Way back when, quite a while ago, I bought a couple nose bags to test them out before my dad and I set off to begin our big Mexico-to-Canada pack trip. I wrote a blog post on them. I ended up buying another feed bag, this one from Outfitter’s Supply, just before the trip. Here’s my evaluation of all three feed bags.

Before I start, I should let folks know that Kevin, at Outfitter’s Supply gave me a nice discount on a fairly large order I placed with him, including this nose bag. However, the facts of the matter will speak for themselves. My evaluation was not influenced by the discount.

I guess the first question to answer is this: Why use nose bags? I have used a number of ways to feed horses while on pack trips or overnighters. Dad and I, over the years have settled on feeding some form of pelletized alfalfa feed to our stock while on outings. We particularly like Equidine. Pelletized feed is easy to load and haul in a truck or trailer and far less messy than hay. It is easy to pack on a pack animal, whether packed as bags in manties or simply poured into the bottom of paniers. It can even be used as protection for other items that can be placed down into the pellets inside the paniers. We have fed alfalfa pellets by pouring a pile on top of a saddle pad or simply right on the ground. However, our experience tells us that the best way to feed pelletized feed on a pack trip or campout is to use nose bags.

When we head out for a pack trip or overnighter, we seldom know what sort of accommodations we will have for our horses at night. On our pack trip we normally tied one horse to a nearby tree or shrub and let the rest roam. We had no problem with horses trying to leave the group.  On other trips we have had horses tied separately to trees, on a highline, staked, or even tied to a trailer. We have found that no matter how the horses are secured, when fed on the ground or on a saddle pad, there is waste. They seem to be able to scatter the feed until they cannot reach it all, then they trample it into the ground. When they are allowed to roam, the alpha horse will move from place to place, sampling each of the feed piles and causing the rest of the horses to move from place to place as well, resulting in the horses fighting and the one on the bottom of the totem pole getting less feed. With nose bags, waste is almost totally eliminated. Horses tend to feed more calmly and take their time feeding. They cease to move around as much and they do not fight over feed. So, for our pack trips and other outings with horses, unless we are feeding hay, we always use nose bags.

The first nose bag is a nylon mesh bag with nylon straps and plastic buckles, which I knew as soon as I received it that it would not be sufficiently durable for our pack trip. It is, however, perfectly fine for a weekend outing or for short pack trips where a failed nose bag would pose no problem. The price I paid for it, $14.95, from Trailhead Supply reflects that as well, so I was not disappointed in it, just realistic in understanding that it was not made for what I was intending to use it for. You can read my writeup on it in the blog post I linked above. For my purposes here, just know that particular nose bag did not go on the pack trip with us.

 

The other nose bag I bought from Trailhead Supply, however, was much more substantial. You can read my initial impressions in the same blog post linked above. This nose bag was priced at $21.95 when I bought it in February 2013, however it no longer seems to appear on their website. This feedbag has a leather bottom and a leather vent for breathing. It has a heavy leather hanger that is adjustable via a nickel plated steel buckle. At the time I bought it I questioned the wisdom of having the breathing vent so low on the bag, as I figured it would get covered by feed. I was told by an experienced packer that the vent was located low on the bag to prevent the horse from drowning, should it try to drink with the feed bag on its head. While that explanation made sense to me, I still wished the vent were a little higher. I have seen horses stop eating because they had a hard time breathing with feed in the bag.

 

This bag did, in fact, go with us on the trip. However, shortly before I left on the trip, I found it was way too small for the head of my 16-hand Missouri Fox Trotter gelding. In fact, it barely fit on the head of my smaller Fox Trotter mare. This nose bag fit my mare on the last hole on the hanger strap. Even on her, the bag fit so tightly around her nose that I was concerned that she would not feed with it on. Those fears were unfounded, however, as she did fine with this bag and it made the entire trip without problem. This nose bag simply would not fit a mule. It would be adequate for a small horse.

 

 

The fact that this nose bag would not fit my gelding, necessitated that I look for another brand of nose bag for my gelding. Eventually, I settled on the top-of-the-line nose bag from Outfitter’s Supply. This nose bag carries a premium price, at $64.95, but Kevin was gracious enough to give me a substantial discount to help us get outfitted for the trip.

This nose bag is everything I think a nose bag should be. It is made of heavy canvas, large enough for even a mule, with plenty of adjustment in the heavy leather hanger. The hanger straps are stitched the full length of the bag, tying into the heavy leather bottom. Large copper rivets reinforce all critical points. The breathing vent is situated well above the bottom, providing plenty of room for a good scoop of alfalfa pellets and room for the horse to breathe.

I can also attest that the vent is low enough on the bag to allow for drainage of water. Our horses all drank from the troughs, streams, ponds, etc, almost every time they were fed, with the bags in place. My big Fox Trotter was no exception. The water drained off with no problems and no anxious moments for the horse.

The one complaint, if you can call it that, was that the hanger on this nose bag would occasionally unbuckle itself while I was putting it on the horse. I think that is due to the roller buckle. While roller buckles are normally seen as an upgrade from regular buckles, in this case I think a regular buckle might work better, because they aren’t so easy to unbuckle. The fact is, you don’t often need to re-size a nose bag. Still, that is a very minor criticism, and I bow to the fact that Outfitter’s Supply makes these bags to suit the U.S. Forest Service specifications, after having handled repairs on their nose bags for a number of years. I expect this nose bag to be part of my horse packing inventory for many years to come.

 

Incidentally, my dad happens to have a heavy-duty industrial sewing machine and a large supply of heavy canvas. Dad sewed up his own nose bags for the rest of our remuda.

They weren’t very pretty, but they did the job and lasted the entire trip….and they were priceless…er…I mean “free”.