Eating on hacks...

Haha my old share horse once reached up to nibble a branch, whilst we were going over one of those little bridges over a drainage ditch... We both fell over backwards into the ditch and it was a bit of a hairy operation trying to get out through the brambles in order to get round the front of her to get her the right way up again to pull her out! I still picture her upside down and confused looking at me like 'don't say I told you so but are you going to get me out of here?' That'll teach them for ill timed nibbling!
 
I too have a cob/labrador. A moment of inattention and he will take advantage and try to snack. He won't stop, just grab something in passing.

His best trick is pretending he needs to wee. Always chooses a nice spot of grass, gets into weeing position and puts his head down to eat. No wee will be forthcoming so I ask him to walk on, he will walk a step or two, assume position again, grab a few mouthfuls, no wee, walk on, assume position, finally squeeze a wee out as he eats a bit more. It is totally my own fault as I originally let him eat when he wanted a wee, so I have trained him!:o We usually have about 4 wee stops on a 2 hour hack.
 
Shy will always try to wee or poo on the verge, right where there are some tasty looking branches - I can feel him building up to it, and working out the best spot to go for a quick snack at the same time. He never gets to eat tho, it's like a little game we play.
 
CobsGalore said:
...it drives me MAD!! My horse seems to think that hacking = dinner time.

When we hack through woods you can see him plotting which branch he is going to grab next, and how he is going to do it quick enough so that I don't notice/can't stop him.

A horse that is definitely governed by his stomach....!

Does anyone else's horse see hacking as a 2 hour long all you can eat buffet?
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Was he allowed as a youngster?

I've never had a problem bar one. His owner was told not to let him grab food while learning to hack, she did and now regrets over a decade on1 That being said it's impressive. He'd grab half a tree, the mare I was riding out with her would huff and try to do the same, fall over herself and come away with half a leaf :D
 
Some of mine do try while others do not seem to bother, one of mine becomes obsessed with trying to eat when he is in the starvation paddocks in the summer. He even tries to do it while moving at speed :eek: I just keep saying no and don't let him but he eyes up trees and things from a mile off.

It can be very annoying but if you are persistent you can stop them, some of ours do try the I am having a pee or poo may as well have a nibble at the same time, I guess some horses look at it like it's all that lovely food going to waste.
 
rockafella said:
I swear my horse watches me out of the corner of his eye, and dives for anything edible when my attention wanders! Cheekiest trick is him insisting that he has a really itchy nose that he just has to scratch on his foreleg .... and grab a few mouthfuls of grass while he's down there!
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My welsh does this :rolleyes: He knows thats the only way he will get near the grass! He's a greedy little sod but he knows when his bridle is on he doesn't eat. He shows so its important he isn't trying to eat the grass whilst in the arena!
 
I was trained never to let a horse eat under saddle and was deeply mortified when I allowed my share mare to get into this habit. Wrestling her head up had proved too much for other riders, so of course my mind turned to bits. It was unexpectedly solved by doing the opposite - removing the nose band so it did not get tangled with the bit.
Then, following a Mark Rashid clinic, altering and focusing on the reins. From the very first step, walking out the yard, I made sure I had a soft horse on a fairly long rein, but an intimate line of communication between my fingers and her mouth. As we progressed up the bridle path with overhanging trees and luscious verge, I guess I sensed through my fingers any wavering of her attention - maybe the slightest adjustment of her eyes communicated itself through the reins? And the tiniest touch of my finger immediately reminded her - No!

The interesting thing about this cure is that I did not expect it - but that Rashid did. I had intended to buy a new bit from him - Not needed, he predicted. Indeed after two hacks the problem was sorted.
Having learned to ride as an adult, it strikes me that the use of reins is taught in a negative manner. A list of things not to do. Because we all remember bad children in pony books who were rough on their horses' mouths. Don't tug. Don't hurt the horses mouth. And, later on, Shorten your reins and ride into the contact. We are taught to feel the horse's movement through our seat and legs - a minimalism of cues. But that expectation of feel and awareness is not extended to the reins. It was new to me to pick up messages from the horse through my hands and deflect her from thoughts of the hedge.
Rashid paid particular attention this year to the head of the horse - the eyes, the mouth, the teeth - Eating is after all a mouth-centred activity. With an in-built early warning because the horse must first use its eyes to spot the food. So it figures that, if your hands are sensitive to where the horse is looking, not just when the temptation is present but from the start of the ride, then one can pre-empt snacking and the rule of not eating can be re-taught.
I was spared the humiliation of tugging a rein, dropping my whip and generally feeling a right idiot.
 
