Tough 1 hay hoops

[MissAriel]

Does anyone have experience with the Tough 1 Hay Hoops as a slow-feeder, particularly in a boarding barn situation?

How durable is it for normal eaters and “aggressive eaters”?

Can you replace the net with any other net, for example a 1.5" hole net?

How easy/hard is it to operate one handed? I plan on mounting 3/4" plywood on the inside of a pipe stall with 4’ tall panels and mounting the hay hoop to that. I am hoping it can be filled from the outside of the stall without too much trouble.

https://www.sstack.com/product/hay-hoops-original-collapsible-wall-hay-feeder/

[theresak]

They are impossible to close with one hand when the net is full, especially if you have gloves on and are short like me. The opening doesn’t easily fit a regular flake laying flat, so you have to dump them in on their ends, which means unless you spend some time rearranging the hay in the net, it only fits ~3 flakes. The nets are not durable but the hoop itself is very durable. You could potentially replace the pin closure with some other snap and hook system to make it easier.

The Smart Pak and Nibble Nets are easier to use and much more durable.

I made my own hay hoop out of threaded 1/2" steel pipe and fittings and use a Smart Pak small hole hay net. If I did it again, I’d use 1/4" pipe so it wasn’t so heavy.

[Long_amp_Short_Ears]

We have them and I have changed the hay net on one to a no slow feed for my mule. I have the other as a slow feed for the Paso I board. We love them I don’t have a problem loading them or closing them, BUT I have to tell you that we re hung ours cause our new hay net was longer and almost touched the ground. Granted none of ours our pawers but still did not want it on the ground.
I hold flakes in one arm / hand and unlatch the hoop and let down using hand not in one hand I fluff the net toward me an then plop them in and use one hand to shut it and latch it. A little trial and error to see where we wanted it (make sure its liked up right! )
My husbands walking horse and mammoth donkey are fairly aggressive with the hay bags and they hold up good

[Libby2563]

I bought a very similar one recently, the JT International Hay Hoops II from Jeffers: https://www.jefferspet.com/products/hay-hoops-black. I chose that one because the net slides on the hoop rather than hooking onto a bunch of little hooks. I thought those hooks would be annoying to deal with, don’t know if that’s true though.

I find it pretty easy to fill although theresak is right that the flakes only fit through the hoop on their ends. If you’re trying to stuff it really full (about 15 lbs or 5+ flakes for me) you have to make more effort than I’d like to shove it all in there, arrange it, and close the hoop. If you’re not filling it as much (3 flakes or fewer), it’s easy one-handed. I don’t have a problem manipulating the latch with gloves.

The net that came with it didn’t last more than 6 weeks but it should be easy to replace with my preferred brand (Shires).

I think it would be useful if you can rig it so it can be filled easily from outside your stall, unless you are trying to jam a lot of hay in there at a time. In that case, you might want to DIY like theresak.

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

I have them and like them. Definitely not operable one handed though. I did not put slow feed nets in, and regret that decision, However, they have been fantastic about reducing waste and slowing down my girls overall.

[Lusoluv]

I bought it but sent it back when I saw the size of the “frame”. Could tell it would be difficult to stuff in large flakes. Spent more and got the Cinch Chix version and am very happy with it. You will have to change out all hay netting eventually - depending on how enthusiastic your horses are

[Guyot]

Have them, love them! I can stuff 10 stalls full of 4-5 flakes of hay in 10 minutes. I do use two hands for a full net. 2-3 flakes I can do one handed.

Stateline tack has replacement small hole nets for hay hoops that are 1/2" webbing and are holding up much better. They are around 35$ for the net tho. So between the net and hay hoop it’s about an 80-90 dollar investment per horse, but totally worth it for me.

Mine hang a bit lower then most people would be comfortable with, however I swapped out the nylon cord with bailing twine so if horse paws twine breaks and net comes down and horse doesn’t get caught up. A couple horses yank them down about once a week so I’ve gotten very good putting them back up! And piece of mind that they will safely come down if and when needed.

[imaginique]

I have the Hay Chix freedom feeder and the frame has held up great! I’ve had to replace the net a couple of times but my gelding, aka Dylan the Destroyer, had not managed to damage the hoop.

[imaginique]

I would like two of the metal ones please!

