Mugging at feed time

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Princess16

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I'm a novice to this so am finding this site really helpful thank you. Question I have is how do I stop my Connie trying to mugg and block me whilst feeding his hard feed. In every other aspect he is a darling but just pushes his way into me whilst approaching him with his feed bucket. He lives out 24/7 so bucket is put on the field. Any solutions to this would be welcome thanks.
 
Teach him the command 'back' - it's useful in many situations.

Do not feed him when he is mugging you. All you do is reward the behaviour.

For now feed him outside the field, with a head collar and lead rope on.
Use one of those flexible trugs so you can close the opening by holding the handles with one hand.

Then just basic handling & backing up, whilst holding feed bucket. Only feed when the horse behaves appropriately.

Progress to this work within field whilst still using head collar.

In time you should be able to go into field with bucket, get horse to back up and wait for you to put bucket down.
 
ihatework said:
Teach him the command 'back' - it's useful in many situations.

Do not feed him when he is mugging you. All you do is reward the behaviour.

For now feed him outside the field, with a head collar and lead rope on.
Use one of those flexible trugs so you can close the opening by holding the handles with one hand.

Then just basic handling & backing up, whilst holding feed bucket. Only feed when the horse behaves appropriately.

Progress to this work within field whilst still using head collar.

In time you should be able to go into field with bucket, get horse to back up and wait for you to put bucket down.
Click to expand...

This is good advice, initially as soon as he stands still, even for a few seconds, give him the feed, increase the time he waits gradually, if he pulls towards the bucket, pull his head up and say a firm NO, BACK UP, this works for hanging up haynets as well
 
When I first got my horse he had terrible manners, particularly at food time. He also hogged his hay and chased the other horse off any in the field. It took a long time but he gradually realised that I'm not going to take food away from him and he has plenty of time to eat what he wants. Perhaps this is the case with your horse? I worked on the command 'back up' and held the feed behind my back in one hand and gently pushed his chest with the other. He eventually learned that unless he got out of my space, he wouldn't get his feed. Hope this helps!
 
I am doing the "back" command starting with administering treats which he is kind of getting. Even went back on his own yesterday before I got to him, I then make a clicking noise give him the treat and say "good boy". Am going to try going up with feed bucket behind me and doing the same process later see how that goes. Only problem I foresee is when I say back he won't give me enough time to walk up to spot (on field) to put the bucket down.

Thanks for your replies, as I am a novice to horses am finding this site invaluable :-)
 
Now he knows what "back" means, wait the other side of a fence until he has taken a step back (or even two) before giving him his bucket. If I get distracted by someone and pause, when I look again my horse has run back about 5 or 6 strides in his anxiety to qualify for his feed. But I would feed him under a fence, if you go in you will struggle to stop him helping himself.
 
After reading this thread I have been asking my 4 to stand back a bit more whilst I feed him. He didn't exactly mug me but he was very close. He gets fed 3 times a day so each time I go in in ask him to move back. His manger is at the back of his stable so I walk over with his feed. I put feed in manger then turn to face him whilst asking him to go back. Once he is calm I rub his head and move out of the way. It took 2 days or so, now he stands back and waits til I move!!! Clever boy!!!
 
Charlie007 said:
After reading this thread I have been asking my 4 to stand back a bit more whilst I feed him. He didn't exactly mug me but he was very close. He gets fed 3 times a day so each time I go in in ask him to move back. His manger is at the back of his stable so I walk over with his feed. I put feed in manger then turn to face him whilst asking him to go back. Once he is calm I rub his head and move out of the way. It took 2 days or so, now he stands back and waits til I move!!! Clever boy!!!
Click to expand...

Well done you! It is still a learning curve with mine but we are getting there slowly. I have been doing it outside the fence telling him to 'back' and then putting feed down so thank you all for your replies !
 
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