"Aggressive" eating?

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domane

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I have a traditional yearling who's a real sweetheart. He's very friendly and loves to be fussed. He comes into his stable every day for a fibre-based feed with a broad spectrum vit and min supplement and the whole time he eats he paws with his front hoof. I used to feed him from a black rubber trug at my old yard and he would pretty much instantly flip it over and eat the food from the concrete which didn't really bother me (babies will be babies after all) but I have now moved to my "own" place which I am leasing and the stable floors are soil. They were pretty manky when we moved in with deep litter from some resident sheep before so I now feed Albi in a bucket which goes into a metal frame which is screwed to the wall and I've noticed that he really does seem to get quite "aggressive" with it. Along with the pawing (he strikes out with his forefoot and hits the kickboard so it makes a right old clomping noise) he also thumps the bucket around with his head and really pushes into the feed as he's eating. He's not truly aggressive though as I can stand beside him and he's not nasty with me or anything, I just used that as a descriptive word.

I had another cob yearling for a year a while back and I can remember him pawing and tipping his bowls over, but not to this one's extremes, so I've put Albi's behaviour down to just being a baby and learning but he really does seem to be getting noisier. Obviously I ignore him because I don't want him to learn that making noise gets him attention (not that I think he would care, tbh, he IS eating after all! :D)

Is this fairly normal behaviour for a youngster that he will grow out of?
 
It's normal behaviour, but I doubt he will grow out of it. It's meant to be to do with the fact that horses don't stand still when they eat but constantly move on to the next bit of grass. I have a large black cob and we found the solution was to split an old feed bag, put it on the floor and tip his feed directly onto it. He didn't like the noise it made if he pawed it, so we lost a lot less feed.
 
Sorry its really commen. I have two that do it with a passon and six that don't. One I have had since a foal and has never been hungrey or theatened when eating. Sometimes putting chaff in it will appear to make him stop. I have two ponies who must have the world record of how much one pony can put in their mouths in one bite, but they do not paw etc.
 
We used to feed in those rubber/plastic, not sure which buckets with the handles on them, but they'd only last a day or two. i now feed them using the squished up buckets like a plate, as all mine behave like yours at feeding time. I was sick of replacing feed bowls. Did have a mare during the summer that used to stand on one front leg, like a flamingo, when eating, swapping legs all the time. very funny to watch!!

I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
It's very common and they tend not to grow out of it. If you're lucky he'll even pull out the manger for you and kick it all round the box which is what Joey and Freddy do every meal without fail; I've even gone as far as to chain the manger to the frame but F still tips it upside down!
 
I have a couple who do this and to be honest every now and again it drives me up the wall when i see the food all over the ground and then being pawed eveywhere.
I also have 4 mares who do the 3 legged dance as i call it hopping from one front foot to the oter and waving the hoof in the air
 
Both of my horses wave alternate front legs in the air. Sammi, my 17 year old has always done it, I have owned him for 14 years. When I bought my coloured Rox, he was an unhandled 9.5 month old colt. Now he was agressive with food, but that was because at the breeders yard all mummies and babies were feed as a herd together, so it was a free for all at feeding time! For several months he kept all feet on the floor, but then I moved him into the same field as Sammi, and he started pawing the air swapping both legs. I assumed he has copied the behaviour from Sammi. He is now 2.5 years old and he still does it! xx :D
 
I knew a horse like that, years ago, also a youngster. The owner found that giving a small net of hay for even 15 minutes before his feed arrived just took the edge off his slightly manic feeding style. I guess it was like being able to attack the bread basket to take the edge off your hunger before tucking into the main course!

Might be worth a try...

Good luck!:)
 
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