Feeding Times

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I have a livery yard and all horses have breakfast, go out into paddocks and come in to a small hay or haylage net. At 3 pm they are all given a feed and and 5 pm they are all put to bed with a large hay net. They are then given breakfast the following morning at 7 pm. Some owners seem to think that giving the hay net later at 6-7 pm makes a difference. I say it is unsettling for the other horses that don't get fed later and it doesn't make any difference. What are your views?
 
I think it all depends on if they have enough hay to see them through from 5pm - 7am.

If they did it wouldn't bother me...but if they were running out by the evening and were left with no hay throughout the night, I would want another net put in later.

Having said that I am all for routine, so whatever you do, in my mind all horses should be fed at the same time.
 
I prefer horses to all be fed at the same time. I think that's how it should be, I wouldn't want one of mine watching the other eat, they both eat at the same time. Meal times never change, horses like routine.

I also prefer to feed mine at 7 am and 6pm in the evening. I like to give hard feed and then hay at the same time (whilst horse is eating hard feed) as I like them to munch on their hay afterwards.

forgot to add - Mine have hay all the time so they only have about half an hour with no hay until the next lot at feed time.
 
If you could work on a 6 hr period between feed/hay that would be healthy to the horse, however also quite impossible unless you want to be out at midnight putting haynets in, so i wouldnt bring them in to a haynet, their bellies should be full of grass so that hay could be added to the night time hay which would be more hay, so feed at 5pm, then give hay at 6pm, whilst some feed ad-lib sometimes it isnt possible with some horses who will just eat and eat, so really for those who have finished their 6pm net by 8pm, they will be without for 9hrs if fed brekkie at 5am, for the amount that has been through their system from brekkie, to grass, to dinner, to a haynet large, i wouldnt be worrying too much, unless one of them is not well or a stresser.
 
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It depends if the horses hay net are suffice from 5pm till 7am. Seems very early to me to put horses away but I guess they are used to it. I feed horses according to what they require. Some horses here are fed hard feed, others aren't. The ones who are fed know they are fed, the ones who aren't know they aren't. No problems at all and we had shed loads of horses here!

Edited to ask; what time do you do late night check on the stabled horses? And do they still have hay left then at 11pm or midnight, whatever time you do them.
 
The horses have large black nets full of hay/haylage at 5pm, approximately 7kg. The ones that are being fed later are the ones that are being strip grazed and are laminitic so it doesn't make sense to me. All the horses were on a routine and happy to have nets at 5, now some are being fed at 7 it upsets the whole apple cart.
 
Well I've always been at livery where horses (apart from the morning) are all fed at different times. This has never been a problem.

If you are full livery, then obviously you set the times that work for you, and the horses.

However if you are DIY then I don't see how you can dictate feeding times.
 
If horses are in then they can get fed at the same time, no need for door banging whether diy or full, i wouldnt expect my YO to be out at 11pm putting in haynets again whether diy or full, but if she did a night check and one was completely without hay she could throw a handful in just to keep his stomach ticking over, but i agree horses need routine, they dont know today is friday and tomorrow they are only going to get nuts for tea
 
I am DiY and i feed mine at lunch time as i finish work at 8pm so mine get a net put in very kindly by the YO when they feed the others so everyone is happy, this usually takes place when all other liveries are on the yard riding or putting their horses to bed, and if the YO didnt do it I would ask or pay someone else to do it in return for me doing theirs in the morning. I have always fed every horse on the yard in the morning as a DIY livery, owner makes up the feed and leaves it for me to put in, it ,ills me to hear horses banging on doors, watching others get fed, maybe it doesnt bother some folk but it bothers me.

For those that didnt get brakfast they got a handful of hay agreed between myself and their owner, kept the yard sweet.
 
Yes, we've always had the same morning routine. However it's simply not a process that can work in the evenings.
 
I am on a large livery yard - all horses get fed at 8am then turned out, no hay. They are fed at 4.30pm (so that after-work riders can get going at 5.30), and have their hay at 5pm. Because my horse is a guzzler, he gets half his ration in a double-netted hay net at 5pm, and a big bucket left out full of haylage for me to put in when I have finished riding, about 7.30 ish. A few other owners also do this - it doesn't seem to upset the others to see extra hay being put in.
 
