Opinions: feeding treats over the door.

Serianas said:
Unfortunately its not her child! it belongs to her sister...
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I'd still do it, to make a point!

well actually, I probably wouldn't, but I would love to have the balls to do something like that! It just goes to show how wrong it is!! you'd not dream of doing that to make a point, so why the hell should someone think its okay to feed someone elses horse!
 
my mare has a sign on her door ''DO NOT FEED ME''
she does not bite but if anyone even thinks of giving her anything edible her door kicking habit returns-if only myself and my cousin feed her she ignores everyone else in the block, we tie her up if she is not being fed straight away to prevent door banging-she does not kick at times others are fed even though she is the only one not to get a feed and hay when the first person arrives in the morning if it is not me.
 
I would never feed someone else's horse treats without permission, though I do treat my own over the door, as do other people (I know about it and it's fine).

I'd go down the biting reason, rather than saying he's on a diet - people tend to respect that a bit more!
 
Mine can be a sod to catch so he gets some herby treats or nuts once he's caught and I bought him a box of stud muffins recently and he gets one every now and again. He sometimes has a polo. I will sometimes feed him a carrot out my hand but usually they just go in his feed.
However a couple of years ago some of the teenagers who helped out camped over night at the yard and took great pleasure in telling me how he liked the chips they fed him to say I wasn't impressed is an understatement!
 
Yeah. I would be pretty mad.

We don't treat except when bringing in from the field and before and after work.

A while back, a very lovely and well intention-ed lady was feeding ours bags of carrots with every visit to the yard without our knowledge. She stopped when Fig took a lump out of her!!! (despite him being a totally lovely boy he does get very nippy if treated, and I did warn her!!!!)

Similarly, Bruce was on a very strict diet at the time, so loading him with sugary carrots was kind of missing the point!
 
I would simply put a sign on the door to ask for treats not to be fed to her. I have always fed mine treats (over the door, I ban treats from the fields!) and never have an issue (even with my wee herd of minis), when I've been on yards and had treats (always healthy ones!) I've always asked owners whether their horse is allowed a treat and gone by their wishes but there are some people who not be thoughtful. A sign may reinforce your request when you are not there - hopefully! Otherwise have a quiet word with your YO and perhaps they can intervene.
 
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I feed my boys treats over the door and from my hand when I turn them out or when we return from a ride. They're not pushy about it.
I do give the other horses in the barn a treat over the door too (with permission of owners of course) They're not pushy about it either. We all work quite closely together though, we turn out/bring in/rug/feed for each other and have done so for a few years now so the horses all know the score. They do identify me as "treat woman" though and when I enter the barn all heads shoot out expectantly.

If someone didn't want me to treat their horse, I wouldn't, and I wouldn't give a treat to a horse I didn't know. If someone moved into the barn who wasn't part of the gang I would probably have to stop being the treat woman as it wouldn't be fair to give a treat to the others and leave that horse out. Before my TB moved into the barn to live next to my other horse he lived on a block with some other horses that I would never have given treats to, it wasn't appropriate- so, long story short, it would depend on a number of conditions- if that makes sense.
 
madlady said:
Mine don't get treats over the door or from the hand - they start to expect it and then start mugging me and banging doors.

I would never give someone else's horse a treat!

In summer I will occasionally go to the field when not riding and will take them some apples/carrots but it's not very often as again I don't want them to 'expect' food/treat every time they see me.
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Me too ^
 
I do with my old pony, but I've known her for long enough to know she's not the nippy kind (after 14 years I think the problem would have emerged by now!) and my sister's but I wouldn't do it with someone else's horse. Although saying that, I did stuff my favourite horse with treats when I went to visit the SJ yard I used to work at last weekend, but given I only see him once every few months I don't think it will do him any harm :p
 
How old is the child OP? I sometimes talk to the child and teach them that x is bad because xxxxxx, in a voice loud enough for the adult to hear. Even if that doesn't work, you then just sit back and listen to the child saying "No auntie x, you mustn`t feed the horsie treats, it makes him bite!" Or of course wait until the child's mother is there and then exclaim loudly how worried you are that people feeding your horse treats will make him bite. *wanders off whistling*
 
Somebody feed mine hot chocolate the other day. She's a good doer and I work hard to keep her weight down so I wasn't impressed.
 
I have never, and will never feed treats to any of my horses.

OP I would be thoroughly p**sed off if someone were to treat mine without my permission, especially if they went ahead after I'd told them not to!
Incredibly rude.
 
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