First one up has to feed all the horses rule

[monkeybum13]

Following on from another thread.

Is anyone at a yard where they have this rule where the first person on the yard has to feed all the other horses?

I would hate it, I'm normally first up and would hate having to feed everyone elses horse for them.
Surely the horses would then start to react as soon as someone walks onto the yard expecting to be fed which could lead to bad manners such as door kicking which would do my head in before 6 in the morning or am I missing something?

 

[sonjafoers]

I think it's a double edged sword because I wouldn't like mine to be in when others were being fed and they weren't.

At our yard the YO & I arrive at the same time & feed everyones because it's only a small yard & the others owners only come up in the evenings. On the mornings when the YO is off SJ early I do the lot so this morning I brought in 7, fed them, put out hay for them all, turned them out & then fed the chickens

I think it's a yard decision as to what works best for everyone really.

 

[Wagtail]

When I used to keep mine on a DIY yard, I was always first there and did not mind one bit feeding all of the horses. I think it is a good rule to have so long as all the liveries leave their feeds ready and you don't have to make them all up.

 

[Jesstickle]

No. We all do our own and the horses are fine. They know which person belongs to them and who to expect food from. They all just ignore anyone else. On yards where this happens what do you do about horses that aren't fed?!

 

[EmmaC78]

I am normaly first on the yard and just feed my own. The other horses are fine as they know I never feed them so don't get worked up about it at all. I need to rush to get to work so just wouldn't have time to feed them all.

 

[katie_southwest]

At our yard everyone just does their own. There is a barn of 8 horses, and everyone has a different routine, people are up at different times to feed/turnout/ride etc.
The horses dont mind one bit, they just wait til their owner turns up
Plus some dont have breakfast, only 4 out of the 8 have breakfast so everyone just does their own thing.

 

[monkeybum13]

No. We all do our own and the horses are fine. They know which person belongs to them and who to expect food from. They all just ignore anyone else. On yards where this happens what do you do about horses that aren't fed?!

That's the bit I forgot to add, what about those that don't get breakfast.

 

[jumpthemoon]

We do this on our yard. Normally yo is first as she lives on yard and goes to work early, but quite often its me at weekends and I don't mind at all. I think it works well, although there are only 9 horses on our yard, I don't think it would work so well on a big yard.

 

[Oscar]

At my old yard (30 or so horses), I would feed every horse in the mornings, but my rule was the bucket of feed had to be by the door - no hanging haynets, or "could you just....." No, bucket feed got chucked over the door and that was it!! Had to be done and on the train at 7:40am, so no I couldn't just..... It was a case of get your own booty up the yard if neddy needs special attention!!

 

[monkeybum13]

Forgot to add there's only 7 on the yard atm, 1 of which is mine and another I look after. When I say I hate it its not because of the time it would take its because I wouldn't want horses associating me with food and badgering me every time I walked past their stables.

 

[Silmarillion]

I've always been on small yards, have always fed all of them, and it's always worked fine. Fatties get a handful of chaff so nothing gets left out. On the yard I used to work at, full livery, if anyone didn't want theirs fed because of riding or travelling, they would get a handful of their breakfast/dinner thrown on the floor and they were fine about it, and got fed later.

I've never seen the problem, on a small yard.

 

[criso]

Ours has this (18 horses) however on the few occasions that I have been up first I didn't as unless you do it regularly it's difficult to know whose feed it whose.

Reality is there are 2 or 3 people who arrive first (usually the yard manager or someone who does services at weekends) so they are the ones who feed.

 

[Jane_Lou]

Current yard is an American Barn, feeds are left covered outside each stable so the first one up feeds, it takes a couple of minutes so I tend to feed mine 1st, get out waters, start filling them up while I feed the rest. I was on a yard once where it was expected as well, problem was that feeds were all in the hay barn and there were about 20 horses to feed requiring multiple trips back and forth to the barn. I was always the first up Monday to Friday and was always in a rush so I must admit I really resented the rule. I was happy to feed the 4 near my horses but I was expected to feed 2 barns as well. I stopped doing it as I really didn't have time and interestingly it was the people who didn't work who came up late who complained that there horses were left starving...... I was normally up first weekends as well but if I wasn't mine would rarely be fed as somehow it was ok for me to lug feeds to everyones horses before work but not expected if you were going to a show etc (the only reason anyone else was ever on the yard much before 9am!!!) I moved my horses

 

[**Vanner**]

We have this rule and it works well. I try to get first one day of the weekend because i enjoy doing it. We are a 30 horse yard and everyone leaves nets ready to throw over and feeds if necessary.

 

[nuttynugget]

I'm on a yard such a this, on our yard there are only 8 horses though so not big.

It generally works well, some people throw a tantrum when I so no to adding medicine, putting up haynets, adding water etc. but I just don't have time and thats that.

It doesn't take long to throw food buckets over the door and its nice (on the rare occasion when someone is down early) I can just chuck my horse out.

 

[Wagtail]

Forgot to add there's only 7 on the yard atm, 1 of which is mine and another I look after. When I say I hate it its not because of the time it would take its because I wouldn't want horses associating me with food and badgering me every time I walked past their stables.

