Hay Nets at the racetrack - sans annoying dongle

[FDF]

Okay, I give! I’ve been trying to figure this out on my own…but how do you fill up big haynets and still have no string left over, instead just have it all tight at the top with a snap that you catch on the eyebolt to hang outside a stall?

The only solution I can come up with is that you DON’T fill them from the top like you would with store-bought haynets, you’d have to fill them from the side…with the top already closed and a snap attached.

Am I remotely on target?

This has turned into a “How Does the Magician Do It?” puzzle

LOL

[Trevelyan96]

You fill the net as you normally do from the top, close the net, then run the extra string down through the fulled ned and out the bottom.

[mintano]

Ask 10 different people and you’ll get 10 different answers!

You can do what Trevelyan said, a lot of people cut the long string and insert a shorter one. You can also do what we do and pull it closed as tight as it gets then do a quick release knot and do magical loops that I can’t think of what it’s called I’ll get a picture of one of ours tomorrow.

[witherbee]

We do the magic loops too lol!

[olympicdreams04]

Magical loops=daisy chain?

[Reagan]

I have no association with the track but I cut the string out completely. I got one of those huge carabiners from Home Depot or where ever and use those to hook all of the loops together and hang. Works great and you don’t have to worry about them falling too low, or dealing with the string.

[brightskyfarm]

[QUOTE=mintano;5767281]
Ask 10 different people and you’ll get 10 different answers! ;):P[/QUOTE]

       Along with ....10 trainers will show you the *(right)* way to do it /10 different ways too~

    I prefer........... a long string that I can loop through the eyehook and draw up, then looping back through the bag to bring it tight to the wall, doing the daisy chain with any left over string.
    Good idea on the pictures.!
 >>>for me, its just hard picking up those bags and aiming a clip to a eyehook

In MY personal barn, I use canvas bags and avoid this altogether

[Blinkers_On]

Most of the grooms with perfect haynets, open the top, sort of dig a hole and push the older stuff to the outside then fill the middle and top with fresh hay. They are perfectly round and perfectly perfect. I suck at filling hay nets. I try, but I suck.
String goes through a screw eye and then a snap from the net to another screw eye to secure.

[DiablosHalo]

It is definitely a learned art! Took me forever to make haynet balls! I fill the net, draw the string through the screw eye, through the bottom on the net, back to the top- and clip back to screw eye. Depending on stall/horse situation you can also draw it through the net and back to another screw eye farther away- "holding’ the net away from the horse so when it empties he cannot get head/feet in it.

[FDF]

Thanks for the tips and ideas! I think I’ve been using the “magic loops” too, it’s like a single line of crochet…so that if you pull the end it unravels perfectly. My haynets end up teardrop shaped, and I’ve been loading them up, then contorting to keep the burden up high enough I can run the rope through the screweye and tying a safety knot…and magic looping the remainder :winkgrin:

I like the idea of pushing the older to the outside and loading up new in the resulting center space, going to give that a try tonight. With the tips, I’ve been pre-tying them off on the ground, magic looping, and putting the clip on then snapping that on the screweye and while it looks about the same…it sure is easier to clip them on!

Thanks everyone! It’s very good to hear this is indeed a learned Art form!

[kookicat]

Some nets hang better than others. You may need to try a few types until you find one that hangs nicely.

[Gnalli]

Ok, dumb question here, but along that same line, what is the deal with the hay nets hanging outside the doors of the stalls and the stall guards instead of regular gates?

[FDF]

[QUOTE=kookicat;5793270]
Some nets hang better than others. You may need to try a few types until you find one that hangs nicely. :)[/QUOTE]

Oh, now that’s interesting, I haven’t seen many different types of the standard “fishnet” (for lack of a better description :)) haynets such as you can find in the Dover catalog http://bit.ly/Haynets

I think I am going to be getting the small mesh version soon, with the prices of hay going through the stratosphere! Maybe that will improve my “teardrop” style :lol:

[mintano]

[QUOTE=Gnalli;5793361]
Ok, dumb question here, but along that same line, what is the deal with the hay nets hanging outside the doors of the stalls and the stall guards instead of regular gates?[/QUOTE]

What do you mean? Haha sorry don’t really understand what you’re asking!

[Gnalli]

[QUOTE=mintano;5793676]
What do you mean? Haha sorry don’t really understand what you’re asking! ;)[/QUOTE]

I’ve seen multiple pictures of raace barns where the hay bag is hung on the outside of the stall, at the door where the horse basically would have to stand at the door and eat his hay. The doors have stall guards/web gates and I was just wondering why the hay was outside the stall instead of inside.

[Real_Rush]

I’ve got a trick I learned from a friend. 'Course this works best on the slow feed (small mesh) hay nets or ones without the small metal rings the drawstring needs to slide through (or you can disregard the metal rings)… Remove the original drawstring, and take one of those buck hanger straps, the ones with a snap on one end and a loop on the other. I clip the snap of the strap on one loop of the hay net to hold it in place, then quickly weave the other end through the hay net loops. When you get back around to the snap, unclip it from the net and pass it through it’s own loop and draw tight. Now you have just a short length of strap with a snap on the end that you can attach anywhere, and no annoying length of drawstring to have to worry about. If you don’t have an eyebolt to snap it to, I wrap the strap around a post or board and snap it back around a strand of the hay net. Hope this helps!

[Calamber]

[QUOTE=Gnalli;5793361]
Ok, dumb question here, but along that same line, what is the deal with the hay nets hanging outside the doors of the stalls and the stall guards instead of regular gates?[/QUOTE]

Time saving, plus the horses like to look and chew, sort of like a New York Deli where people stand at the counters all in a line and look out the window facing the street. I don’t think they hang bagle bags there though…

As an aside, I am not a fan of elevated hay for the obvious reasons.

[Calamber]

[QUOTE=Gnalli;5793361]
Ok, dumb question here, but along that same line, what is the deal with the hay nets hanging outside the doors of the stalls and the stall guards instead of regular gates?[/QUOTE]

Time saving, plus the horses like to look and chew, sort of like a New York Deli where people stand at the counters all in a line and look out the window facing the street. I don’t think they hang bagle bags there though…

Some managers also don’t want the horses encouraged to consume their bedding. I am not an advocate of elevated hay eating for the obvious reasons besides safety concerns.

[Gnalli]

Thanks Calamber. That makes sense.

[Dahoss]

Im not really much of a fan of hay nets. Hay nets are basically only convenient for the horse owner or trainers concerned with saving money by controlling wastage.

Eating from a hay net for countless hours is not a natural position on the horses neck which may lead to body/back/muscle soreness/stiffness(possibly even vertebrae difficulties). Im confident that it causes them to breath in dust more easily compared to eating off the ground, not to mention how easy it is for debris to fall into the ears(especially those horses whos handlers completely clip the hair inside the ears(a retarded practice if you ask me(same as trimming of their “feelers” around the muzzle/eyes" - the equivalent of chopping off a persons fingers))). Both the hair in the ears and the feelers/whiskers are there for protection. Designed for defensive purposes. Also rather stemmy hay can poke the horses eyes when eating from hay nets.

Some horses dont particularly enjoy eating from a hay net and become frustrated(especially really tightly packed hay). It can cause them to consume less hay which means they are not getting the necessary daily amount of roughage and can lead to a number of health problems.

For 50 million years, the horse has evolved from a browser to a grazer and is designed to eat off the ground. Plain and simple.