Do you feed treats?

do you feed your horse treats?

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Jackson

Jackson

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and if you do/have does/did it have any negitive (or positive!) effects on your horse?


My horse gets a mint on the way in to his stable and always one after I slip his headcollar off, because he used to b*gger off to his friends and food, but now he hangs around for his polo ;)

He tried to nip me once and never attempted it again, and if he's being asky for one, he doesn't get it. He's also not allowed to lick me :o

He was also given carrot stretches to do by the physio, however I did replace the carrots with mints, because I found that he was getting a bit nibbly with the carrots, prehaps because of their size and his ability to crunch them? :eek:

He is an incredibly good natured boy though, and I don't think feeding him by hand has been detremental at all. He will actually even wait until told to eat his dinner (which is irrelevant, because that's in a bowl!) :)
 
Yes he just get's one (apple or carrot) and it's always the last thing he gets after being ridden and everything done just before going to bed.

He is so cute as he knows once his tack is all away etc and I disappear into the feed room that its coming.. I get the pretty boy bambi eye forward ear best behaviour looks meeting me as I bring it over!

He is a very playful horse anyway always picking stuff up and using his huge rubbery chops to play with his rope/my jacket/'wrap' sideways around my hands etc, but his knows the difference between lips and teeth and is very careful!:D

Editited to say - I think it has a positive effect on him as at 16 he knows his manners and he knows it's his treat for a job well done for the day
 
pinks owner fed her ALOT of treats, and as a result pink was very nippy, pulling clothes, skin etc. she could get very pushy when the treats ran out.

In the 3 weeks shes been with me she no longer nips, because i dont bring her treats. if she does something good, then she gets a scratch and a pat. She isnt as pushy for her food now either, wether thats because i make her wait or just the fact that im not palming her pony nuts all the time.

Personally, for her,feeding treats was detrimental to her behaviour, it made her get quite rude and she would hesitate to do even the smallest thing without being given something to eat. now she dos the things i want her to do because i ask her to.
 
I clicker train, so yes, by definition ;)

However, there are strict rules in place...mugging me, turning me upside down and shaking me and other such behaviours do NOT lead to finding treats.

Standing quietly, doing the exercise and making progress get treats.

It's been fab for his confidence under saddle and motivation to work!
 
For me it really depends on the horse.

I voted yes from the hand as the WB I have now allows this, ie he doesn't become bargy or nippy. Yes he sometimes 'looks' for treats especially after a ride when he knows he has been a good boy, but that's all. If ever he became slightly nippy etc I would stop

However WC's NO never all the WC's I have had become nippy and bargy if fed from the hand too much
 
Yes I do. T is an incredibly food orientated horse so it works really well - he comes down to the gate when he sees me as he knows he will get a horse treat or mint (also gets one when he is turned out and as a reward). I am well aware it is just 'cupboard love' but I don't mind!

He has never tried to nip or bite and he doesn't get pushy around food so I don't see it as a problem for him.

:)
 
Yes I will feed a treat by hand. Often when I turn out as part of my saying good bye, sometimes when I go to get them in, and when they are stabled, last thing I do is give them a treat over the door.

Mine never nip, stand nicely and wait for their treat. They are so gentle that small kids can feed them.

If they ever pushed, barged, nipped etc then there would be no treats but I trained them to take them nicely and on the rare occasion when younger they did push at me, they got firmly pushed away and got nothing, it didn't take long for them to figure out good behaviour resulted in a tasty nibble.
 
I give my girl a mint for coming to me in the field and when she stands to get headcollar off when turning out. put carrots an apples in buckets x
 
Yes Jack gets a treat (whether it be apple/carrot) most days. I use half to do stretches with and the other half he gets when he's turned out.

He is not nippy or pushy and doesn't have a tantrum if he doesn't get a treat.
 
He gets carrots in his feed but no treats by hand. He's a food obsessed cob and getting treats would just make him worse.
 
Bella gets a mint or a carrot once in a while fed from the hand if she's been good but not often. She also gets a swede off the floor or sometimes hung up about once a month. She used to have to do carrot stretches and does them every once in a while now if i have a carrot handy as she doesnt have them in her feed in the summer. I don't think it has any bad effect on her as she hardly ever gets them - she prefers a good scratch and a cuddle!
 
Mine is 32 and can't have normal treats as he had lami few years back, I give him a carrot instead. If I had a youngster I wouldn't start it tbh, I do think it makes them nip and always looking in your pockets and not good behaviour if other people have to do your horse for you and ends up biting them !

As mine is the age he is, I think, well let him enjoy the time he has left, he has enough to put up with wearing the muzzle, he has to have some pleasure
 
Yes, but I sometimes combine it with clicker training.

Positive:

It really focuses a horses attention and makes training easy.
Horses associate you with a positive feeling.

Negative:

I don't feed them in the field as the horses become bargy and it is dangerous.
Horses can get naggy and nose your pockets
Some horses may get nippy
 
No I don't feed treats, he tends to become a bit bolshy and nippy in his stable if I do, only had him a couple of months but soon learnt feeding him little treats is not the right thing to do with him, I was getting mugged everytime I went in his stable.
My other horse was fine, no problems.
 