I've always been on full livery, and with the exception of one yard (which I hated - the feeding rules that is), they all had a morning routine, and their owners fed when they'd exercised at night (unless for any reason they wanted the YO to feed)
Its never caused a problem, and I'd hate to be stuck on a routine where my horse got fed at X time at night, in case I was stuck at work and wanted to exercise later, or got their earlier etc.
 
But the evenings is not an issue as horses are either in a field, being ridden, been stabled and already had a small net during the afternoon so not hungry, or being brought in from field so full of grass and owner has normally put their net in already for the night, but horses in the morning most have gone a good few hours without hay so to feed some and not all, i cant do it.

It has always gone down well as i have always been first on the yard, its meant owners can have 10 more mins in bed, get to yard and ride straight away and not have to wait for feed to digest and all i have asked is for one of them to give mine hay that night if mine are in. If mine are out for the night then no worry but when i bring in in the morning i will feed all those stabled, i do it for the horses, not the owners.

Hex but those that see the extra hay being put in have already been fed so they are not hungry, its the morning shift that imo is critical, also if you get an owner who has a habit of getting to the yard at 9am, poor horse
 
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We have a couple of "early" liveries who have mucked out and gone before 8am (they don't feed their horses, they leave it to the yard staff) - none of the horses ask for food, they generally go back to sleep when they realise who is on the yard! They make a fuss when the yard staff arrive at 8am to feed.
 
But they wud make an issue if others were being fed before the yard staff arrived i am sure. Certainly if the horse in the stable next door was being fed, anyway why should some get fed and others not. You cant say to them dont worry yours is coming in 2 hrs time
 
I must be mean....mine get chucked out in the field at 6 am without feed, brought in between 6pm to 9pm (depending on time of year) to small bucket feed and enough hay to last until morning...they always have some left.

I genuinely don't get all this bringing in for feeds and hay net at other times....is it really necessary??
 
Hexx said:
We have a couple of "early" liveries who have mucked out and gone before 8am (they don't feed their horses, they leave it to the yard staff) - none of the horses ask for food, they generally go back to sleep when they realise who is on the yard! They make a fuss when the yard staff arrive at 8am to feed.
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Do these horses not get turned out by their owners? Why do they have to wait until 8am? Can't see the point of mucking out and leaving the horse in for a few more hours...
 
STRIKER said:
But they wud make an issue if others were being fed before the yard staff arrived i am sure. Certainly if the horse in the stable next door was being fed, anyway why should some get fed and others not. You cant say to them dont worry yours is coming in 2 hrs time
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Nope - not if that's not what they're used to. I'm quite often first on the yard in the morning, and I feed my horse when I get there - none of the other horses in the block expect anything from me (apart from the odd scratch maybe), and there is definitely no door banging or stressing. The others know I am not their person, and everything stays calm. I suspect if horses have all been conditioned to be fed at the same time, then you will get some stressing if they're not (although that's not to say they couldn't get used to something different), but the horses on the yard that I'm on are used to this routine of all being fed at different times and there's no trouble at all.

Going back to the OP, if it's full livery then you make your rules, but if it's diy I'd be expecting to be able to put hay in as per my own routine..
 
SpottyMare said:
Nope - not if that's not what they're used to. I'm quite often first on the yard in the morning, and I feed my horse when I get there - none of the other horses in the block expect anything from me (apart from the odd scratch maybe), and there is definitely no door banging or stressing. The others know I am not their person, and everything stays calm. I suspect if horses have all been conditioned to be fed at the same time, then you will get some stressing if they're not (although that's not to say they couldn't get used to something different), but the horses on the yard that I'm on are used to this routine of all being fed at different times and there's no trouble at all.

Going back to the OP, if it's full livery then you make your rules, but if it's diy I'd be expecting to be able to put hay in as per my own routine..
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Yep..when I was on livery I fed mine at 6.30, turned them out and did all my chores.
Some owners didn't come down until eight or nine am. The horses were all fine having different routines, it's what they were used to.
 
