Giving horses treats

[pistolpete]

I’ve just been reading another thread where giving treats in a herd situation has caused an issue. I’ve always given treats to my ponies. Never caused problems. They’ve never bitten anyone or pushed anyone over. They have manners know the boundaries and obey my rules. Surely I’m not alone here? It’s not giving treats that is the problem it’s how the horse is trained surely? Or have I just been super lucky? I’ve treated three this way.

 

[Caol Ila]

The thread in question is a zombie, but it's not rocket science. Giving treats randomly, especially to loose horses in a field, is asking for trouble and it's likely to teach them to be nippy. Giving treats as a reward for desired behaviour can be useful. How much or how little you do so depends on entirely on the horse and your training skills and most importantly, your timing. Gypsum could be pushy and oboxious with treats, so it was far easier to use 99% pressure-release with her, but both Foinavon and Hermosa are pretty sane around treats (and green and sensitive), so I use a lot more +R training with them. But they don't get free goodies. They have to do something, even if it's as simple as being caught in their field.

 

[Lois Lame]

I just had a look at that thread. It was quite annoying really.

There's something about old threads that aren't as interesting as current threads (unless it's a subject I'm passionate about. A thread about a silly person is not in that category).

 

[Kaylum]

I don't hand feed full stop anymore. I used to do a lot of clicker training with food but I have taken the food element out of it now. They get a scratch as a reward.

 

[Lurfy]

I don't give treats much. My horse has special diet requirements so I give scratches and rubs as a treat.

 

[Winters100]

Afraid I am totally guilty of giving mine treats when turned out, I know it is frowned upon, and can cause problems, but I do it. If they forgot their manners I would stop, but so far they have not. It has been very useful for one, who I was told was 'impossible' to catch when I bought him. Since he now sees a possibility that I might give him something he is no problem at all. I would probably not do it with youngsters, but for grown ups who know the boundaries it has not caused problems for me.

 

[SEL]

I use them to reward a behaviour I want, but they don't get them for just being a horse. I've seen too many turn into bargy, nippy monsters with that.

 

[Peglo]

I think it depends on the horse. I’ve always gone into the field and given treats to mine. But the TB isn’t that bothered with treats and the old haffie has always preferred scratches. New girl though could get bolshy with treats so I will use them as reward only with her.

 

[stangs]

A R+ yard I used to know gave plenty of treats to the horses when they were out. Sometimes as a reward for sunscreen getting applied, sometimes just for the sake of being nice. None of the horses were ever pushy as their *correct* R+ training meant they had impeccable manners around treats.

Another yard I’ve been at always gave horses a handful of nuts out in the field before putting the headcollar on to make sure they’d never have an issue being caught. There was always one or two horses that would nudge you a bit asking where their treat was but they got bored if you ignored them.

At the RS I used to work at, we would give the horses a bunch of treats when they were out every once in a while. For no reason apart from the fact we loved them. They would trot after you a bit trying to get more but that’s the most they ever did. And usually the horse getting treated would make it clear to the others that this was their treat dispenser currently. There was only one horse that it might have posed a problem with; she was a serious resource guarder who didn’t stay longer than a week.

In short, I see no problem with giving treats in a herd situation or giving treats for the sake of it - as long as you know the horses you’re dealing with. Horses learn boundaries very quickly ime.

 

[blitznbobs]

I give treats just because, extremely randomly, have done for 40 years and never had an issue at all. i don’t treat often but my mum treats ALL the time (like she always has them in her pocket) has had horses even longer than me and she has never had an issue either.

 

[Cowpony]

Mine can be tricky to catch so she always gets a treat when I've got her. But she's very polite. I took on a loan pony in the summer and she's completely different! I learned the hard way that she's very food aggressive when she grabbed the treat out of my hand and caught my hand at the same time. She gets nothing in the field and nothing from my hand anywhere else. If I want to reward her at the end of a schooling session I put a treat on the mounting block, but that's very rare. I'm also teaching her to keep her head out of my space, so giving treats would be counter -productive.

