Anyone else have a horse...

Sparkles

Sparkles

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Who is ridiculous at feed time?

One of mine is...seriously, at haylage [even though he has it adlib, so it's always just 'topped up' rather than refilling each morning/evening if that makes sense?], or if he even sees me doing something with a haynet/feed bag/etc.

He's a complete prat with it lol. Morning breakfast...consists of him piaffe-ing on the spot whinnying [a rather good piaffe at that, granted! I shall be doing some dressage on him next summer I think!].
Haylage topping up after, consists of mini-rears on the spot.
Dinner time feed, means him doing the can-can in his water bucket. One front foot in, and out, the other front foot in, then out.

Anything with food being prepared....he's a jibbering, excitable idiot.


Love him dearly though. To ride and do in every other aspect, he's an absolute little superstar rock.

Anyone have one who is just completely silly over feed time?
 
Sorry mine is a star in that area! The only thing she is good with! Haha! She knows to wait one side of the stable while I hang her hay net or place her feed down.
 
Both! He's exactly the same where-ever he is lol. He's not a thug or bolshy at all. To actually go in and give him the feed or handle him at feedtime if you need to etc, he's a gent. The 'preparing and getting of the feed' however...his brain melts! Always done it.


My other 3 are fine. Just him that's a bit 'special' lol.
 
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Mine is a monster at feed time too. He'll crush me against the wall or yank the haynet out if my hands. Before i bought him, i was sharing him. I did everything (bring in, tack up etc) but his owner always told me to stand back when food was around. He's perfect otherwise though :)
 
Yours all sound lovely. My new mare will beat you to death and then go back to eating if you go near her once that bucket is down. Enter at your own peril!!! :o
 
Add levade and a pirouette to the list, so I've just been informed for todays display. Idiot. Lol.

I'll video it for your sole amusement one day!
 
One of mine does levade followed by bucks each getting higher as you approach, he is fine to go in with but once the feed is in he will kick out in warning, I can put a rug on if I have to or skip out carefully although prefer to leave him in peace. He is worse at the moment as he is on holiday, turned out all day but no work seems to mean exercising in the box:eek:
 
My irish pony gets very excited at feed time but always remains well mannered. He does his version of Riverdance! Points his toe and waves a foreleg in air then paws ground. He gets so excited even if on lots grass or ad lib hay and in field or stable. Whinnies and nods head. Always polite but acts starved.
We think he has been kept hungry in past home (I know he was stabled without any hay all day from morning feed until turned out at night when working in riding school) and this added to his character has made this behaviour. Makes us feel loved though!
 
Oh god some of the racehorses are not that good with this!!

We feed them in mangers so we have to go in and put it in the manger at the back of the stable (we dont really bother tying them up if your quick you dont need to)

Most of them just follow you to the manger but you have to watch your back with one when making an exit as she will try to kick you then after youve dodged her she will spin around and run to the door trying to cut you off, she never wins though. Another one acts evil but isnt really he tries to scare you by pulling his manger out of its hole when youve put the feed in. His loss, i get out safely and his feed spills everywhere

If you get between one and his hay you will get kicked. I made the stupid mistake of putting his rug on when he was eating and i saw my life flash before me as he span round, kicked, missed me by an inch, span round again, kicked the wall missing me by an inch and if i hadnt have dodged and made a sharp exit i probably would have ended up in hospital. My fault should have known better!!
 
Mine whinnies as soon as I pick up a bucket or walk into the barn and as soon as she sees me, all food related. Was cute to start with but the novelty's worn off! :rolleyes:
 
I have the flat eared, bare teeth, front foot waving monster when it's feed time. He's not so bad with hay but it's not wise being too close when he gets his feed! Have to forgive him though because today he got his bum bitten by the ******$d TB as I was leading him back in through the gate and although he pushed against my back he did not run over me. I'm beginning to think he might even like me :) just a little anyhow.
 
My gelding holds a front leg up while eating. I thought it was cute and that he just loved his food so much, until I discovered that he actually held his leg up ready to kick and swipe at you in case you tried to take it away! Wee ****.

My mare gets fed last, purely because she has a complete meltdown about it. She box walks and slams herself off the door, so I wait until she has finished her tantrum then give her her feed.
 
my mare tosses her head round lots and tries to kick the door (it's usually open as she has a chain) and bounces it open.

When I first got her she was dangerous with a feed. The first day we fed tied up with the others as they were just going back out and I asked her to move over - she put a hole in the breezr brick wall behind her (she's not shod). My dog went to close and she kicked out again. She had her feed removed and hasn't kicked again since although she doesn't get a feed tied up and I wouldn't trust her in the stable with someone who didn't know horses when she had a feed. She's never done anything since but not worth the risk :rolleyes:
Just to be safe we fed in her stable after that and the next day she concussed me by smacking me round the head with hers. We insist that they back up to let us in the stable and she started tossing her head around and caught me without meaning to - she lost her dinner again. The next day she backed right up :D:D
We find that works pretty well for reinforcing manners at dinner time.

OP your horse sounds hilarious
 
Sorry but I don't find bad manners around food amusing.
My lad will look grumpy and mean but will always stand back till told good boy get it, our 18 yr old mare was food aggressive when she came in March, she was ribby and hungry, but no way will i let a horse tell me I can't do something, what if it had choke. Our mare has learned manners to a point, if she is bargy for feed, she gets tied up till feed/haynet is ready, then told to go get it, she is 16 2 and bigger than I am.
Horses, dogs and kids need to have manners
 
Mine is more bothered about his hay than feed. When I bought him he would barge for feed, but smacking a schooling whip on the floor in front of his feet when he charged stopped that very quickly and he stands back, and he has never been a problem once he has his feed, I even scrape the feed out of the corners of his manger while he still has his nose in there and he's not bothered. He gets very excited about hay and will snatch at it while I'm trying to tie it up, but isn't aggressive. I usually take a largeish carrot (he still has baby teeth so takes him a while to chomp it) or tie up while he's eating his dinner. I have to do it early on in a feed or he will leave his feed for his hay!
 
The mare i have can be a bit aggressive with food and i find it quite infuriating. I will make a point of making her back up when putting feed in and keeping out of my space when tying up hay nets. She is possibly the most vocal horse i have met when it comes to feed times, the slight rustle of anything that could be food sets her off.

She has been known to do the leg waving over her feed bucket if you come near. Once she did actually bite me on the shoulder as i leant over her pile of hay to get something, Not making excuses for her, but i prob shouldn't have done that, she was just acting on instinct as she thought i was going for her hay. Non the less she got a good telling off. With my gelding you could do anything with food and he'd never get aggressive, i am just so used to dealing with him that i didn't expect it. Have learnt now though!
 
scottishmiss said:
My mare gets fed last, purely because she has a complete meltdown about it. She box walks and slams herself off the door, so I wait until she has finished her tantrum then give her her feed.
Click to expand...

My girl does the door slamming thing and it's driving me mad. She just seems to barge it with her chest. No damage to the stable yet but being open barn stabling i do worry that one day it crashes down, would probably scare the hell out of her and serve her right but still! She is fine to feed, moves back , has respect and to be around when eating it's just that time before feed time that she gets arsey.
Any ideas on how to stop the door pushing??
 
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