My purpose in writing these articles is to help owners of horses in every way I can to help them keep their horse happy. Let's say you are off to a show horse. You'll probably be there from early morning to evening hours. Your horse is probably just below the saddle ridden everything several hours that day. The rest of the day he was tied to the trailer. Of course the best scenario is to rent a stall at the farm if they are available, but they are pretty expensive. So your horse is more than likely is bound to most of the day, especially if you show more than one horse. To have a hay rack available in lots of good quality hay Timothy mixing a blend of alfalfa or orchard grass or clover hay is a great way to not only keep your horse fed, but to keep him or her instead of busy dig holes or constantly looking around and moving back and forth. To have a water bucket hanging next to your hay rack is not a bad idea to assume that if your horse gets hot, and it shows that you are correct your horse go out before returning them back trailer.
Travel with horses, especially long distances, you really need to have either a rack or hay hay hay placed in bags provided in the trailer or some trailers with dressing rooms will only have a solid place for you to put your hay. If you transport your horse in a van, not put hay net, where the wind is blowing from the window. It should be hay net in the middle if you have two horses side by side. If you have three horses in total and then you will need two hay racks on both sides of the center of the horse. If you pull a long distance and have a hay rack installed, so make sure you do not tie your horse too short. Horses must have enough head movement to reach hay and bowed his head far enough to blow their nose and clear their heads. It is imperative that the horse was able to clear their heads to stop hay from getting into their lungs, which may be one factor that contributes to your horse that falls in shipping fever and can be fatal.
The proper way to hang a hay rack is the first of all have a screw eye on an arms reach above your head out of your barn. Bring your hay rack in front of you, take the end of a long rope tie string to gather the hay rack and loop it in and through the screw eye. Pull the ends down and pull hay rack up while pressing the bottom of the hay rack well. Take the end of the string sign and run it through the strap at the very bottom of the hay rack. Pull down and then up, bringing the bottom of the hay rack up as high as you can within reasonable limits. Tie a slip knot back into the same string with the draw to pull hay rack up. Keep looping over the knot several times. This way if the horse pulls on it, it will not dismantle. Another alternative is to put a double snap at the end of the string to draw, when you run it through the hay net to bring it up again in a tight manner. If the hay net blocks too much of the entrances of your horses stall makes it difficult for the horse to put his head out, just go to the other side and use a rope or a bungee or whatever you prefer to use one of these things to pull the hay net back out of the way and secure it.
I suppose you are wondering why go through all this trouble when you can just throw hay in the corner of the cage. There is nothing wrong with putting hay in the corner, but the horses have a tendency to waste hay in this way, step on, urinate and produce fertilizer in it besides it makes you throw more litter when it gets mixed with it. When you're in a show, and you have a hay rack in front of your horse, it gives you a little more lea way to go about and visit your neighbors, go watch a class or two, knowing that your horses are well fed and that its needs are met, not to mention that your horse can relax a little more due to the fact that their stomach is full. When transporting a horse a long distance, it makes for a more satisfying and easier to ride for your horse if they have food to eat, they sleep again allot better. Once you have become accustomed to hay net and do's and do not, it's pretty easy. I find them to be a very important tool not only to keep my horse happy, but they bring me a greater peace of mind knowing my beloved friend is not starving.
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