for those with horses out 24/7 ....

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Jericho

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do you feed at the same time everyday? do you think it is as important to stick to a routine as it is for stabled horses?

Mine are fairly flexible but 99% of the time they are fed before 10am and usually between 6.30 and 8am. I also have be known to give an extra feed in the afternoon if it has been cold etc and I havent been working - do you think this pushes the flexible routine too much???

I come from a very traditional BHS background where I was taught routine, routine, routine and I find it hard to think otherwise but actually it seems my horses arent particularly bothered at all by lack of it!
 
Mine are fed when I get there, normally between about 10.30 and 3 pm, they don't seem to mind at all. People tend to comment on what a laid back bunch they are. The only thing I find is, because of work often I have to go, feed, check them then leave... they do tend to expect to be fed when I appear. Rather than going off and doing some work first. Not a huge problem though.
 
mine dont seem to care what time they get fed - sometimes they are too interested in other things than coming up for their tea, other days they are up and waiting before me.
they used to be fed before 5.30am and then around 7pm when they were on livery and kept in overnight but now its around 6.30am and 5pm 24/7
 
Because I fit it around full time work and night school it tends to be pretty much at the same time every day anyway. I think horses know roughly when to expect you, well so it seems anyway!
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ETS: Just to add, I suppose it depends on the horse regards routine. My mare is pretty chilled out for the most part and would not worry about major time differences as long as she was fed properly she would not care
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Ours are fed in the evenings only usually between 3.30pm and 5pm at the moment. We go over in the mornings too to check them and give them hay. Usually between 7.30- 8.30. They are all fine with this and I find that not having a set routine works best for us all. Although I know some horses prefer a strict routine we're lucky that ours don't.
 
During the week I feed them at 7:30am and they are always stood waiting for me in the same place.

On the weekends though I like to have a bit of a lie in so Friday night I make sure I give them a bit more extra hay, and then I usually go up at about 10am Saturday morning!

I do feel guilty though making them wait an extra 2 hours
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but they still have plenty of rough grass to eat.
 
mine would not like her routine changed in any way! between 8.30 am - 9.30am and at about 5pm, although we get later as days get longer.She would start bucking and pacing the fence if I wasn't on time!!
 
Mine are fed at 9.30am every day and they are always there waiting for me. I then go back up for 3.30pm and again they are waiting for me.

I do find my horses and my friends like routine.
 
Nope, mine get fed at quite varied times, and it really doesn't trouble them. Mind you, they are mostly on ab lib hay/haylage and only have the one feed per day
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Mine get fed usually between 4 and 6, but ocassionally they get fed at 2 or 9 and it doesn't bother them at all. I don't like to stick to a rigid routine as then they get stressed if you're a bit late one day.
 
I feed Tawny at around 9.30am in the mornings as I go up straight after the school run. She's then fed again in the afternoon by my friend when she goes up after work, usually around 4pm this time of year.
In the summer she's fed around the same time in the morning but then later on in the evening.
She's usually waiting for me in the morning so I don't like to get up there any later if I can help it bless her.
 
No.Ours can be fed at 6am when we are working or noon if we have clients at hom.
 
My 3 are out 24/7 most of the time (unless v bad weather) - I am very relaxed with them, they are generally fed anytime btw 7 and 10.30am for breakfast and anytime btw 4 and 9pm (depending on if its me or the girl who helps me out). They seem fine with it - only appear at the gate when I arrive, they don't tend to hang around waiting.
 
Ours tend to figure that once the stabled horses are bought in, they will get fed. So every evening when I call the stabled horses to the gate, the boys living out 24/7 come too and hang around the gate till they are fed.
 
I always go up between 7 and 8am, sometimes 9am at the weekends. They seem to like a routine and I feel guilty if I go late as they stand at the gate looking sad.
 
I do wonder if it's horses or humans that like the routine. I have found that horses with a routine seem to get very stressy around feed time. Ours don't particularly have one and don't stress. They know it's food time when we go in the feed shed and start cluttering about, not by a time. Sometimes they live out and sometimes they are in at night, and they are generally an easy going bunch about it.
 
Yes thats more or less what I was thinking. Mine never really hang about waiting for me - its only when I walk start rattling buckets in the shed that they amble in! I quite like that I am not stressing because I need to feed them in a certain window, it just sometimes feels 'wrong' according to the 'best practice'!
 
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Nope, mine get fed at quite varied times, and it really doesn't trouble them. Mind you, they are mostly on ab lib hay/haylage and only have the one feed per day

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echo this for mine. He gets fed when I get there, mooches over to the gate when he sees me, mooches off to his haylage when I leave.
 
My pony was at a yard where the ponies lived out in the same field as the horses that came in at night. He used to know that after they came in it was feeding time soon after - so would weave at the gate, or pace up and down gettign stressed.

Now he's in a new yard where we don't have a set routine and our ponies are fed once a day any time between 4 - 6pm and I haven;t seen him weave or get stressed yet.
 
Yes in a nutshell
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I go there straight from work to feed groom and whatever else wants doing but have to be at the school for 3.15 to pick up youngest child.This means I have an hour or so to do what I have to do so the madam gets fed around 2pm in the week although it its later at weekends


tawnygirl - just out of interest why do you feed in the summer?
 
My lad is checked at pretty much the same time every day all year round, he has a token couple of handfuls of hi fi lite to put his vit supplement into. At the moment I have a very regular routine twice a day as he had laminitis in summer and is on a completely bare paddock so he is totally reliant on me for all food.
I like to keep to a routine as much as possible, just always been taught like that from being a child.
 
Mine don't stress about the time. But do think the sound of the quad bike means a fresh lot of haylage and think anyone carrying a bucket is going to feed them. The feed is not very exciting though so don't get wound up and only amble over to the fence.
 
Mine are fed anything from 7am-10.30am they don't stress and don't hang around so I don't feel guilty about what time I get there.
They are very relaxed and happy not to have a routine
 
Mine don;t mind at all. They have the life of Riley and I pay for it.

They get fed when they get fed, and as often as I feel they need it.

Always delighted to see me, and I'm always delighted to see them. Don't get stressed about routines for outdoor horses - they can always eat grass!
 
Mine gets fed at varied times. Depending if i'm working and what shifts i'm on. She isn't at all bothered, as long as she gets her food she is happy. She's stabled at night but always has hay left in nets in morning so isn't like she's starving! She will poke her head over stable door when i get there but will go straight back to dozing in corner until i put feed bucket under her nose!
 
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