Tight and sore neck muscle

[horsy]

Could being very aggressive with a double netted small holed haynet cause tightness in the neck here? Been looking in my books and I think its the trapezius muscle ;

Sorry for the rubbish diagram

Just found it was very tight, warm and uncomfortable for him today, on both sides, which could explain why hes been a bit off on the lunge lately. My gut feeling says its the way hes been attacking his haynets, he gets frustrated and throws them around, so I'm going back to feeding from the floor for a couple of weeks to see if it improves. (Went to haynets when he was on boxrest with Lami and needed it soaking). But hes had them for about 8 months now so surely it would have shown up before? Or maybe its something thats took time to build up.

Any stretches or anything I can do to try and loosen them? Will be giving them a good rub and massage every day now. The symptoms only show up on the lunge with slight reluctance to trot sometimes, lots of head tossing when asked, can only manage a collected canter and when asked to stretch out in canter he went disunited to 4 beats, which has never happened before. He is usually an angel and very easy to do on the lunge.

 

[carthorse]

My gut feeling is that yes, it does in some horses. If I feed Jim from nets he starts feeling tight in his neck (& his poll area), plus he'll eventually refuse to eat much. Fed off the floor he eats better & stays much softer. Unfortunately he doesn't stop cribbing just because he has to reach & pull . Little Un, however, doesn't seem to have any problem with nets wich is just as well because unless I want him to pull his hay into his bed, pee on it & then stand looking pathetic & hungry he has to have them.

 

[littlepony]

I used haynets for years but like your horse I was watching my mare eating one day and she was really aggressively pulling at the net. Since then I have fed hay from the floor and I actually think she eats it slower. She looks really relaxed and chews slowly but as you said I fed from a small holed net to make it last longer. I dont think it does !! Its nice that you are so observant to notice small changes in him like that. Some would put it down to naughtiness !!