The NibbleNet® Story:
Out of Thin Air and Conserving Resources
Palm City, FL (April 25, 2019) Like many great horse products, The NibbleNet® was the creative brainchild of a frustrated horse owner. Florida entrepreneur and equestrian Deb Rusden needed a slow feeding system for her horses and today, her NibbleNet®, manufactured by Thin Air Canvas, Inc., comes in 20 styles and sizes of custom-woven, grid-pattern webbing recommended by veterinarians nationwide to aid in the prevention of ulcers, colic, obesity and stall vices.
“We have a NibbleNet to hold everything from a flake to a 50-pound bale,” assures Rusden, who says every NibbleNet uses the most safe and durable materials, right down to UV-resistant, marine-quality thread. “Our unique webbing grid is the best material for slow feeding and is custom woven to resist dirt, rot, mildew and water absorption, and to not stiffen or harden over time.”
NibbleNet has a higher resistance to abrasion, which significantly extends its usefulness and environmental mindfulness because it will not wear out as quickly and end up in a landfill. Rusden says, “We are serious about quality. We are serious about keeping our manufacturing in the United States to provide jobs to Americans. We will never outsource. We give back to our community, our country and always to the horse.”
NibbleNet donates 10% of everything it makes to help horses in need, which has made a difference for rescues like Rainbow Meadows Ranch in Kansas, (www.rainbowmeadowsranch.com), where David and Karen Everhart say slow feeding regulates consumption of economic resources, too: “As a rescue, we must be efficient stewards of all resources, including hay. When we have large populations of horses and huge demands on hay, waste is unacceptable. I gave NibbleNet a chance to help us help the horses, and help they did.”
“Horses are most content when they can nibble all the time,” says Carolyn R. Simmelink, DVM. Find The Original NibbleNet® (not sold in catalogs) registered trademark on each bag of this veterinarian-approved slow feeding system and learn more at www.nibblenet.com.
Another NibbleNet® Hay Bag Story:
Wild Horses Can’t Drag Them Away
Palm City, FL (June 19, 2019) When The Original NibbleNet® Hay Bag shared to its social media the story of Raymond, the mule who has become an unlikely leader among the wild Corolla horses of Virginia’s Outer Banks, NibbleNet creator Deb Rusden didn’t expect a wild connection of her own.
But that was before Texas barrel racer DeLisha Ross shared her photo and story.
“I have one of the original Corolla wild horses adopted to the public, CWHF Rosalita.,” Ross posted. “I adopted her at four months old after the tragic loss of her dam. Her sire is the red stud, Speck. She was the ambassador for the wild horse fund until we moved from Virginia to Texas. She is now an integral part of the breeding program at my farm, babysitting the weanlings and yearlings.
“We love our little wild horse although she’s not so wild anymore (more spoiled than anything),” she said, posting a Before adoption photo of the filly curled up on the beach and an After, as a soft-eyed, mature mare in her own grassy pasture.
“We use NibbleNets in our trailer and on the road to barrel races,” she said, crediting professional rodeo power couple Mike and SherryLynn Johnson for introducing her to “this amazing product.”
“I absolutely love the durability the bags have.”
The Original NibbleNet has a higher resistance to abrasion, which significantly extends its usefulness and environmental mindfulness because it will not wear out as quickly and end up in a landfill.
“Horses are most content when they can nibble all the time,” says Carolyn R. Simmelink, DVM. Only The Original NibbleNet® Hay Bag (not sold in catalogs) carries a registered trademark on each bag of this veterinarian-approved slow feeding system. Learn more at www.nibblenet.com.
Grand Prix Dressage Rider & Veterinarian Candace Platz Suggests
Feeding Stations Using The Original NibbleNet®
To Improve Equine Digestive, Social Wellbeing
Palm City, FL (December 18, 2019) When equine veterinarian, FEI Grand Prix dressage rider, and non-dual healing graduate, Candace K. Platz, DVM, of Maine Equine Associates, posted on The Original NibbleNet® Facebook page about creating feeding stations to maintain optimum equine health and harmony it spurred a flurry of comments from readers wanting to know more.
"As an equine veterinarian, stable owner, and FEI competitor, I can't say enough good about Nibblenets,” Dr. Platz started. “The benefits include savings on hay (no more peeing or walking on hay), convenience (slower intake means fewer feedings; fill two Nibblenets per horse and night checks stays night checks, not late night feedings because there’s plenty of hay to last until morning), and healthier horses (from not eating dirt or dust). Constant grazing is physiologically much more appropriate for horses' GI tracts so we devised some creative feeding stations that keep horses moving around to find the ‘best’ Nibblenet and this adds interest to the horses' pasture life. Thank you for a wonderful, and highly recommended, product.”
