People feeding treats to horses

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Carrots&Mints

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Do you allow people to feed your horses tit bits / treats?

M is becoming more nippy as of late, hes been on box rest for nearly 5 weeks so was thinking this was the cause of it, but the other day a friend caught a new livery feeding him treats. She said something to new livery and new livery replied oh i come down every morning to feed him. :eek: Ive not met new livery yet shes been up about 3 weeks now. Im thinking this is the reason why hes becoming nippy and not the box rest.

Im thinking of putting a small sign up on his door saying no treats hoping this will deter them from feeding him.

Hes a section d and a cocky one at that its took yonks to get him to be polite and behave, dont want all my hard work ruined lol!
 
I strongly discourage it. I'm not against feeding treats, but only by people who know what they're doing and can use it as a positive training opportunity - which I can't assume is everyone!
 
It does seem a likely cause. If you're not likely to run into the new livery to explain a sign is probably the way to go
 
I don't mind because my boy knows his manners but I think it's good practise to double check with either the owner or as we're on full livery, yard owner, to make sure it's OK for the horse to be given something. Some horses may be sensitive to sugar, one of the ones on our block is losing use of her teeth (age) so may end up in difficulty with a whole carrot etc.

I very rarely give treats to the other horses purely because they don't all have good manners and start banging stable doors etc!
 
I don't mind if it's a well-mannered horse who isn't prone to be mouthy, but I wouldn't like it if it was. I'd put a sign up asking to please not feed tidbits with the reason why. If you say he's starting to become mouthy, people will probably respect it more!
 
I let people feed my two Ds, both when they are mounted and on the ground. They are pretty good, one can nibble a bit but only if you let her, a quick no soon stops her. If they were getting nippy I would stop. I don't give treats to other peoples horses.
 
first rule on any yard should be no feeding other peoples horses unless asked to..

drives me nuts, I have a massive sign on my mares door saying 'DO NOT FEED ME'

my instructor gives her a few treats at the end of a lesson and I will use treats to do stretches, I also use them for a few days when changing fields to prevent my mare from getting into the bad habit of shooting off when I let her go in the field, I used them when backing her to encourage a pause once I was in the saddle but they are not something routinely given.
 
I'm sure the new livery is well meaning, but I wouldn't like someone giving my boy treats indiscriminately - so I'd be putting up a big enough (and tactfully worded) sign on his door so as to leave no doubt that no treats should be given - full stop. Then, if you run into said livery, just slip it into conversation to reinforce the point.

P
 
I don't feed treats to other peoples horses without asking first - it's one of my first questions when I get a new livery in, and I'd be pretty fed up if someone fed treats to mine without asking. Alf gets treats, as he is polite, but Jim doesn't. If he notices that Alf is getting treats, I throw a few on the floor for him to hunt for, but I was told that he would get pushy if he had treats by hand, so he doesn't.

Alf and I sneak off to the other side of the field if I have something for him - Jim hasn't realised what's going on yet!
 
I only ever give treats to other livery's horses if I know then well and have previously asked if it is ok. This seems to be the general practice followed by all. I would also put a polite sign up on the stable door. It sounds like the livery was probably well meaning so presumably they will heed the request.
 
The staff or other liveries (friends) occasionally treat ours - no issues with that, as it's not regular and they don't get nippy about it. However, I would be alarmed if it was someone I'd never met!
 
I'd put up a sign too

one of the neighbours adjoining my field had the cheek to complain that one of my ponies (2 year old) was biting her, I expressed surprise to which she said 'yes, yes he does bite...when I bring him carrots......'
 
I would never dream of feeding someone else's horse without asking. A Shetland shares our barn, so when I give our 3 their feeds I pop a carrot over his door, but the owner is fine with this.

We used to have them on privately rented land, and a few of kids would go and feed them a few carrots, which I didn't mind too much as they are well behaved horses, but I would like to know if and what someone was feeding them.
 
I don't feed my own horses treats from the hand so absolutely not.

One of my horses could die if fed a treat - I keep them at home but if there are any people visiting I always explain why she must not be given anything at all.
 