CobsGalore said:
Yes it is bad manners. Can you please tell me how you stopped them?
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Mainly by keeping the horse active and attentive! He should be concentrating on you, not on the buffet. What you do about it if (or when, at first) it happens depends on your management style and how the horse is. Mostly for me a growl, use of legs and a "Get on with it" would suffice.

For those whose horses take them to where there is food as an ineffective passenger just imagine that you were about to be taken in front of car. Would you remain ineffective? No, you'd be doing everything in your power to stop the horse. So put that into effect when he drags you off for some grub and just don't let him do it. If he's so rude he's not listening to your aids then get your stick out and whack him with it to back up your aids!

As with all things, consistency is the key. If you are going to have a horse that doesn't snatch a mouthful then EVERY time he does it you need to correct him.
 
We have eating spots, and an "eat" command. I find that if the horse knows that there are specific places where we stop, and if he understands that when he hears "eat" he's allowed, concentration is better. It also gives him a reason for wanting to go out. He's on restricted grazing, and it is a lot to ask to ride through an all you can eat buffet without anything in it for him ;). It's much more relaxing for me, not to have to be on a constant state of alert waiting to pick up a hint of the horse looking at vegetation. i can relax, knowing he knows the rules, and he can relax, knowing that he will get something at some point.

When the grass is dying off and he's really hungry, I will sometimes give a bowl of chop and a few nuts before we start off, that also works well in stopping him being completely fixated on grass.
 
PandorasJar said:
Was he allowed as a youngster?
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I presume so as he has always tried to do it on hacks since I've had him (2 months). It is not something I have allowed him to learn.

Mainly by keeping the horse active and attentive! He should be concentrating on you, not on the buffet. What you do about it if (or when, at first) it happens depends on your management style and how the horse is. Mostly for me a growl, use of legs and a "Get on with it" would suffice.

For those whose horses take them to where there is food as an ineffective passenger just imagine that you were about to be taken in front of car. Would you remain ineffective? No, you'd be doing everything in your power to stop the horse. So put that into effect when he drags you off for some grub and just don't let him do it. If he's so rude he's not listening to your aids then get your stick out and whack him with it to back up your aids!

As with all things, consistency is the key. If you are going to have a horse that doesn't snatch a mouthful then EVERY time he does it you need to correct him.
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He never takes me where the food is, it's when we are going through bridleways where the trees/bushes are within easy reach of the path. He never stops either, just grabs as he walks along.

When I see him eyeing up a branch I try to focus his attention on something else. He has had a smack a few times when he hasn't listened to me and eaten anyway. What REALLY annoys me, is when we are going under branches and his head goes in the air pulling the branch down. It's downright dangerous.

As you say consistency is the key, I clearly need to be firmer with him EVERYTIME he does it.

He is also on restricted grazing so this could be magnifying the problem.
 
My cob is a sod for doing this, he nearly pulls my arms out of their sockets! I have had to get firmer with him recently and he is getting better. But I can see him waiting for any slight drop in my concentration and he has a go at grabbing some grass! He does the itchy nose thing too, but I am not falling for that one any more!
 
My horse does it on the move, and can do it from 'being on the bit'.
He is ultra quick, just a brief sideways twist of the neck to get head height branches!!

Very naughty I agree!!! Gets told off every time, but still goes back for more!
I kind of see the funny side in an exasperated kind of way.
 
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who finds this funny.

Mine also likes to pretend he has a really itchy nose and just has to stop and rub it on a fetlock, near a nice patch of grass .....

It infuriates my friends that I'm complacent about it, but I especially like to let them eat the cow parsley, and will let them stop at a really tempting bunch of blackberries/rosehips.
 
Yep....my lad acts as if he is starved. He too tries the itchy nose thing and grab something off the floor to eat. He has turned his head round grabbing at things when he is just past them and nearly tripped up in the process.

The worst experience I had of 'greedy pony' was when I was on an endurance ride and we turned into a field with crops in it and a track down the middle....just started to canter when he stopped rock still from a canter...nearly chucking me off and then proceeded to drop his head and start sniffing and snorting. I wondered what on earth we had stumbled on until I looked closer at the ground and realised that the crop we had to get through was indeed....carrots!!!! Needless to say, we lost some time on that ride by the time I has 'encouraged' him to keep walking through it to the end!!
 
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