Dr. Platz, an USDF-certified instructor and trainer with a degree in non-dual healing, says the Kabbalah-based, dialectical behavioral modality of non-duality teaches that there are no “opposites,” just facets of the same subject, and that everything is connected. Including the equine mind/body and its relationship to digestion.
Referring to Peter Godfrey-Smith’s 2016 scientific bestseller, Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, Dr. Platz explains how the origins of consciousness begin at a molecular level: that what happens in the gut affects what happens in the brain (including the impact of gut bacteria on neurotransmitters), and how a proper feeding program honors horse behavior and allows them to mentally manifest what they should be: constant grazers.
“Feeding horses should be an ethical expression of helping them meet their destiny as grazers. We honor their bodies and enrich their minds by ensuring they can eat all the time and that slow feeding is convenient, accessible and safe.”
Find your horse’s slow feeding destiny at www.nibblenet.com.
The NibbleNet® Slow Feeding System:
For Small Muzzles with Big Appetites
Palm City, FL (November 19, 2019) The only thing that has been in Dianne Boomhower’s Stuart, Florida barn longer than NibbleNet® hay bags are Arabian horses. “I was among the first to try the NibbleNet,” says Dianne, who has owned and ridden Arabian horses for more than four decades. “That was the summer of 2007. I had two Arabians, Maji and Tor, who were wicked about wasting hay. They basically used it for a litter box.”
She rescued Maji (Majid Barakat) as a yearling and in 2020, the bay gelding (sired by Egyptian Arabian grand champion stallion, Thee Desperado) will turn 18. “My baby. Smartest horse I’ve ever known.” His partner in hay-wasting crime, the “fabulous” and beloved Tor (Aladdinn’s Victor), was laminitic and on a restricted diet.
Her good care included orchard grass hay fed twice daily. Watching it go to waste under their delicate but destructive hooves was frustrating. When another Florida horse owner, Deb Rusden, asked if Dianne would try out her new idea for a hay bag, she thought, why not?
“They took to the NibbleNet instantly! My first impression after using it was, there was no wasted hay. None! Instead of ‘hoovering’ it in half an hour, both horses were still nibbling two or more hours later! Eventually, when they started to realize they almost always had hay, they stopped trying to finish it all at once. They’d eat, meander out to graze or nap, then come back to snack a little more.”
Dianne lost Tor in November 2012 to EPM. She got Maji, in need of a companion, a palomino Miniature Horse named Dandy.
“Maji is an Egyptian Arabian, and has a tiny muzzle. He has received his hay exclusively from a NibbleNet for over twelve years now. His teeth are in perfect condition. He is consistently at a very healthy weight.
“Tor did have a weight issue, so NibbleNet was super beneficial for him. Maji has never had a weight issue. He is extremely active and I sometimes struggle keeping weight on him. I think NibbleNet helps with that as well. I can hang one higher so Dandy can’t reach it, to ensure Maji gets his fair share.”
Because that other tiny muzzle comes with a big appetite: “Dandy is an absolute pig! If he could, he would eat until he exploded. NibbleNet helps me keep his weight under control. Maji likes his NibbleNet so much that I can fill his bag, hang it, then throw a flake on the ground, and he will still go to his NibbleNet instead of the loose hay. He also loves the NibbleGoRound I use daily to gather spilled hay. When it’s full, I hang it up and he enjoys the challenge. Dandy? Not so much. He’d prefer I just hand him the whole bale.”
With over 20 styles and three sizes of squares among its custom webbing choices, horse owners like Dianne can find a bag to fit every situation (and muzzle): “I like that different size holes are available. As an owner, there are times when it’s necessary to adjust the amount of hay I’m feeding, and it’s easy to change to a different bag. I think I have every model. I have bags with large holes, and small holes, for different times of year depending on pasture growth. I’ve used them for over a decade and still have some of those first NibbleNets, still in usable condition! Maji can destroy a Jolly Ball in minutes flat but has never damaged a NibbleNet.”
“This is the best way to feed hay. Very little waste, mimics grazing behavior, easy to control how much hay your horse gets, keeps them busy longer. I recommend NibbleNets not only for Arabian horses but all types of animals. I’ve fed goats from NibbleNets, too!”
Not sold in catalogs, find the complete line of NibbleNet® hay bags and slow-feeding systems at www.nibblenet.com and www.thinaircanvas.com.