Being told to get out of your yard but not really being told to.

[honetpot]

I half stable walls no grill in my stables, and I have never seen any evidence of anything having a go at anything next door, not saying it never happens but its rare.

Agression is usually based on being defensive, and fighting over food, so I would work out why this is happening, and what is the tigger, it could something as putting the haynet in a different place or has it got enough forage to start off with, so its defending its food.

If a horse can bite a passing horse that horse is too close, so the handler has some fault in this happening. As I used to say to my daughters the front end bites and the back end kicks, and never take it for granted that it won't. Thank god I am no longer on a livery yard or have to take liveries. Bangs head.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I half stable walls no grill in my stables, and I have never seen any evidence of anything having a go at anything next door, not saying it never happens but its rare.

Agression is usually based on being defensive, and fighting over food, so I would work out why this is happening, and what is the tigger, it could something as putting the haynet in a different place or has it got enough forage to start off with, so its defending its food.

If a horse can bite a passing horse that horse is too close, so the handler has some fault in this happening. As I used to say to my daughters the front end bites and the back end kicks, and never take it for granted that it won't. Thank god I am no longer on a livery yard or have to take liveries. Bangs head.

My guess is that the good doer isn't fed enough in the stable and so is aggressive. I have seen that happen frequently. I used to feed the one on a diet plain oat straw chaff as a hay replacer to avoid arguments with next door.
Now ours are out 24/7 they regulate their own weight much better. But our grass is very old, unimproved pasture on sandy soil and cross-grazed with sheep.

 

[AmyMay]

She would do much better out 24/7. They are not designed to have a restricted diet, encourages starvation mode and gorging. I have one who tends to put extra weight on and since he’s been out 24/7 with ad lib hay and grass, he’s lost a bit of weight.

Absolute, complete rubbish.

Ignore this stupid and dangerous advice.

 

[Miss_Millie]

Given how many chronically stressed, ulcer-ridden horses I've seen from long hours of stabling with not enough forage, I would argue that putting bars over the stable door is a band-aid to the problem and not a solution. The biting behaviour could be triggered by several factors, but it does not signify a happy animal. I used to have one next door to me and the poor horse was the most unhappy, angry, frustrated soul I've ever seen.

Whilst ad-lib hay doesn't work for every horse, in the case of one of my horses it has resulted in weight loss and a complete 180 in temperament. This includes 24/7 turnout on highly biodiverse land, not a poached rye and clover paddock.

'24/7 turnout' and 'ad-lib hay' is a broad statement, it doesn't always mean the same thing. There's a big difference between netted ad-lib hay on an old-style species rich meadow and loose hay on chemically fertilised dairy pasture...I'm sure OP is smart enough to know this. So I'm not sure why Bellalily is getting so much flack. She said 'They are not designed to have a restricted diet', this is actually true as grazing animals. There was a study done that showed horses go into panic/survival mode if they are without food for over 1 hour. Once again, this doesn't mean unintelligent management by just letting them do whatever.

 

[Smogul]

She would do much better out 24/7. They are not designed to have a restricted diet, encourages starvation mode and gorging. I have one who tends to put extra weight on and since he’s been out 24/7 with ad lib hay and grass, he’s lost a bit of weight.

Not necessarily. My pony's weight has ballooned out since being out 24/7 on what we thought was lousy grazing. Back to restricted grazing time. I see lots of other people have pointed out that this is NOT a good idea.

 

[ycbm]

Bellalily is getting so much flack.

She's getting flack because she has no idea of the circumstances of the people who are reading the thread, their level of understanding of laminitis management, what facilities and rules their livery has, how grass sensitive their horses are, or anything else.

A blanket recommendation that horses should be turned out full time on grass and be fed ad lib hay is a recipe for dead horses.
.

 

[ecb89]

How appropriate that spillers posted this a couple of days ago.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Given how many chronically stressed, ulcer-ridden horses I've seen from long hours of stabling with not enough forage, I would argue that putting bars over the stable door is a band-aid to the problem and not a solution.

It's a sticking plaster to help prevent other folk whining about themselves and/or their horses being bitten. It also prevents the OP's horse jumping out of the stable - something that the horse was mentioned as having almost done in the first post. Grills also provide more options for places to hang hay nets and salt licks. If the OP had posted asking for advice on managing their horse's diet, then I'd certainly have suggested ad lib forage and ways to avoid providing that leading to weight gain, but they didn't. They posted about someone else having upset them by bad mouthing their horse on social media. Some of you could do with learning how not to derail a thread.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

If the OP had posted asking for advice on managing their horse's diet, then I'd certainly have suggested ad lib forage and ways to avoid providing that leading to weight gain, but they didn't. They posted about someone else having upset them by bad mouthing their horse on social media. Some of you could do with learning how not to derail a thread.

But part of the resolution for OP's problem is most certainly tied up with incorrect management and feeding regime. It is therefore completely reasonable for forum members to suggest different management and feeding regimes to overcome the problem OP is asking for advice on.

Some of you could do with learning how a thread can and very often does lead to a deeper insight into the cause of a problem and suggestions how to overcome an issue. That is known as increasing your knowledge in horse care and welfare by taking on board other people's opinion that may legitimately veer away from the original question and lead to further debate and understanding for all of us on the forum.

 

[horses for life]

Why do you need to do anything with your cob?
The problem is already solved -your mare disliked one particular horse. That horse has been moved away.

I'm guessing you are young. Teenage friendships can be very intense and sometimes very upsetting. Look on this as an opportunity to do some growing up. As you go through life not everyone will love you. You learn to surround yourself with (and fill your head with) those who do love you & ignore the others. Work hard at ignoring this person and more importantly, at looking towards your real friends & you will solve your current problem and learn new life skills.

The horse moved away as my friend had a free stable at her house

 

[HopOnTrot]

I have two ponies. My daughter’s pony will regulate her own grazing no matter how good it is, my New Forest on the other hand will eat until her pedal bones fall out.

 

[dreamcometrue]

I have two ponies. My daughter’s pony will regulate her own grazing no matter how good it is, my New Forest on the other hand will eat until her pedal bones fall out.

That made me laugh . Really shouldn’t because I have one similar but that’s a great turn of phrase!

 

[Fransurrey]

She would do much better out 24/7. They are not designed to have a restricted diet, encourages starvation mode and gorging. I have one who tends to put extra weight on and since he’s been out 24/7 with ad lib hay and grass, he’s lost a bit of weight.

I agree with the 24/7 bit, but I do know of two cobs kept in the scenario you describe and they are both morbidly obese. How they're still alive is anyone's guess!

OP, redefine 'friend'. Horses sometimes just don't get on, or get stressed when confined. Sounds like on your yard the setup forces them into close proximity without anywhere to go. In the field your horse (or theirs) would likely walk away. They can't in the stable, so it escalates. Ask if you can put up a barrier to prevent bites and turn out more if you can (muzzle if necessary).

 

[I'm Dun]

Some horses just absolutely hate stables with visibility between them. One of mine did and having been on a yard like that for ages, a reasonable percentage weren't comfortable. We used to hang sheets over the dividing walls for any that didn't like them. I never found it to be anything to do with forage, although that is something that needs to be ruled out