Help! Overkeen y/o

[Omarkiam]

I have been wondering whether to post this for a while but its getting to much for me now so would like some advice!

I am at a lovely farm, very laid back with minimal facilities but lovely people and very nice y/o's.
However...
Shes trying to take over control of my horse!

I have a cob x arab gelding, who gets fat on thin air, so he has just 1 feed a day, and really he doesnt need one as he gets hay and has fresh grazing in his field. They feed him in the mornings for me because to me thats the best time of day for a feed, and all the others are being fed at this time, so wouldn't like to leave mine out! (Thats pretty much the only reason he gets a feed)
His feed is made up of Hi-Fi Lite & Speedibeet, with supplements as grazing wasn't great in his last field.


First of all she is always telling me how he is so hungry and needs 2 feeds a day, and that he practically jumps the fence to get to the guy who feeds the horses. I was like, that's just him, hes a cob! He is a total piggy and will like most horses do what he can to get an extra bit of food. Then she suggested having someone in my field so that I could have someone come up in the evenings and give him a second feed. I said no to this aswell... (I dont go up all the time as Omie is a get on a go job so doesnt need daily riding, however I do go every evening to hay him)
After that it was telling me my feeds were too small, she goes ''your feeds were tiny so I figured they were not for him, and made him up some of our stuff instead''
I was like YOU SERIOUS?!?! He has 3 quarters of a scoop of chaff and 1 cup of speedibeet, plus 1 FULL scoop of supplements?!?!
So I left it at that as I dont have the guts to say different. She then started asking her husband, which is the guy who does morning feeds, to put haylage in Omies field, now I don't get charged which is fine, but 1 I don't want him having even more food, and 2 its really really bad haylage, not very well made atall and I wouldn't let the dog eat it, let alone my horse!
Now all this was too much as it was but what topped it off was Omie jumped the fence one day to be in the field next too him, because in there is the y/o's shire, and him and the shire are very very close, and since Omie moved fields into a bigger on, he was feeling a bit lonely I think, so he kept jumping the fence to be in with the shire. I came down one evening to hay him, only to find him eating the haylage in the shires field, so I tried to move him back (was very icy still), I went and spoke to y/o and said sorry aout that, appears he jumped the fence, and she said, the reason hes doing it is because he is so hungry.
Im getting sick of being told my horse is underfed, and the excuse for it being that we had a winter this year like no other? He is a cob x arab, both very very sturdy and hardy breeds, he gets hay, haylage and feed everyday.

Just to make things 100 times worse, the one thing that has made me post here today is the fact she has now bought him the wrong feed, on what I feel is purpose. Omie has Hi-Fi lite and she knows it because she has been using mine to make up feeds for him, she also wrote it down in front of me on the order pad, yet what turns up is hi-fi original, which is obviousley for the horses that dont get fat quite so quickly. Now at the time I didnt have the money to rush to the shop and buy another, and also wasnt open so had to open it, which meant having to pay for it and not being able to return it, so omie is now having a completely different diet, and I know she has done this on purpose. It is making me feel like a bad owner

Please can someone either tell me that the y/o is right and I should be feeding more, or that I am right and what I can do about it?

 

[Divasmum]

I have a horrible feeling that she is going to carry on in this mode. If so the only option you have is to move him. There is enough in the press about over-feeding so you would hope a yard owner would know better. Another option is if you have a vets visit due say for jabs is to chat to the vet about what you are feeding and then tell the YO that this is what the vet has agreed. Not easy for you.

 

[La Fiaba]

I have no problem with people offering advice, but changing your horse's diet without consulting you is not on, unless of course he is very skinny, in which case I would give horses in my care extra feed.

If he's a good weight already then I'm afraid your only option is to grow a pair and tell YO that she absolutely cannot make any changes to your horse's diet without your consent. Maybe he is feeling hungry, but is that not better than a bout of laminitis?

Every cob I've ever had has been like this about food!

 

[horsey mad matt]

that is ludicrous, i have a cob and he is now in a grassier field and get's 3 wedges of hay at mo, and some chaff and nutts and this is more than enough for him, obviuosly as the grass goes down his hay will go back up again!!1 if you know that your horse is fine and sounds like he is, then there is no reason why she should say something like this. she may think that your feed looked tiny because she has a shire and they generally get bucket loads, but that is damn right out of order making you feel like this!!!!!

 

[DragonSlayer]

Agree with the above.

