GRRRR stupid numpties on my yard!!!

I totally agreee Jackdaws,

I found out one day at my last yard that the old man who worked there was feeding my horse ham (yes HAM!) sandwiches every day!!!!!
Needless to say I went mad and then really did hit the roof when he said he liked them so much his wife made my horse an extra one in his pack-up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I put up a similar post a few days ago about people giving bread to our pony.

I find it really annoying, I don't know who is giving it to her as she lives out and the general public to come near the field so could be anyone. She can be pushy for food and I don't want that round the kids plus she's the type of pony who needs her weight managing.

I've put signs up now saying

"For health reasons this pony follows a strict diet. In the interests of her health and welfare please DO NOT FEED under any circumstances. Thank You."

I've not seen anything in her field since but then she could just be polishing it all off.

I can understand why you're upset, it's bad enough they do it but to ignore your request that they stop is a bit much. Prob best to try and get on with them though, if they're all against you they'll do it just to annoy you!
 
I really can't understand why people get so annoyed by the comments made in the first post. The main point made is that people, despite being asked not to are feeding someones horse titbits.

The rest is just letting off steam, we all do it and say things we probably don't mean. Why do people take it so personally.

I think you have been remarkably calm about it. I would have been a lot more direct, especially if they had giggled about it in front of me.
 
that woudl really annoy me.
i was at a place once where the YO fed the horses bread at night..?! i didnt know until i came down at night and she was feeding my good doer mare and 5 month foal 3 slices of bread. i asked her what she was doing and she said all the horses got some bread.i just said i didnt want it giving to my horses, they had very sensitive digestion and prone to colic- and if they got it, she would foot the bill if she had fed bread.
 
I have since moved as I'm sure you have already guessed!

He was also being fed full loaves of white bread each night (proper bloomer sized loaves!) because he liked them!
How he didn't end up with an impaction colic was beyond me?!

YO use to get the bakery leftovers each day to feed the goats and chickens hence why my horsey ended up with a real treat every night! YO was horsey but very clueless. Until I discovered my horses midnight feast and carnivorous activities I was continually scratching my head as to why he was getting fatter in winter........!
 
it's things like this that made me move house so i could have the horses at home... i found out my YO had been putting her 12month old baby on my shetland and riding it round the field... he was also often rugged without me asking, and fed too. i find it annoying.
i choose not to give my horses titbits (unless they get them as a reward) because they can both be a bit nibbly... so i get really annoyed when other people do it. you've got every right to be annoyed. it sound like you could all do with some 'yard rules' since the newbies have come in. x
 
I think you are entirely correct in being furious re feeding your horses, they have no business interfering, and if they felt they had insufficient hay either tell the YO or you the following morning.
I can see why you put the notice up and hopefully it will make anyone think twice, but far better would be a sign saying your horses have dietary issues and must not have any food other than given by you. That way they may think they could be liable if one got ill.
I do find your generalisation that the majority of the other liveries are useless numpties harsh. There are as many ways of horsekeeping as cooking, and what suits your horses might not suit someone else's.
After many years as a yard owner I've seen the lot believe me, and I can guarantee some on that yard will think you underfeed just as you think they overfeed!
What they do with their horses provided they don't get ill is none of your business just as feeding yours is none of theirs. The only way to survive a big yard is to get on with your own horse and keep yourself out of yard bitching and politics.
Whether they sit on their bums all day is their choice, and perhaps for some it's more the social aspect of owning a horse than the rest that appeals.
I'm mostly on your side but you do come over as a bit arrogant to be honest, that could be why they are still giving titbits just to wind you up....
 
Just say if this horse has bad colic because he's been fed by people that haven't been autherised a civil suit would be forth coming. I myself would be spitting fire and your Yo should be putting down ground rules.
 
I wouldn't be happy with someone interfering with my regime (no longer at livery so don't have the issue to content with) but I have been on yards where the done thing was for the first person on the yard to top up all haylage, or the last one gave them all a carrot etc, and some people didn't show up until very late morning at weekends, so the horse would be stood in with nothing to eat for hours unless someone fed it. Now, I'm not saying that this is right or wrong, but maybe these new liveries have come from a more relaxed yard, and aren't used to a controlled regime. Certainly make it very clear that your horse is not to be fed, but educate them (politely!) as to why, otherwise they may disregard you.

Hope it gets sorted soon.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies

Henryhorn i can totally see why you'd thank that after reading this thread! I really don't think i am arragont in real life (as far as i know!) but my livery yard isnt particularly my 'social' place if you get me, so maybe the liveries see me as abit aloof! I do understand the social side to horses though, just with me it's more at the racecourse and my work than my livery yard. By the time i get up there on an evening i just want to stick my earphones in and do my own thing! I definitely see where you are coming from.

