Must Have Horse Products for Happier Horses
Maybe you’re still new to caring for horses, or you’ve transitioned to keeping horses at home. Even if you’ve have horses forever, you might not have heard of the following products. These are some of the products that I use regularly and attribute to my horses health & happiness!
HayPlay Bags
An alternative to hay nets, these bags are SO cool. The smaller bags are great on the ground or for hanging, and I use them primarily for enrichment over daily forage. But they would work just fine for feeding all hay as well! The XL bag was our horses only hay source during spring grazing, to ensure they had easy access to hay while keeping the hay better protected than in a net, since they were eating very little.
You can mix different types of hay in them, or add in pellets, cubes or other things like pieces or fruits or veggies. This company also sells the best grazing muzzles available, and you can get a discount on their entire selection with code “nantucket”. If you want to read more about these, I go into more detail about their products on this page.
HayChix Hay Nets
I’ve been using HayChix nets since 2019, and have never had a reason to try other brands. These nets are HARDY, and they have so many sizes and different ways of using them too. We rarely find holes, and in fact I think the only reason I’ve personally seen holes so far is due to the net getting caught on something sharp or rodent damage. But never from regular use by the horses. I’m sure it will happen eventually though! We’ve been using the same 3 half bale size nets on a constant rotation for the last two years with no issues – we only replaced one of our main 4 because of the sharp object issue. And even then, that net was able to continue being used for ages with various patch jobs!
Our daily use nets are half bale size with 1.25″ holes. We don’t need the smallest size holes, but they do come in 1″ holes too. I use their original 1.75″ hole size for trailering and to have Bermuda grass hay always easily available for them. We also loved using full bale sized nets, but when we started weighing all our hay we had to put a pause on those! You can save 20% on HayChix nets with this link. Or read more about how we use them here.
Natural Release + No Thrush
Four Oaks Farm has two products that I can’t live without. Their No Thrush powder is the best for hooves, hands down. I use it preventatively and to treat thrush when life gets in the way. I love it because it does not cause harm to live tissue, does not stain, and is easy to apply. And because it works!
Natural Release is a product I use on myself as much as on the horses. It helps with many aches and pains, cramping, or soreness. Lately, I’ve been much better about remembering to apply before working with the horses as well as after. Most recently, Tucker over-exerted himself one weekend and had a very sore back. I drenched him in Natural Release, and it helped SO much. By the next day, he was not tender at all. And I know it works, because I feel the results on myself. Love a product that can be used for both horse & human! I don’t have any discounts for these, but you can find them on Amazon here: Natural Release and No Thrush.
StripHair Gentle Groomer
This is THE grooming tool. Like, it replaces brushes and curries and squeegees, while doubling as an amazing therapeutic massage tool.
While most visually impressive during shedding season, the StripHair truly shines all year long. As I’ve been getting more into massage with my horses, I’ve grown to appreciate this tool’s original purpose too. It is amazing for massage! And when paired with Natural Release…what a winning combo.
These two together make a huge impact! I use the StripHair for literally all body grooming needs, but you can really see its effectiveness when you spray Natural Release on the coat and use the StripHair to spread it over the muscle. This ensures the liquid gets to the skin, because this tool grooms skin-deep, and prevents unnecessary loss of product from dripping off the horse. I use lighter pressure than I would normally, then once the product is spread over the area I can go back over with normal pressure to massage. Read all about the StripHair on this page.
Nanoflex - Topical Joint Care
Magic in a bottle, that is what this is! Like with Natural Release, I use this on myself too. My parents also use it, as does my friend’s grandma. It is truly amazing stuff! While Natural Release targets muscles more, Nanoflex goes straight to joints and tendons. My dad actually uses it for chronic tendonitis and its the only thing that helps. I use to have to use it on my hands daily, but at some point my hands stopped hurting so I haven’t needed to in a long time! So while this is more of a quick solution in some cases, I think there are long-term benefits from regular use too. Just from my personal experience.
For the horses, I like to apply this to Tucker’s hocks and Trubee’s knees pre-ride or workout! I know it works pretty much instantly, I just try to part the coat to get as much of it to the skin as I can. I do have a coupon code for this, it is “Trubee” and you can purchase it here.
Cavallo Hoof Boots
Hoof boots literally saved Trubee’s life when I first took him on. I started using them that year, 2014, and I’ve never stopped! We’ve gone through a few types now, so I can say with confidence that the Trek and the ELBs are the most versatile and best choices for most horses! ELB’s are cheaper and you can get sparkles, while Trek is a bit more and comes in black, green, or now purple.
The Treks are super durable, I think the soles would wear out well before the upper portion ever would. And that would take hundreds of miles, or riding pretty hard on roads or something very abrasive. The ELBs will eventually break, but Trubee had a set of four ELBs that we used for tons of trail riding for over two years, then he wore them 24/7 for over 3 months before they finally fell apart beyond use. So, still pretty durable! I do think the ELBs are better for 24/7 use for a more sensitive skinned horse like him, because they get softer as they break in. If we use Cavallo’s pastern wraps for trail riding, Treks work fantastic for him for outings. Tucker has never had a rub from a Cavallo boot of any kind, even when we’ve gone on very long and rigorous rides. I’ve also never lost a Cavallo boot, unless you count the one time that my sister put them on for her first time! She didn’t fasten them correctly 😉
Otherwise, even Tucker’s turbo mode gallop hasn’t dropped a boot. We’ve also gone through water, sand, rocks, and mud without issues. I love having all four hooves booted if we’re riding anywhere where we’ll be on hard roads, slippery roads, or with questionable debris. It is a great bonus to not have to dismount to dislodge a stuck rock or something. You can get 20% any Cavallo boots with this link!
Omega Nibblers
Every horse loves getting a special treat, right? But horses really don’t need molasses or other sugary candies. I love being able to feed Omega Nibblers because they are a healthy snack more than a typical “treat”. They have a lot of flax, nothing bad, and they break apart easily to be able to use smaller pieces for training. But they also somehow don’t break apart in your pocket! I’ve even put some through the washing machine before and they held together (totally intentional experiment).
These cute treats are my go-to snack to pack on every trail ride we go on, because I can pack a lot in my pocket and they’re way easier to hand off to the horses from the saddle than pellets are. Plus, they’re cute <3
And I also love their supplement Omega Horseshine. If you shop on the Omega Fields website, you can use my code “nantucket”. You can read more about Omega Fields products here!
Hay Play Ball
The newest addition to our enrichment lineup is the Hay Play Ball. I picked this up at the Horse Expo, and love having a different option for the horses! They tend to ignore this if it is too difficult, so we use it to feed a tiny amount of forage hay with alfalfa hay cubes mixed in. They then have to move it around to try to get the cubes out, and will eventually eat some of the forage hay inside too. For horses in a less enriching environment, this ball would be a great way to extend meal time while encouraging more movement!
You can find a similar ball on Amazon, or check your local feed stores. I purchased in person to avoid annoying shipping fees since it is a large item! The one I have is “High Country Plastics” and can be found at Valley Vet Supply.
Enrichment Herbs
For the last 8 months or so, I’ve been offering the horses an ever-changing selection of single herb teas. I love this enrichment activity because it is SO easy, and adds a lot of value to their living space. In an ideal environment, horses have lots of space to roam and a wide variety of plants to taste and smell.
You can buy herbs in bulk, use teas you have in your pantry, forage herbs or grow them in your garden. If you aren’t sure where to start, I have created a free guide on getting started which includes a list of 40+ herbs we’ve tried, and also have Herbal Enrichment Boxes available for purchase!