I was concerned one of my liveries was not feeding enough to her aged mare, BUT I asked her to check it out due to her weight etc....and she came to the conclusion that yes, she was short-changing to poor old thing. i would never, however, take it into my own hands and feed her horse....

Tackle the YO, if you get no joy, point out that you cannot stay at a yard where your horses health is in deteriment as come spring, he will explode.....and will she pay for the vets fees when he comes down with something.....?

Let us know how it goes, and remember, YOUR HORSE!!!

 

[Rudolph's Red Nose]

You know your horse .. be brave and ask for your feed to be fed - can you not make your feeds up the night before when you are haying your horse so you start taking back some control?

I ended up moving my horse as I had a well meaning YM who thought they knew best, I have a cob who maintains his weight brilliantly but can be very very "itchy" in the summer - I spoke to my vet and they recommended cutting out his feed (minimal anyway) to see if it helped - my YM nagged and nagged me to to feed him, even checking my feed bins to see if I fed him.. (I used to walk to the field with an empty bucket to shut her up) - she started bringing him in to have hay while I was at work (against my wishes) where he itched and itched in his stable till he bled - I asked her not to bring him in and give him hay - HE DIDNT NEED IT, the final nail in the coffin was turning up after work and finding him tied in the yard, bum against wall itching his tail away with an untouched hay net.... I moved as soon as I found a suitable yard... and he has hardly itched since ??...

 

[riding_high]

i was on a yard where the YM took over the care of my horses all by herself, if i gave them a scoop of nuts she would reduce it and so on, she would turn them out and bring them in before i got there (making it difficult to muck out). in the end i'd go to the yard and the horses didn't feel like they were mine anymore so i stopped going down for a while (my OH would go down) until i found somewhere else to go to. i cried when i left the yard because i actually felt like i had my horses back.

if your YO doesn't listen to you then try and find another yard to move to, if you really don't want to move then could you get your vet to have a word with her about your horses' diet?

 

[Wagtail]

Firstly, don't worry about the hi fi light thing, there really is hardly any difference between the two. Certainly none that wold put an ounce of weight on your horse. I tend to use both for the 'fatties' depending on which is/isn't available. Maybe that is what happened in this instance?

Secondly, I believe the driving factor for your horse jumping the fence is loneliness, not hunger. Does he have to be on his own?

Thirdly, if your horse can see others being fed and he is not, then this will cause him lots of stress. Can you not split his morning feed into two?

I really can see this from both your own and the yard owner's perspective. I think you need to have a talk with her. Make sure you start by showing her thatyou understand where she is coming from by saying something like 'I am really pleased about the way you care for my horse and understand that you feel that he is underfed and hungry. You probably think that I am uncaring but I really don't want him to get fat.' Then maybe tell her a white lie about him having laminitis one year or something and that he has to be kept under a certain weight for his own sake.

I have the opposite problem with one of my liveries who keeps putting far too much feed and haylage in for their fat cob. His back was like a dinner table last year coming out of winter.

 

[Tinypony]

You need to sit her down and explain this in words of one syllable. You also need to stop your boy jumping in with the Shire by getting some tall posts and electric fencing to put inside your fence. (It's a shame they can't be together, I hate individual turnout, but it seems that's the only way you can make sure he isn't eating too much haylage). If that doesn't work, you will have to move. I've got a sturdy pony and I'd be furious if anyone changed her diet.

 

[Caz89]

That is completley out of order.... I seriously think you need to move your horse! Anybody changing a horses feed like and feeding I can only assume mouldy hayledge as you have said the quality is so bad that regardless of whether you have agreed it or not clearly doesn't have a clue and your horse is going to end up becoming ill. If you are not willing to move then I would suggest telling the YO (even if you dont) that you have had a consultation with a nutritionist and hand her a list of what you want fed and just say he is NOT to be fed anything different or extra without my permission.

 

[mrogers]

sounds suspiciously like a yard i know. Can you pm the yard name please?

 

[Dubsie]

I'd put in writing what you do and don't want him to be fed.
I'd also take the bag of hi-fi away when you've replaced it, see if another livery/HHOer will buy it off you.

If she continues he'll only get fat once the grass comes through

 

[soulfull]

This is really unacceptable!

I would not, could not stay where someone interfered with what I feed or don't feed my horse!

Imagine how bad you are going to feel for not doing something if he comes down with laminitis

 

[Omarkiam]

I would prefer not to pm the name of the yard because I know how easily things get back to yard owners and I really do the love the yard other than this problem so dont want to be booted for any reason at the moment!

