Horses getting a leg caught in a hay net?

Question

You always hear about this, but I have never had this happen or even knew of any one that has. Have you?

Answer 1

Yes, this has happened before. But luckily, the horse was really calm and lets us quickly untangle him. And we couldn't really higher the net because hes a mini, it can only go so far, ha. My family usually doesn't use the hay nets or bags just for that reason, but he was in the arena with sand, so we figured it was safer that way.

Answer 2

Yes I've seen it happen a few times.  It's usually when they tie it too low and dont secure both top and bottom.  I've never seen it happen when it's tied high and secure. I once heard about a horse rearing up and catching a foot in one, but I didn't see it.

Answer 3

Some time back, I worked for a farm that had horses turned out year round in huge fenced areas. The grass was poor, so we fed hay year round.

The owner was an eccentric woman who had a horse break a leg once by accidentally putting a foot through a hay net and panicked. Since then, she would not have another hay net on the place.

What we constructed to feed hay with little waste was rather unique. I will try to describe the set up for you.

Each field had a deep, 3 sided run in shed that was angled in the front to keep out rain/snow. Along the entire back of each shed there were 4 large swivel mangers that tilted back so that we could fill them from the rear from a tractor and wagon.

Each manger had bars than came down over top of it. Like a creep feeder or like a foal feeder, but larger for horse sized muzzles.

This allowed the horses to spread out and eat with less competition. Because they had to work to pull the hay through the bars, very little was wasted. Also the bars extended out past the manger and kept the hay clean and discouraged horses from making manure deposits into it.

I don't know if this is a feasible solution for you, but it did work for us. Hope that helps

Answer 4

My friend told me about a  horse that did this regular - luckily it was sensible enough to just stand and wait to be untangled.

I don't use them as a rule. I have racks for the boys (they c**p on it if I put it on the floor !) and Holly gets hers on the floor.

Answer 5

I personally  have never had it happen either.

However, I do know of a stallion that caught a leg in a wall mounted hay rack that was placed quite high.

He must have literally been climbing the walls to accomplish that feat.

But as a rule, no. If a hay net is hung correctly, it is a rare occurrence.

Edit - Hey trolls, back the &*%$ off !!!

Answer 6

i have heard of it. my friends TB did it once, sometime over night and luckly he didnt panic, but stood there, very patiently, untill morning where the first person to arrive at the yard saw him and freed his leg. he had no marks or stress which was lucky and my friend learnt to tie the haynet higher up and away from any hooves

Answer 7

i never use haynets because of this, i stick to canvas hay bags...they have a large hole in the middle of the bag and you slip the hay in the top, great invention

Answer 8

Nope. I dont have my own horse yet.

Answer 9

My barrel horse when we would go to rodeos found some way of getting his leg in them.  If not noticed soon could really hurt them.  I had to take and hook a lead rope to the other end and tie the both ends up so that he wouldn't get his leg caught in it.

Answer 10

I have defevently heard of this, alot of people have accidents that invol careful enough or dont hae horses and there hay nets, people are just not careful enoug, or unknowledgeable, they should really make sure they hang there hay nets HIGGH or get the non-string ones. ive had to cut a hynet off of a horses hoof, and belive me they didnt just stand still :s

Answer 11

Yes, it happened to my 7 month old colt.  Tied as high as I could reach, mr. nosey must have decided to 'play' with it.   At one point he had both front feet in it!

Cut it down, threw it away, bought a hay bag.  He's now on his third bag. . .

Answer 12

I have heard of this happening.  I recently heard secondhand that a horse got stuck at a pony club rally a year or two ago, and eventually had to be put down.  I don't use hay nets or bags or anything at home - I just put the hay on the floor or ground.

As far as run in sheds with hay racks in them - they can be dangerous, too.  I had my horses at a farm that previously had cows.  It had a huge run in shed - about 30 x 40 feet - with a wooden hay rack all the way across the back.  This worked great for years, but one day I came to find that my 25 year old mare had kicked into it (probably kicking at another horse), got her leg stuck somehow, and totally shattered her hind leg beyond recovery.  She was not stuck when I found her, but was still in the run in shed.