[ayrabz]

totally love them. the ‘hooks’ are so easy to re load a hay net…because yes, those do get worn out and need changing. I use the slow feed nets. I also installed an eye hook on the wall below the hanger use a double ended snap about 10 inches up from floor to attach to back of net instead of total free swinging, etc. While you can load from the opposite side of your attached hay hoops ‘wall’ or ‘fence’ remember you HAVE to walk in same side to open and to close it. So I’d say expect to be inside the stall where it hangs for refills. Or, if you get a routine going where, say you open them while inside cleaning stall (horses out obviously) and then come back thru barn and fill from outside and then go in to re close…then I guess that could work. I made one boo boo of installing my salt / mineral block holders above them…and the salt helps rust the metal closer part so put your salt blocks farther away from your hay hoops!

And Brian do love yours!! however I wanted the lower head opportunity for natural grazing vs. the old fashioned hay rack placement.

[jay0087]

I made my own out of 3/4 pex pipe (like PVC) and a pex pipe connector. That cost about $13 and then you buy what ever clip, and attachments you like. I used a Nag net for mine since I already have 8 of them.

[Kottbulle]

I have 5 horses eating out of Tough-One hay hoops. I usually can operate them one handed except sometimes when going to close them the latch won’t always cooperate. I have had to replace the nets, but found if you get the poly cotton nets that the horses don’t get so mad at the smaller holes. When I have had thick more nylon type nets our aggressive mare would just chew them up to make a bigger hole. She doesn’t do that with the poly cotton type. I like the Derbys brand on Amazon. I don’t get the super small holed one i think mine are usually the 1.5-2in size. Slows our aggressive eater down enough. I find anything smaller like a true nibble net just frustrates her and make her destructive. Of course we grow our own hay, so we tend not to worry about how many flakes each horse gets as long as they have hay in front of them. But I can usually stuff 3-5 flakes depending on the type of hay and flake size.

Even if it is slightly inconvenient to operate at times, its worth the ease of feeding and there is pretty much zero waste. I know when they leave hay its because they won’t eat it ( i assume its bitter, weedy grass or cats have peed on it… gotta love barn cats, the barn is their litter box!)

[trubandloki]

@Libby2563 The frame you have, I assume it opens so a new net can be slid on if necessary?

@Brian I love your frames. Is it something you sell? Or do you sell the plans?

[Squirt]

Hate them! The one barn where I work that used them have taken them down and have gone back to using plain old. hay nets

[Libby2563]

@trubandloki

@Libby2563 The frame you have, I assume it opens so a new net can be slid on if necessary?

Yup! You can’t really see it in the picture but it has a threaded opening so you can replace the net.

[Bluey]

When we trained race horses, we used two regular hay nets per horse.
We filled them outside over a muck bucket and went to the stalls and just replace the empty one with a full one.

You don’t have to take loose hay into stalls and try to refill anything there.
You take the full net, take the one there down, hang the new full one.
With today’s feed doors into stalls, it would be easy to open the door, take the old empty hay net out and hang the full one, close the door, don’t even have to go in the stall for that.

Worked fine for us for the horses that required a net.
Most of our horses were nice about their hay just fed on the ground under their grain bucket.
​​​​​​​The messy ones were the ones that needed hay nets.

[trubandloki]

@Bluey That is what I do. I have lots of hay nets. I carry in the new net and take down the old net.

I actually make a weeks worth of hay nets (I only have three horses) on the weekend and then just grabbed one when it is time to feed.

[moving_to_dc]

I have a couple of the Tough 1 hay hoops. They aren’t my favorite, but they solve the issues of employees that cannot safely hang a hay bag. If I had other “hoop” options, I would probably chose a competitor over the Tough 1 product.

[Bluey]

One way to avoid low hanging nets is not to hang them vertically, but set them where they hang higher, but stretched out horizontally, so less apt to get a foot in there.

I saw one barn where the stall front had the top board on the bottom where it opened, the upper was bars.
There was netting there you would slip the hay into, so the horses had a hay net about 18" tall and a good 3"+wide at that just below 4’ height.

Will see if I can find that picture again.

[IFG]

I have hay hoops and like them. I was concerned about the low hanging net, so I replaced it with an old, semi-destroyed Freedom feeder. It was easiest to use baling twine to attach the freedom feeder to the hay hoop. Sliding the net on was completely frustrating.