STRIKER said:
But they wud make an issue if others were being fed before the yard staff arrived i am sure. Certainly if the horse in the stable next door was being fed, anyway why should some get fed and others not. You cant say to them dont worry yours is coming in 2 hrs time
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no-one feeds my horse except me and I only feed horses if I am doing a friend a favour or being paid to do it.
on a yard of over 40 DIY stables at one point I had my daughters in one block of 8 mine in another and a full livery in another, I was not going to feed 21 horses that were nothing to do with me, I got fed up with feeding everyones horses a long time ago-the same people leave it to others all the time if they can. my mare is a door kicker and when she arrived back at the yard after a summer away I put her in a new block and do not leave feed out-she used to door bang at every person who went past (the toilet was in that block) in the old block I assume because she never knew who might feed her, now it is just me or my daughter and she does not bang her door anymore. all other horses in the block get fed at the same time every morning
 
I'm on DIY on a mixed DIY, Part & Full livery yard of between 40-50 horses, although separated into different blocks. I tend to feed mine & his three 'block mates' in the week, as I'm the one down there early before work.

The YM will feed all the horses when she arrives, but a few of us are often there before her - so invariably, some get fed earlier than others.

I'll feed my block in the morning - but I haven't got the time to feed 40 odd horses that are now't to do with me.

I'm certainly not there early enough to feed at the weekends either.

None of them care a jot.

Likewise, in the evening, I'm there later than the other owners in my block & so mine gets fed dinner & haynets put up later than the others.

Again, none of them care.
 
STRIKER said:
But they wud make an issue if others were being fed before the yard staff arrived i am sure. Certainly if the horse in the stable next door was being fed, anyway why should some get fed and others not. You cant say to them dont worry yours is coming in 2 hrs time
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Because not all horses need feeding. And I don't say to mine, don't worry yours is coming in 2 hours time, I say don't worry you're not getting any at all. Horses are dim, but not that dim. They know if they get fed and they know if they don't get fed. Simple.
 
I think no routine is more healthy tbh. I hate seeing a yard with such a strict routine that the horses can't cope if it changes. I'm on a big DIY yard. The horses get fed/brought in/out as and when and none worry about it- they just wait for their owner !
 
Spring Feather said:
Because not all horses need feeding. And I don't say to mine, don't worry yours is coming in 2 hours time, I say don't worry you're not getting any at all. Horses are dim, but not that dim. They know if they get fed and they know if they don't get fed. Simple.
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This! Mine is a porker and gets minimal hard feed in the evening only for supplements. When I moved to my yard I was worried she would not cope as all the others on the block have a morning feed and this is done whilst on the yard tied up (within her view), they are also all done at different times. But as others have said each horse gets used to their own(ers) routine and mine doesn't blink at others being fed at all and those who have to of wait only neigh when their owners pull up. I am constantly reminded of their intelligence and the reason we all get smitten. So my assumption from all this is that they will fit right into any routine, as long as it is their routine, which might mean irregular!
 
Mine are all on part livery. They all get breakfast together at eight, they then go out and come back in at about lunch time to a hay net. Then at about half five they are all fed and given a huge night net. I'm still there at gone 8 pm most nights and they still have plenty of hay.
I do have one livery who rides very early some mornings, she gives her horse discreetly a handful of nuts before she rides and we feed him his proper breakfast at normal time. None of the horses get upset by her coming early, they seem to know she isn't the feed lady!!
 
Ours get what they need when they need- most put away at 5, those on limited hay get more hay later in the evening and a check for the others. Some get fed twice a day, others once others just a carrot. They all go out at different times, and are all happy and settled with the Situ!
 
I think horses get used to WHO feeds them on DIY livery yards, not WHEN.
The yard I'm on is a total DIY yard and during the wk, me and 4 or 5 others are first up at 6.15am.i feed mine and do all jobs but none of the horses on the same block bat an eyelid as they know I don't feed them.
 
dollymix said:
I think horses get used to WHO feeds them on DIY livery yards, not WHEN.
The yard I'm on is a total DIY yard and during the wk, me and 4 or 5 others are first up at 6.15am.i feed mine and do all jobs but none of the horses on the same block bat an eyelid as they know I don't feed them.
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This, we have one lady that comes up at 6 am feeds mucks out and turns her 2 horses out, others come up at 8 and some at 10 am the horses aren't bothered, they know who feeds them, they may looks when someone pulls up on the yard but hen they know it isn't their owner, they go back eating hay.

My daughters pony doesn't get breakfast when she is in overnight, she isn't bothered that next door gets a feed at 7.
 
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