviously isn't working. At least it sounds like he is open to new ideas.