Answer 13

I haven't had it happen personally, because we don't use hay nets. I think that it happens more with ponies because the owners put them lower so that their pony 'can reach because he's so short'.

Gotta admit though, its a h**l of a way to go. Death by hay net.

Answer 14

I've heard of it, but never had it happen. If it happens, you haven't been watching your horse close enough. Either you screwed up hanging the hay net, tying your horse, or were just plain being stupid (no offense to anyone). Hay nets should always be high enough that your horse can't paw at it. And your horse should be tied so that he/she can't get his/her hoof at the net. And most hay nets now are made so that horses can't get their legs stuck in them if something like that does happen.

Answer 15

YES.....aweful, thats why I always carry a knife with me. Im not a fan of hay nets either, especially after it happened....lol Everything was fine but quick thinking on my part prevented a panic.

Answer 16

this actually happened to my horse but luckily hes the calmest thing ever.. he just stood there with his foot tangled up with a wtf look on his face. so always make sure you tie your haynets out of the reach of your horses legs and check to make sure it hasnt gotten loose when youre horse has been eating for a while(=

Answer 17

Tying the hay net up high and out of reach of horses feet is the key to preventing this.  Also if the hay net is being tied to the high line picket it is a good idea to tie both ends of the net.  Stretch the net, one end tied here..and the other end (the bottom of the net) there on the picket line...about a stretch of say maybe 3 or 4 feet, depending on the size of the net.

Answer 18

If I ever use anything, I use a hay bag instead. Hay nets can be trouble if not tied correctly!

Answer 19

It only happens because people tie the net to low.

Answer 20

I have never used these, the looks of them make me nervous, plus with my horses they would probably eat the bag to.  I can imagine them get a hoof stuck, good another reason i will never use one LOL

Answer 21

I've only known one horse who did it, and he even did it in the trailer!  It was my neighbor's horse. Luckily he just stood there and nothing bad happened.  He didn't panic or anything.  The bag was tied up high, but he still was able to get his shoe snagged on it.  That's why carrying a pocket knife is a good idea.

Tie the bags high and it lessens the chance of it happening, but even if it's high it can happen, just not as likely.

Answer 22

Personally I haven't heard of it but if you tie it in a way that they can get in it or can move it so they can get caught in it it's bound to happen sometime.

Answer 23

Yes, I've heard of it and saw it happen. More prone to happening if the hay bag is hung incorrectly (i.e. not pullung the tie through the loop in bottom so that it can't fall flat) but sometimes horses accomplish strange things.

Worst I ever saw was on the way to a horse show with a 6 horse slant load trailer fully loaded on the freeway. We were in the second truck following with the equipment and saw the trailer doing alot of rocking ect, like all the horses were upset. Flagged them down and after checking discovered that the very front horse had gotten his hay bag partially down and gotten his front feet tangled in it. Can only assume he got one caught, paniced and then began striking at it to get free. Ever tried to pull 5 ASB's out on the side of the freeway at night and hold them?? Not fun at all! Luckily he calmed down once a person got in there with him and he came out OK with just some rope burns. Was even able to compete at the show.

But I've never used a hay bag since except when I was physicaly present to watch them.

Also seen horses get their feet hung in metal wall and corner hay racks in the stall. Won't use them either. Even once saw a horse kick at another outside and get a rear foot hung in a outside metal hay bunk. Heck I won't even feed out of flat back buckets after I saw a horse get it's head stuck through one scratching and panic -- somehow managed to stick hisc whole head straight through across the opening and out the back with the handle over/behind his ears -- with it hanging stationary on a 2"x6" board fence!

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that if there is any way physically possible to injure them selves a horse will figure out a way to do it. In some cases I have no idea how they actually manage it so just remove everything I think they could possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, manage to injure themself with or on -- and sometimes I still find them with fur knocked off and no explaination as to how, or on what,  they possibly did it. :-)

Someone once said that everything born was destined to die on a certain day & time and it seemed horses spent their entire life trying to find that moment. After all these years with horses I understand what he meant.