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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489
| I did a search and found a few threads about corner hay bags. A couple of posts mentioned horses getting feet caught in the bags but not much more. Are horses getting feet caught and ripping them down or are you getting to where you are going and finding a horse with a foot in the air. I would like to try a couple of the feeders in my trailer but am a little concerned about a horse ridding for a while with a foot in the air. The hooks on our trailer are about chest high so I think it would be difficult for the horse to get a leg in there but stranger things have happened...I am wondering if people are having trouble with bags that are hung lower. Mike |
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Expert
Posts: 2453
Location: Northern Utah | I've used them over the years and never had a problem with a horse getting his foot in them. My horses load and rub their sweaty heads on them, scratching if you will and tear the eyelets out. So I get home and find one of the coners hanging. The first trailer I had them in they lasted 5 years no problems. The trailer I have now, they lasted 2-3 trips. So maybe it was the quality of the bags. I have not replaced them. |
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Member
Posts: 48
Location: Northern IL | I had some problems with them, but wonder if it wasn't the horse more than the bag...My corner bags came with chains at each corner with double ended snaps...If I hung them on the very last chain link, they hung too low...SO I had to hang them on the last or second to last chain link...Then they hung high enough but would always come home with a broken snap...I hauled a horse last fall from southern IL back up here to northern IL and we stopped after about 20-30 miles to check the horse, he had a foot in the hay bag...We took it out and put the hay in a hay net bag and hung that instead, end of problem....I still have the corner bags but don't really use them now cuz all my trips are mainly local short distance trips...If I need to put hay in the trailer again, I'll probably just hang a hay net...I also used to use trailer ties too, but quit using them too...Just as easy to tie them up by the lead rope... |
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Location: Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain... | I quit using the corner bags. Every time I haul yearlings, I would get home and have at least one with a foot in the bag. Just standing there looking at me like they were wondering how it happened. Got home one day and had a colt with both feet in it. I opened the door and he pulled them out one at a time. Almost like he intended to have them there. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Kansas | My mare thinks her foot belongs in the feeder, I do not. I only had the final say because I removed the darned things. |
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Veteran
Posts: 161
Location: S. Central Illinois | I have always used canvas hay bags. I actually hang them with bucket straps-I put the loop of the strap through the ring on the bag then hook the loop in the snap and hang on a ring above the horses head. It puts the hay about at the horses head yet high enough that they won't get their foot caught. Have never had a problem. |
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Regular
Posts: 85
Location: Galahad, AB, Canada | When I bought my Featherlite i planned to buy the corner feeders. Then I loaded my 15.3hh, fairly long bodied Paint mare, and decided that the corner feeder would take up more length than I could spare. I tried hay bag, but had the same problem. Finally I ended up feeding my mare her hay on the floor in front of her, and that worked perfectly. Since then I haul everything the same way - they are left loose in their slant load stalls with their hay and maybe alfalfa cubes on the floor in front of them. They are as happy as can be, my long mare fits well (she actually gains space by eating off the ground because her neck is in a comfortable and natural position eating) and studies seem to show that allowing a horse to lower their head helps prevent shipping fever. I guess aggressive horses could fight underneath the dividers, but my horses know each other and don't seem too motivated to argue. And there isn't much they could do, anyhow - maybe nip at each other under the divider, but it would be tough to do big damage unless they became really aggressive. Maybe try this before buying the corner feeders - after reading everyone's problems I'm kinda glad I didn't go that route. And by the way - I've had horses put their feet in feed bags, too, even when they are tied fairly high. One even got a "rope burn" type of injury when he removed it. And this wasn't the string feed bags, but the canvas feed bags, he still produced friction when he dragged his fetlock over the edge of the canvas bag. Since that time I've stopped using feed bags, even in the stalls at shows. My horses have to eat off the ground. It might be messier, but at least I don't worry about them getting caught up. |
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