Feeding horses things they shouldn't have

Tonibird83

Tonibird83

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 May 2011
Messages
144
Location
West Yorkshire
Visit site
Someone on one of the horsey Facebook pages asked if anyone else's horse liked fish and chips as her mare, who is soon due to foal, loved them!

tbh I was a bit shocked that someone would feed their horse food high in fat and also that fish is not what herbivores usually eat:eek:

Someone else then wrote their horse likes ham sandwiches and beer.

I personally cannot understand why anyone would give their horse a foodstuff they aren't designed to digest as horses regularly die from colic after eating their normal foodstuff

And, thinking back, someone on an old yard of mine used to feed her horse boiled sweets regularly and that died of impacted colic

What's everone else's opinion? Am I being a bit of a stickler or should the enjoyment of seeing your horse eat some of your dinner outweight the risks to it's health?
 
Wouldn't intentionally feed a horse anything that they shouldnt have - im even a stickler for certain mints (Xtra Strong) that aren't vegetarian! But when I was much younger and on a picnic ride I had a horse steal my chicken tikka sandwich :O He seemed to like it and suffered no ill effects although I was left slightly hungry! hehe also recently saw an advert on horsemart where the horse was fed a jam doughnut once a week!
 
I'm quite careful what I give my mare, although she has tried a bit of chocolate, chocolate ice cream and also a mint chew bar. It was only in very tiny amounts though.

My old pony used to have allsorts, and he lived and was ridden until 40! He used to have Calippo ice lollies on a hot day, chocolate, candy floss and sandwiches. He stole a sausage sandwich one day and loved it. His favourite though was Marmite.

Not something I would recommend or do now though!! I was young and it was many years ago I did that! :o
 
The Spillers feed guide [BHS approved!] recommends animal fats, I stopped believing in Father Christmas a long time ago, and I read the rest of the booklet with some degree of scepticism.
Yes you can feed animal fats to horses, but that does not make it right. My boy is a veggie through and through, and I am keeping it that way.
 
Blue gets the odd choccie treat which he LOVES and sometimes coffee, but that's it really - apart from the time i was holding him on the yard on my birthday, turned round and he had his face in my chocolate cake, half of it gone! :/
 
One of my old pony's hated polo's but would nick a mars bar out of your pocket. She would also steal your burger if you tried to eat it whilst holding her, her absolute favourite though was honey buns :D
 
I one witnessed someone feed a whole Apple Pie, as a "Birthday Cake" for the horse!! :confused::D

OH gave mine a wine gum the other day. But other than that he only has 'horse' food.
 
The mare I have now loves anything you have. I don't let her have stuff all the time and never ever meat things. A list of things she has pretty much stolen from me/other people at shows camp etc:
-Tea
-twiglets (errgh)
-cake
-chips
-sweet chilli mini rivitas
-powerade drinks (she loves)
-toast...especially with peanut butter and jam (she stole my breakfast!)
-nature valley honey oat bars....big hooves up from her on these!!
-homemade flapjack she does adore

oooops!!
 
Fish and chips? How strange! I think the odd twiglet or bit of flapjack is fine, cereal based I guess! I do think sugary things should be kept to a minimum though (I wouldn't give polos myself it's just not necessary) I suppose if a horse really wanted a bit of fish I don't think it would do any harm, the deep fried batter would bother me more :-)
 
I just don't understand why people want to feed them our type of food. What's the point? Half the food we put in our mouths is not very good for us let alone horses. I guess it's the same as people totally over rugging their horses because they feel cold. I think some people think that horses are made the same way as humans which they are clearly not although I have to say that I sometimes think God got confused when he made me and gave me the ass of a horse lol:)
 
Mine likes cereal bars & flapjack type stuff, does only have them a few times a year tho.
Daughters pony likes hot choc, coffee, Orange juice & we discovered pot noodles by accident. She's allowed a sip of drink occasionally, less sugar than an apple in the quantities she has. She is weird tho, also likes the taste of wormer.
 
Oh, I feel like the world's meanest horse owner! My last horse wasn't allowed any titbits whatsoever, but he was a very mouthy colt and he really didn't need encouraging. We had enough trouble teaching him that people aren't for teething.

I'm looking at something rather older and steadier now, but old habits die hard and I still dn't think I'll be allowing titbits... Nasty me :-)

I did once hear of a horse dieing after eating a bacon sandwich.
 
My appy will eat just about anything. I wont give him meat products though, however there was this one incident when he stole a ham and branston pickle sandwich out of my hand at a show while i wasn't looking.
We have a brew room at our yard and there's always something in the biscuit tin. I'll share a biccie with him if im in a good mood, favourites are hobnobs, malted milk and digestives. Sometimes i'll share a brew with him too, though i like mine strong with no sugar and he prefers OH's milky tea with sugar..

Warmblood 2yo will watch appy and inevitably ask for some too, and he'll take it off you only to spit it out in disgust afterwards..
 
My lad has limited treats, but is not shy in mugging us for something he likes the smell of, that's how we discovered he likes tea and whisky, he gets tea in a bucket and a drop of whisky in the hand which he licks clean, we enjoy chilling out with our chosen drinks after work and the horses are pretty much free range, so they tend to seek us out
 
my boy has a thing for hobnobs he physically stole one form my husbands hand a few weeks ago. he looked very pleased with himself. x
 
Tried to feed our Arab the normal horsey tit bits and he won't eat them! So he has polos instead. My friends mare will try and eat pretty much anything not that let her though. I don't think they should eat meat because they are vegetarians their digestive system won't be able to cope but obv if they decided it was a good idea and you can't do anythingx
 
mine don't generally get any treats anymore, 1 gets a small handful of badminton herbal nuggets as a reward after he's had all four feet picked out but not at any other time.
When he's been good,he gets a scratch on the wither and huge amounts of praise.
But in the past he has eaten and loved jellybabies and kitkats,crisps (robbed off my youngest whilst she was standing outside his stable door, much to her disgust)
The other 1 starts mugging you if there's any whiff of a treat so does not get anything but scratches and praise, but if given a chance will drink coke(will hunt out a can if left near him) and hot chocolate.

Their normal food is low sugar and soaked hay (one of mine even ignores unsoaked hay(very kindly put in my stable by a well meaning friend :() now preferring his soaked stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top