 

[laura_nash]

It depends a lot on the horse. I used to give my first pony random treats straight out of the pocket and hand fed and she was always perfectly behaved. I could never do that with my current ones, who are both food obsessed cobs with a strong tendency to barginess. They do get treats for training purposes and sometimes just because, but I have to have a strict routine around the training treats so they know what is going on, that treats are available for this specific session and when they are going to get one, and the "just because" ones go in a feed bucket and are fed like a bucket feed. Just one hand fed random treat (from a lovely old neighbor) had a big negative impact on their behaviour. "The human might have a treat in their pocket and might give it to me" is not something it is good for them to be thinking.

 

[milliepops]

I treat most of mine liberally whenever i feel like it.
for my pleasure as much as theirs.
the exception being my yearling and her mum who are both a bit over excitable when it comes to pocket goodies so only get them sparingly.
I have always treated mine in the field, as a herd etc, i teach and expect them to be polite and wait their turn. If mine lived with someone else's horse i might think differently though, it works because they are all mine to train and they know no one will go without so there's no jealousy.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I don't think it depends on the horse, it depends on the owner/handler, imo. I've had my own horses for almost 50 yrs and have always given treats. I have never had a horse nip or become less than well-mannered because of it. My horses know that I am in charge of the food and it would be pointless for them to demand, or beg.

 

[Skib]

I have never given treats. But RS horses must associate an outstretched hand with a treat. After my last fall, the escort was unable to catch the horse I was riding. I picked a handful of grass and offered it to the mare whom I knew very well and had caught and groomed in the school. I knew the staff needed treats to catch her in the RS. She came to me and I caught her, even though the grass I proffered was identical to all the grass at her feet.

 

[Julie Ole Girl]

My mare is strange (or just very well trained). She loves her treats but the minute she has a head collar on she won't touch them, ditto bridle.

 

[meleeka]

I don’t give treats as a rule, unless they’ve done something to warrant it. One of mine is very food obsessed and he just can’t have one and move on. I even know if someone else has given him one because he’s looking for them from me as soon as I arrive. He had a carrot on Christmas day and was still hanging around me looking for more an hour later! He’s not rude with it thankfully, it’s just quite annoying.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I sometimes use the in training, because the Fell is very good oriented and it works but am just as likely to say ‘good’ and give him a break because that also works with him lol-and he’s been taught not to mug. And sometimes I treat randomly because I feel like it. I don’t routinely carry them though. So sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t-I don’t have issues with nippiness.
an older Exmoor I had on loan was a nippy monster when I got him and became so again when walkers by kept giving him treats-he bit a kid and I wasn’t remotely sorry as they had been warned previously. I think it does depend on the individual somewhat and how long they’ve been allowed to do it in the past, ponies tend to be quite opportunistic!
Said pony is now 26 and a pony club pony for several ankle biters so he’s a good pony overall.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

There was a pony at the RS I worked for that was sold to a girl that fell in love with it and nagged her parents into buying it for her. It was a perfectly nice well behaved pony but after she moved it to a field with multiple ponies in it and started stuffing it with treats it became a nightmare and quickly obtained a reputation for seriously bullying anyone who went into the field to get their own pony. Not sure what happened to it as we were never told. Sensible feeding of treats is fine but anyone doling out treats wholesale to a bunch of horses is asking for trouble. I once got knocked over when catching up some of the RS ponies by one backing up to kick the pony I was catching.

 

[shortstuff99]

If you give treats you might end up with a monster like this ?

 

[Cortez]

I've never given treats, ever. The odd occasion when a horse (usually a new addition) is hard to catch or load I might need to shake feed bucket. But now with just one retired fellow I took to giving a bit of apple or slice of carrot: must be getting soppy in old age......within weeks he was getting "looky" and a bit rude, so we're very happily back to normal now, no treats, no lapses in politesse. Friend who constantly treats hers has a bunch of thugs that are actually dangerous to be around.