Horses will not badger you for food when it is not feeding time unless you titbit them. I never had this problem with the other horses I fed. Now that I run my own yard and feed all of the horses all of the time, I still do not get badgered for food until feeding time.

 

[cc14]

We have this rule for any horses which are in It helps keep a bit of a routine, all the feeds are made up and ready and labelled just literally need to be put into the stables, takes 5 minutes. We also do this on our yard at home (Im currently at uni), as soon as the barn shutters go up the horses know its feed time, so they all get fed together, that way we know how long before they can be exercised.

 

[Black_Horse_White]

The YO feeds mine and turns out, everyone else feeds their own.

 

[Snowysadude]

Im am the first one up a lot and dont mind feeding all of the other horses on our DIY yard. There is approx 20 horses but owners leave feeds outside the doors and so I just rip the covers off and chuck them in. I know it does some people who dont get up the yard until 10 am or later a big favour and I dont feel as sorry for their horses if they have at least had breakfast!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

We had this rule at our old stables. I dont think it matters so much whether there is that rule or not, the important thing is that if the rule is there and everyone agrees to it, the horses get used to being fed all together straight away so then it is unfair for someone just not to bother and not tell anyone. She got found out when twice the next lady to arrive got more than an eyeful when she went to do her haynets :-OO


Our non botherer was a livery who was too busy sh&*(ing in the haybarn on OUR haybales with a scaffolder from next door but still had time to feed her horse but noone else's :-O. NB her time at the livery yard ran out shortly afterwards in a rather sudden fashion )

 

[Mahoganybay]

The yard that i am has a system that i feel works well, all feeds & nets are left outside the stables and each Livery has a day that they do the morning feeds (works out at 1 day a week), the feeds have to be fed before 7.30am. This way every livery gets a turn and all the horses are fed at the same time therefore ensuring a good routine, so no kicking doors and no horses being left until 1pm for their feed & net (every yard has one, the teenager who does not turn up until 1pm ;-)

I generally whip round & drop their feeds in and then go back on myself and hang their nets, done in a jiffy and the other 6 days a week i can have a lie in if i want lol.

 

[fidleyspromise]

I used to be on a yard where it was basically unsaid, first one up feeds.
Meant putting feeds into 16 stables, 13 stalls and 10 in school (also had to make them), then had to bring horses in for them.
Often, there were at elast 2 if not 3 people at same time but occassionally there was just one and it took no more than 30 minutes to make feeds and bring horses in.

I have to say, I do miss interacting with so many horses. Going from 30+ to 1 was a huge shock (and added a few pounds weightwise).

 

[MardyMare]

I am on a yard of 22 stabled and often the first one there. I drop feeds of all of them over the door. Sometimes another lady gets there first and she does it. Saves me a few mins if I am running late - at least my horses have started their breakfast. We have always done this and dont mind as it means my box walker will get fed as soon as someone on the yard or she starts to stress and mess her bed up!

 

[Nailed]

This is not a rule at our yard.. But we do do it. YO lives on site and works nights and has a v young baby. So all horses get fed by first person up to prevent them being woken up. We have only 10 horses on site so its idea, and they are all in one american barn.

Horses that 'arnt fed' and just given a hand full of chaff.

The first person is at yard at 6 in morning.. so when everyone else gets there the horses are ok to be worked! Works out fine for everyone if im honest.

Lou x

 

[Brigadoon]

I have been on 2 yards where this happened. One was big but a lot of owners arrived at the same time so it was shared out well.You always get folk that don't pull their weight. On the smaller yard it was always me but I only put in feeds, I didn't faff with nets or owt! The first place I bought, my stables were next to my neighbours and I actually did theirs as I was up early and they weren't .Their horses would kick their doors. I just jumped the fence and popped in their feeds. They repaid me by bringing mine in of a night if the weather was horrid. Worked well for all horses..and that was the main thing.

 

[CrazyMare]

It would drive me mad! I just feed my own, they know that x person doesn't belong to them, even if they have a bucket so they don't even try looking hopeful!!

 

[AmyMay]

Yes, brilliant rule. I'm normally arrive first in the week and am very happy to do the feeding.

 

[phantomhorse]

I've been at yards that have done this but have never been up earliest to have to do it, except on the odd show morning. We'd just leave the made up feedoutside each horses stable ready, with a haynet if the horses were having one. Those horses not getting hardfeed breakfast would be given a small net of hay instead. Made up by their owners the night before and left out ready. Seemed to work well for us.

 

[hackedoff]

I'm on a diy yard with 31 horses. I'm first up at 6.00 to look after my horse who is on box rest. I don't have time to do him and feed everyones horses, esp as I need to be of the yard by 7.00! We are lucky though as the yard owner puts the feeds and hay in when he gets up around 7.00 ish 7 days per week.

 

[JFTDWS]

I can see the logic in it. I think it was the rule at one yard I was at about a decade ago - feeds had to be in by 8 and I used to do it on weekends... I never minded that - and I wouldn't mind doing it now on a weekend as usually I have a fair bit of time, but it would really wind me up doing it on a weekday when I am normally very short of time. I do feed them all now, but only because they're all mine