How food-motivated is your horse?

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htobago

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Curious because my boy (3yo Arab stally) is the least food-motivated horse I've ever met. He would much rather have attention/affection/play than a food-treat.

He will happily abandon his feed to come and chat over the stable door, and often when offered a treat will ignore it and ask for a kiss/cuddle (by nuzzling you) instead.

Today he was turned out in the sand school, and my friend tried to offer him a carrot over the fence, but no - he wanted to play , and bounced up and down in front of her, inviting her to have a race along the fence (his favourite game) until she put the carrot away and agreed to have a race.

Just wondered how food-oriented/motivated other people's horses are?
 
mine are TOTALLY food orientated, but they are native types, so are genetically predisposed to being greedy!
 
My TB x ID is like yours, would much rather come and talk to you than eat, but the little welsh A is just interested in food, if you happen to have it then he is your best friend
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Very, the NH books which say that as prey animals rather than predators that horses aren't food motivated like a dog haven't met Daisy. she will do all sorts of tricks for a pony treat
 
mine loves his food, but also loves attention. i dont use food as a reward and i very rarely ive him treats from hand so he doesnt expect it - the exception being for carrot stretches etc. instead he gets them hidden in his stable etc. but wen hes eating his tea theres nothing much than can get his head outa that bucket... except perhaps another bucket lol. but hes never nasty about food ever towards ppl or other horses and will let others share happily. id much rather give a horse a good scratch as a reward than a treat and im sure they prefer it too
 
My bigger older mare not so. If her food falls out of her bowl and goes on the floor she will not eat it at all - this drives me mad!! She wont touch it even if I put in back into the bowl. She also goes on and off food - will eat say, Happy Hoof for a couple fo weeks, then, no dont fancy it any more and wont eat it - grrrrr
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As for my little Sec A - she like a Henry vacuum!!
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She will eat anything and everything - literally!
 
My horse is obsessed with food and eats it like it is due to go out of fashion! He comes in at night and guzzles his couple of handfuls of chaff like it is the best thing ever and then starts on his hay without drawing for breath! When he goes out in the morning it is head straight down to eat.
He is a Welshie though!
 
Hattie is very food motivated. She will do anything for food. Gyp isn't so much, if he is in a new place he won't eat till he is settled and will happily leave hay/grass to come and talk to you.
 
flo, my horse is the greediest horse ive ever met and her stomach rules her , my daughters pony is very picky and not much interested at the best of times and has to be coaxed to eat.
 
Little Un would like to know what else there is to life?!

Jim isn't particularly food orientated. He certainly can't be bribed with food, it has very limited effect as a distraction & as long as he isn't hungry he choses company over food.
 
My own mare is totally food-orientated - it drives her life. Daughter's pony is interesting, though, because although she is quite greedy and loves her food, she loves people too, so will come away from her hay to get some attention.
 
Ozzie is VERY food orientated. he will stop grazing for a cuddle, but woe to the person who gets between Oscar and his feed bowl! i think it might be something to do with the fact that he was starved before we got him?
 
She is 100% food motivated - the more the better. Even hacking out she is constantly looking for opportunities to snatch a bite. She is IDx though and I believe they are the equine equivalent of labradors.
 
Missy is so food orientated that the only way for her to have her antibiotic injections was for her to have her head stuck in a bucket of hardfeed , Tommy is the same .
 
Depends. 3 of mine love food. 1 specifically is totally addicted to it - he goes crazy for food. Earlier this year, he was tied to the side of the trailer at an event when some moron decided to feed their horse RIGHT in the middle of the aisle (in between the boxes / trailers) so ALL the horses round about wanted it! My boy went ballistic, he cannot cope seeing others fed and not him. He reared up bolt upright a few times and was just a total nutcase. It was horrible. I couldn't get near him. All because some loser didnt think before feeding her horse in FULL view of heaps of others! Really pissed me off.

My other horse couldn't care less about food. He picks through his daily feeds - at least he now finishes them, but slowly! He often refuses treats when we're at events. Is not all that keen on carrots but loves his apples!
 
My last horse loved food, but also loved a good hug. Treats were a favorite as they she got both! Horse before that not interested though. When I first got him I had to hand feed him for 2 weeks as he was scared of food!
 
Fascinating! Thanks for all the replies. It seems Tobago is slightly unusual, at least in specifically rejecting treats in favour of affection and/or play.

He will often accept a treat (carrot or apple - won't touch polos or anything sweet) politely if it is offered - he eats them very daintily, one small bite at a time, while you stand there patiently holding them for him. But if you offer another one, he says no and asks for a kiss (by nuzzling you) or a game (by bouncing) instead.

He did try to drink tea out of a mug I was holding yesterday, but we decided the one thing this horse does NOT need is caffeine LOL! (One of the grooms is convinced that he nips down to Starbucks when we're not looking and binge-drinks espressos...)
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Chex isn't that food orientated (for a cob!). He doesn't really like cuddles either though
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. He'll eat treats, but if it involved walking a few feet just to get the treat then I don't think he'd bother. He won't eat feeds bigger than a few handfuls and doesn't really eat hay. Unfortunately grass is his downfall! But even then he'd never escape from a field to eat, or lean over a fence.
 
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