 

[Meredith]

Until owning this latest pony I have never given treats.
The reason being a youngster sent for breaking came back nippy as the trainer treated all the time for good behaviour. Of course I didn’t know this and the pony kept nipping at the expected, for him, situation but it was unknown to me.
The latest pony had obviously been given many treats and just after I bought him picked up a jacket and tried to eat the pocket. Mr M has made a rod for his own back by treating the pony when he passes the stable. I warned him but hey-ho. I treat on catching and turn out and now the pony knows this he rarely bothers me. Visitors however can be fair game and their pockets are investigated if I am not vigilant.

 

[Hackback]

I'm on a livery yard and we're not allowed to treat in the field as YO doesn't want any of her liveries' horses getting a broken leg from being kicked. Sensible IMO.

I have two horses, one you can treat in the stable as much as you like and he's always gentle and polite. The other is completely food obsessed and although he doesn't nip he won't leave you alone if he thinks you might have food about your person. It's annoying. I even stopped doing carrot stretches because every time I went to pick out his feet he was down there waving his teeth about hoping a carrot might be involved. He gets his treats in his feed bucket now.

 

[Tiddlypom]

No edible treats, ever. Treats are to make the treater feel good about themselves. I praise mine plenty (if warranted), which they fully appreciate, but never with food.

 

[saddlesore]

I’m clearly the odd one out here as I give my boy hand fed treats all the time ?

 

[kathantoinette]

Never feed treats as a rule but went for an arena hire today and there was a little Christmassy box filled with carrots marked ‘treats’ so I did give him one of those ??

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

There is another thread re. "treats" running on here so I won't add to that or contribute anything that I haven't already said there.

I don't feed treats to mine. I did give my coblet a carrot in her feed over the Xmas period - and she almost immediately started giving me "the eye", and being very sassy to handle on the ground.

So no more carrots! Not ever.

I am having to do some physio exercises i.e. Carrot stretches (without the carrots!!) with her right now as part of rehab; we are using other little "treats" to get her to bend like bits of sticky Cleavers and grass, and pony nuts. But as soon as she gets sassy about the treat and starts demanding instead of asking, she is "told" that this isn't acceptable! She is a clever little pony and would soon learn bad habits!

 

[criso]

I do give my horses treat at certain times, after a ride, when I leave at the end of the day. I don't in the field though if there are other horses around.

When I was a kid there were a couple of ponies you had to be really wary of in the field as they had learnt to bully small children into dropping their treats and running. It was several fields over many acres and everything lived out 24/7, so you just hoped the offenders weren't nearby when you went to get your pony.

 

[fankino04]

I've always been quite Liberal with my hand fed treats, not long after I got my girl (when she was 3), she started getting a bit nippy looking for treats so they stopped completely and everyone was told not to feed her, treats were then reintroduced a bit later on a reward basis but now she's retired she gets way too many from me again. She lives out 24/7 in a herd and I only feed her, she leaves the others to come to me when I enter the field and as the lowest in the pecking order if anything comes over when she is getting fed she either moves away or I shield her from the other one, as I've never fed anything else there they don't put much effort into getting treats and there's never any fights.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

There is another thread re. "treats" running on here so I won't add to that or contribute anything that I haven't already said there.

I don't feed treats to mine. I did give my coblet a carrot in her feed over the Xmas period - and she almost immediately started giving me "the eye", and being very sassy to handle on the ground.

So no more carrots! Not ever.

I am having to do some physio exercises i.e. Carrot stretches (without the carrots!!) with her right now as part of rehab; we are using other little "treats" to get her to bend like bits of sticky Cleavers and grass, and pony nuts. But as soon as she gets sassy about the treat and starts demanding instead of asking, she is "told" that this isn't acceptable! She is a clever little pony and would soon learn bad habits!

We have had horses that couldn't tolerate carrots, one Appaloosa, in particular got very silly if given carrot. It was the food, not how it was given