Here is a picture of him, taken not so long ago, about 1 month at most, does he look underfed to you? (Honestly)

The only reason I am posting up is because she has made me think I am doing something wrong and I am worried that I am doing something wrong with feeding him?!

 

[cobgirlie]

Definately not underweight!!!!

It would be a shame to leave somewhere you are happy with so I'd sit her down and speak to her about it. Althought that said I had to do that at the place I was at before but still ended up leaving because she didn't listen..but I'd certainly try before going.

 

[Omarkiam]

Also would like to add, he is smitten with the y/o's shire, but not lonely, he can still get to the shire, but prefers being in the field with him, he likes his space in his field, its not individual turnout, all the horses are kept out, he has the heavy horses next to him on the left. Its just how omie is, I am getting a new horse, a tb, next week, and he also gets quite porky quite quick so dont want them fiddling with his feed too!!

 

[ladyearl]

Not sure how you can can tackle the YO as she's obv got a bee in her bonnet but if, after a sit down chat, she still won't stop then move him.

My cob is fed 2 mugs of baileys lo cal balancer and about a bin full of haylage in two lots. She's worryingly chunky atm as I can't ride because of the weather. If she got what yours is getting (via the YO) she'd be like a house!!

I really don't understand over feeding, it's very simple in my head, although can be hard to keep weight off a good doer. It's harder finding the complicated mix of feeding that suits the poor doer.

 

[La Fiaba]

sorry, my eyes just popped out my head, he's gorgeous! If you're looking for somewhere to hide him from YO for a while, I've got a lorry coming over this weekend, I'm sure we can squeeze him on (seeing as he's so skinny and underfed )

 

[ladyearl]

tbw just re read and realised i forgot to say - stunneringo!

 

[Wagtail]

He IS gorgeous. In the last photograph he does look on the slim side for a cob though, unless he's extremely fit. He's tucked up like a race horse. Personally I would not mind a little tiny bit more weight on him as he's a cob. What I am really saying is he could stand a bit more weight without it being too unhealthy for him and so would not be worrying about having hi fi instead of hi fi light. He's a long way from being too fat.

 

[Omarkiam]

Lol thanks everyone thinks he a pretty boy, but not when hes trying to spin and backup as fast as he can, and definaetly not when he sees pigs! Not so pretty and handsome then! I will probably be able to squeeze him onto your lorry as long as you bring him back perfectly behaved and not frightened of pigs

 

[horsey mad matt]

He IS gorgeous. In the last photograph he does look on the slim side for a cob though, unless he's extremely fit. He's tucked up like a race horse. Personally I would not mind a little tiny bit more weight on him as he's a cob. What I am really saying is he could stand a bit more weight without it being too unhealthy for him and so would not be worrying about having hi fi instead of hi fi light. He's a long way from being too fat.

he's cob x arab i think it said so thats probably why

 

[Omarkiam]

He is cob x arab, and obviousley arabs are quite slim lined, hence why he does have a finer line than a cob, he couldnt carry much more fat safely on him without looking out of proportion really, I do have some other pictures that show the arab in him.....

As you can see from this angle he is finer, but alot of the finer fetaures as I say are because hes half arab. He fluctuates in weight sometimes too.

 

[La Fiaba]

Lol thanks everyone thinks he a pretty boy, but not when hes trying to spin and backup as fast as he can, and definaetly not when he sees pigs! Not so pretty and handsome then! I will probably be able to squeeze him onto your lorry as long as you bring him back perfectly behaved and not frightened of pigs

Just had to laugh, our yard is on a nature reserve and one of the animals it's specifically set up for? Wild boar!

He really is lovely though, complementi!

 

[Wagtail]

In that case then, he just looks super fit. Certainly not starving.

 

[Omarkiam]

Just had to laugh, our yard is on a nature reserve and one of the animals it's specifically set up for? Wild boar!

He really is lovely though, complementi!

Haha well if you can handle very fast spinning, backing up at what feels like 100mph, then hes all yours lol!

 

[FairyLights]

JUst move

 

[gonebananas]

I have a similar problem but with my Grandpa, my pony is a fat thing and after she had baby she lost loads of weight (YES!!!) and managed to keep it off and i decided not to feed her as much in winter anymore cos she didn't need it. it took me forever to make him believe she didn't need so much food (even when she was pregnant "feeding for 2" :/) so finally i just told him to mind his own business and do as hes told or i'll change the locks. he does as hes told now.
appreciate you can't do that but maybe if your more straight up with her and tell her straight might work, if not i'd deffo move yards!