The Cinch Chix Hay Net provides horse owners with an easy and effective way to ensure their horses have access to hay all day long - keeping the horse's digestive system healthy and giving horses something to do with their time.
The Large Bale Cinch Chix Hay Net
The Small Cinch Chix Hay Net
The Cinch Chix Hay Net comes in two sizes:
- Large Bale - Fits up to a 6' x 6' round bale. Made of reinforced, UV treated nylon mesh, with 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" openings. Safe for the smallest horse feet. $175 each or special 'Whole Herd' offer of 2 or more for $150 each.
- Small Bale - Fits up to a 3' x 2' x 4' square bale, made of reinforced, UV treated nylon mesh, with 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" openings. Safe for the smallest horse feet. $35 each or special 'Small Herd' offer of $60 for two.
Both Cinch Chix hay net styles are proudly manufactured in the USA.
The manufacturers write:
The Cinch Net is an efficient, cost-effective solution for using hay bales to appropriately and safely feed your herd. It allows your horse to be a 'thinking horse' allowing it to eat and graze when it chooses. And a thinking horse is a happy horse!
For training, we definitely want thinking horses! Those people who doubt the importance of good nutrition for effective learning, need only look back to the year 1966 when the School Breakfast Program began as a pilot study to provide breakfast for 'nutritionally needy' children in the school system. The program was extended several times and finally recieved permanent authorization in 1975.
The reason the program began and why it was so successful is that it showed a direct correlation between proper nutrition and the children's ability to learn. The same goes for horses!
The Cinch Chix hay net can be hung from a tree ...
... where it does double-duty as a horse toy!
How you feed your horse has a direct correlaton with your success in training. Many trail riders complain about horses diving for grass, considering it a 'training issue' when really the simple solution is to be sure the horse has been well-fed before heading out on the trail.
Other riders complain of horses that are grumpy and non-responsive to their training efforts in the arena or round pen. Again, they usually never consider that the poor horse is ravenously hungry and is completely focused on the next feeding to relieve the pain in its gut. These horse owners treat the problem as though it were a training issue, just escalating an already negative situation.
Consider this statement by Merial, manufacturer of GastroGard® ulcer paste.
Gastric ulceration is a widespread clinical finding among performance horses in training as well as in foals. Prevalence of up to 93% has been documented among horses in race training and in nearly 60% of other performance horses.
Many horses confined to 10 x 10 stalls are not only bored out of their minds, but even worse, they develop ulcers because their ruminant digestive systems are prohibited from working in an optimum way. A horse is an animal that was built to graze - all day long. Most barns feed twice a day, around 7 AM in the morning and then again in the afternoon around 4 PM. In the meantime, the horse's stomach continues to produce digestive acids. The acids in the gut have nothing to digest, ultimately damaging the horse's delicate stomach lining.
Ideally you'll have a big, lush grass pasture for your horses, but in many climates it's just not possible. Additionally, some 'easy keepers' are prone to putting on too much weight which can result in health concerns.
The Cinch Chix hay net is designed to encourage slow eating. The horses, using their nimble lips, pull hay straws through the netting which has holes less than 2" x 2". Horses no longer 'wolf' their food but quickly learn to eat what they need when they need it. 'Hard keepers' or horses with fast metabolisms may spend the entire day at the hay net, filling their bodies with the extra calories they need to stay strong and healthy. 'Easy keepers' or horses with lower metabolisms will eat slower and digest their food better to maintain a healthier weight.
This video shows just how easy it is to use the Cinch Chix Hay Net. See more videos and photos on their website at: http://cinchchix.com/instuctionsvideosphotos.html
More articles about free-feeding and natural horsekeeping:
Comments
Awesome - I have a horse this is perfect for. Thanks for the info
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