Solar and Prince have treats but off the floor as they get nippy.

Bug has them out of my hand, she'll do anything for a treat. She doesn't get nippy at all, does try to raid your pockets but she is sweet with it.
 
I said no because it is very rare that I give my boy treats purely because he gets pushy and wants more when he's had one. He gets carrots or apple or swede in with his breakfast/dinner. My mum gives him carrot by hand occasionally and other people give him a mint occasionally too.
 
Yes, Herballs, by hand from my pocket.

My boys only get a treat for a reason not just cos I love them!

Big lad gets one once he's got his muzzle on - he's a tall lad so if he wants to evade me he can quite easily. Getting his muzzle on was a bit of a challenge so I started rewarding him for having it put on and now there's no issue at all. We do all his stretching exercises by aiming for a clicker target, he then gets clicked and treated.

Both boys get one treat when they've finished work.

Both love their treats but neither would mug me, clicker really helps with this understanding, so it works OK.
 
I used to give my welsh mare treats when I got her as she was feral and it was the only way I could get near her!
The two I have now get treats occasionally and are very polite about it.
 
My warmblood was very nippy when I bought him, and hasn't had a treat from my hand since the day he came to me. He doesn't nip or frisk peoples pockets like he used to, but he isn't denied carrotts, apples or mints because I put his treats into his dinners.

I can always tell if someone else on the yard has given him a treat, behind my back, because he'll start frisking people again for the rest of that day!
 
I voted yes from the hand.

However in all my years the only treats my horses have had have been once they are back in the stable and have just had tack removed.

I use treats as an aid to 'carrot stretching' after exercise and at no other time. They are given in the stable with me inside and never fed over the door. They are my way of helping stretch a horse plus makes me feel good as Im saying 'thanks' for the work you have just done.

Im a strictly no titbits person otherwise.
 
Not really. I've had her 10 weeks now and in that time she hasn't had any mints, titbits or apples! She does occasionly get a carrot though but only in her feed bowl as she can be nippy. I think the people who had her before must've fed her a treat as they were turning her out as when leading she nips at your hands. Fourtantly she is beginning to stop this behaviour.

If she has done well, she always gets pats and cuddles. She adores having her face brushed, thats her biggest treat.
 
Yes, especially for training as she gets it straight away if rewarded - can get interspersed with a pat and "good girl". Occassionally when catching - but not always - keeps them guessing. Also if she has performed very well (at anything) as a reward. If she starts getting too nosey about my pocket / hand I hold my hands behind my back and she knows this means "look away" - when I take my hands forward she turns her head back to get the treat. We trained her to do this after reading about it and it took one session for her to get it. She is very gentle and only uses her lips to take the treat.
 
I need to treat in order to get her bridle off. She had a habit of not dropping the bit and we had a horror story of her rearing up once with the bit caught on her front teeth while I was holding the rest of the bridle. If she's chewing her treat, generally an extra strong mint, the bit comes out easily. She's all lips too, her teeth never come into contact with me.
 
I give my boy a treat if he has been good ie after riding, standing nice to get his bandage changed etc or at the end of the day he is a really gentle guy, however a friend feeds treats continusly her mare is nippy and mugs pockets she also trys to feed my boy treats all the time for example if she is holding him while I change bandage she keeps feeding him which really annoys me I have told her he gets ONE once he has stood at the end she thinks giving him all the time will get him to stand better. Fortunatly by boy is still gentle but have to keep saying to her not to feed him she gives him a full packet of mints in one go! My mints last over a week. I have told her not to feed her mare as that is what is causing the nippyness but she thinks it makes her like her more!
 
i voted yes from the floor but it's actually a rare occurance and if they do get any it's usually apples or carrots thrown around the field so they have to go look for them. my daughter will give her pony carrots from her hand but again it's very rare.
 
Yes, i feed Lady treats by hand. It worked really well as when i moved her she was a git to catch again because she was scared of being taken away again. I brought her one treat whenever i went to catch her, now she walks up to me when she sees me. She does 'look' for the treat when i get to her, but only sniffing my hand/feeling my hand with her lip, but has never bitten or barged. Shes great to catch now and is even more friendly towards people, which has resulted from treats.
 
No treats by hand for my 2. Their treats go in with their feed. I found my horse started getting a bit nibbly and was always asking for them and would be more interested in treats than concentrating on groundwork, if we were doing any! They've now learnt that i never carry treats on me!
 
I have to say yes i feed treats in buckets hand and from floor, i treat mine quite alot i know some say it gives bad habits but i dont find this none of mine nip and they are all very well mannered in every way.

As long as they dont have any bad habits because of it i dont see what harm it does, if it was causing a horse to behave badly in a specific way then i would not do it.
 
my horse gets treats all the time, my kids feed him them! my horse isn't nippy and doesn't expect a treat and if you show him your hands and tell him there aren't any treats then he doesn't bother.

my ponies are a bit different though, the one i refuse to treat by hand as he gets nasty.
the other one will get the occassional treat by hand depending on what's happening at the time. he can get nippy but tbh he is nippy without treats, he's rising 4yrs and is mouthing all the time.
 
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