I got a text from a fellow 'old' livery at about half 8 (one who really doesn't mince his words..) and he said he'd had a bit of a screaming match
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with a new livery after she'd put more haylege in HIS horses stable this evening. He confronted her as she was bringing another barrow load of haylege into the block - he thinks she was heading for other stables including mine!!
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The yard owner's getting involved now, and i expect a new sign to be up on the notice board regarding feeding other peoples horses tomorrow
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Although it's a shame they had a 'fight' about it, as an atmosphere on a yard is never nice
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At least it is only the other liveries feeding your horse - my bloody YARD OWNER decided she knew best and fed my Nil-By-Mouth impaction colicing pony a huge pile of hayledge because she decided it was cruel not to feed him and she clearly knew better than the vet
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ANYWAYS - go and intigrate yourself with the new liveries. They're not doing it to be annoying or spiteful and if they ARE novices they may well not realise the harm they are doing. They more than likely just think they are being kind.

Instead of alienating yourself from them, use their gossiping and socialising to your advantange and spread the 'rumour' of your horses feeding requirements.

On the sign front, I'd go for something much less formal than a short statements. The liveries doing the feeding will see their horses as fluffy bunny pets, so use that approach. Instead 'please don't feed this horse' got for something like:
'My Name's****. As much as I love treats I am not allowed them under ANY circumstance (boo
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) Not only does make me nip and bite, I'm also very prone to colic and any treats or extra feeding (hay or feeds) can make me extremely ill. It's very unfair but so life goes. Mum says I can have a nice pat as compensation instead though.
 
I just dont get why folk think its ok to interfere with the perfectly good care of someone elses horse??

You wouldn't go up to someone elses child in the school yard and give them food would you!

My boy rarely gets treats. He gets a slurp of Coke after he is ridden by me (something an old instructor started as he loves it) and now he is out 24/7 and unfed he gets a carrot after he is used in lessons.

When he was in he would start lunging at folk for food, which wasn't v good when there were 4 folk who had to get past him to their horses and would get bitten, so they soon stopped giving him treats
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I hope the do not ignore the signs. But I do think that some basic yard rules drafted up and sent to every livery would be a good idea. And also have a 'friendly message' sign up to remind everyone of their duties to all the other liveries in order to keep it a harmonius place
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. It might not totally sink in, but if they see it enough times you can but hope.
 
OP- how annoying for you, i hate it when people feed my horses
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fortunately on new yard nobody gives them treats except YO when she goes to catch them- then they get a biscuit
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its the wanton disregard of the signs/ fact that you have asked them not to feed them that would really wind me up. a stupid woman (who incidentally paid for her own horse and DID ride it
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) on my old yard used to give the grey in my siggy treats every time she came up. problem was that he used to weave- not badly as a rule- but he suddenly started weaving really badly every day when he saw her...i had to tell her to stop and she got all funny with me- her horse boots the door as soon as it sees her (it wants treats), i really can't stand rude horses. mine rarely get treats, maybe a small carrot after a lesson...when i had a sharer she used to give them treats all the time for no reason, really bugged me...
just as a point- i wouldn't put 'please' on your notice- write your note and then just 'thankyou' at the end- if you say please its like you are asking wheras thankyou creates an expectation that they will do as asked (i learnt this at a training course!!
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I agree with most/part of OPs post!

Mine used to get fed treats, and I just gave up in the end. If someone gets bitten feeding my horse without my permission its their problem.

I had taught her to 'ask' for treats some years previously and it turned out she was still 'asking', even though the other liveries had no idea what she was doing it!! Effectivly they reinforced her training!

I would put a bit of a longer notice in the brew room (where all our special notices go!) and declare in detail why people should not interfer with other people horses (not patronisingly, and not talking too much about your own - just explain the concept of routine).

I find it best just to let know it alls get on with it. But I can see how with your horse that could cause problems. An anti weaving bar is not going to stop them, and a locked top stable door is a bit extreme!!!
Can you swap stables to one where no one passes him?
 
I haven't read all the replies but my horses used to be turned out in a field with a footpath running along the bottom, and people used to feed them acorns (which I have always been told are poisonous, but believe they need to eat a lot?). It was a big field and by the time we got to the bottom people would be gone. We put a 'please do not feed the horses' sign and no effect. So instead we put up some electric fence about 10 metres from footpath so people couldn't reach and a 'danger electric fence' sign and that seemed to work.

At a yard I had my other horse at someone used to feed him polols (he gets nippy with titbits) and then smack him round the head when he nipped her. I was fuming when I saw her hit him having already asked her not to feed him because of nipping. He wasn't there for much longer (for other reasons) so didn't have to worry after that.

I would definitely put up a sign and speak to people doing it.
 
Someone has been treating my horse, I can tell - I thought he might finally be getting affectionate but oh no, he was charming my pockets! I also found half a packet of treats in my bin outside his stable!

It's annoying, but I don't sweat it. It's a nice yard and there are farrr more important things in life.

As for hay, noone gives him that as he has it coming out of his ears
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