I also won't give treats unless asked to for some reason. Mine will get treats on the odd occasion but Genie has always been 'lippy' and it could so easily go further. The exception is when my mum comes up and G knows that she is the only person to 'ask' for treats. G has allergies to goodness knows what (never got to the bottom of it) so I always want to know exactly what she has been eating as much as possible.
 
depends - villagers like to feed my old gypsy mare over the gate of her field and somehow I cant see it becoming a problem with her. i did have to put a sign up for the benefit of my shetland though as she was the fattest equid i'd ever seen when i got her and an old lady was literally TIPPING BUCKETS of carrots and apples over the hedge for her!!!!!?
 
Gahhh... don't get me started.
I don't actually mind people giving my horse a treat IF they ask me first. BUT, that doesn't mean they can give treats forevermore because I said ok once.
I think it quite rude to just assume it's ok to treat someone else's horse. A livery was doing it on my yard not just treats but letting my horse eat the remnants of her horses feed, letting my horse eat from her horse haylage net as she walked past my stable. My horse is well mannered but this started to make her bad mannered. I had to put a stop to it.
Never feed without permission. Ever.
 
I would not be happy if someone fed my horses without permission. One of mine does not get treats and cannot get carrots under any circumstances. the shetlands are at home but our field runs past a footpath. We have signs up saying "Feel free to say hello but please don't feed us or we might become sick" so far it's been fine and have never caught folk feeding them - although I'm sure some do.
 
Any treats go in a bucket...never from the hand.

I have a notice on my gate politely asking people not to feed them anything as they are on a restricted diet for health reasons...That seems to do the job
 
I strongly discourage any treats as one of mine starts door banging and driving everyone nuts. In the end I chalked on there doors "Please don’t feed me I am on restrictive diet. Treats make me bang the door.” Seems to have worked for the moment.
 
I give my mare a few polos every day, and her companion pony has only 1 polo. Sometimes the odd carrot in the winter too, (usually fed in their feed, but occasionally by hand). Mare has never been rude, bitey or bargy for treats. Mind you, she has taste, only polos and good carrots do!
I treat the work horses randomly, they get a treat nut if and when i think fit. Some bang doors if they see others having one, but if I walk away they give up pretty instantly.

I think it is personal preference for the owner to do as they think needed. I wouldn't want my companion pony treated by random people walking through their field, as I do think she would get too bargy. I'd put up a sign to deter others, and if that didn't work change hours/time to ''see'' them in the act, and have grown up words about it.
 
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I am sick of asking then telling people passing our fiedl not to feed our animals treats. Several come along daily with bags of cakes, bread, biscuits etc, Then one has the cheek to report us for underfeedng our well covered animals every winter several times.

Really annoys me. I don't mind people we take theer giving a treat or two, done with horse friendly treats and done in a safe and sensible manner, and not often
 
I would go berserk. Your horse is on box rest and someone is feeding it god knows what. Huge sign DO NOT FEED!!!!!!
 
Drives me nuts as I work ultra hard to keep fatty's weight down, recently I've found remnants of apple, extra strong mints and course mix outside her box. I hate other liveries mauling her in general tbh, especially when their own horse has forgotten what they look like.
 
I can't imagine why any livery would want to spend time doing anything with anyone else's horse really, why would I rather spend time with someone else's when I have my own?
 
Sign, quick! Trouble is, will the person adhere to your rule? It drove me nuts seeing people throw carrots at the horses over the fence and when challenged, asked what they could feed if I didn't want them having carrots! They couldn't get the concept that I didn't want them fed, full stop! A group of mares with a youngster in the middle and one who was allergic to carrots, too! So glad I'm off the beaten track now. :)
 
I normally feed mine lots of treats as he's a good boy and has never got nippy, he's too polite. But I don't feed anything to the 2 3yos by hand as they're ponies as in my mind have be as safe as perfect as possible to make them good for kids, so no treats by hand until they learn proper grown up horse manners
 
Aarrrggghhh!! It drives me nuts!! At our last yard my mare got very nippy and yet people would still feed her. Despite being asked not to repeatedly. One particular woman Lottie would drag my over to her to mug her for food. I think she stopped finally when I told her Lottie nipped my daughter!!! We moved shortly after though so I couldn't tell for definite!!

Since we've moved she isn't even so nippy. She gets treats for carrot stretches, that's all!!!
 
Things like this make me glad there aren't other liveries on our yard! My mare never gets treats from the hand as she has the potential to get bargy and mouthy. Any carrots of apples are fed from buckets, and she'll only get a handful of hay or nice grass every now and again.
 
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