Ponies. What won't they eat?

I've got a pony and 3 horses - the 3 horses pretty much wolf anything down, the pony is a little git! He will sniff out medication a mile off and won't touch his feed let alone even take a mouthful. Right now, he's refusing to eat his feed with turmeric in it despite eating it for the first week no problem. He won't eat any 'different' veg like peelings of parsnip etc. As for worming, I have to reverse him into a corner in the stable to try and syringe it down him with him usually on his back legs. He does like a good thistle though and has developed a really good knack of standing on it in the right place to snap off the thistle end gently in his teeth. The one thing I wish my horses ate is docks - they're everywhere :(

One of my old ponies used to eat absolutely anything - loved chocolate biscuits, ham sandwiches (wrong I know), raisin & cinammon bagels and as a real treat he'd drink some sprite from a can at shows...
 
Mine will have your arm off for a handful of cleavers, and loves hawthorn and blackberries too. My other horse loved thistles - the proper Scottish type, and I'd love watching her face as she scrunched them up - but I've not seen any around the fields to try this horse with.

She often shares a coffee with me in winter and likes vegetable soup.

She also goes mad for those treat balls made out of seeds (esp banana flavour), but she's not allowed them any more since she figured out if she slobbered all over them for a few minutes she could eat the lot in one sitting.

What I find really odd, she'll eat a whole banana, but won't eat the skin if offered, or the fruit itself. Nope, it's the whole thing or nothing. She's not overly keen on oranges either.
 
diamonddogs said:
Mine will have your arm off for a handful of cleavers, and loves hawthorn and blackberries too. My other horse loved thistles.
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Mine love thistles and sticky-weed (Cleavers) too. Could be self-medicating. Thistles for the liver, Cleavers for lumphatic system. Presumably this is what allows them to eat laurel, horsetail, oak leaves and goodness knows what other poisonous rubbish.
 
The grass on the other side of the beck! We have a small beck (max 1ft deep 3 ft wide, clear slowly running water) running through one of the fields. When we had cows, they would happily cross it and graze on the other side. Not the ponies!

We've had to take down part of the wall and put a gate in the other side and top the grass with the tractor!
 
Where do I start?

Hot cross buns, Fanta (Orange or Fruit Twist flavours only - definitely not lemon!), bananas, Nutella on toast, peanut butter on toast, crossiants, cheese, porridge, cauliflower cheese, coleslaw...I could continue but at the risk of being called a bad Mum, I think I'll stop now lol.

My old pony had a perchent for Bulmers Pear Cider!
 
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I try not to feed anything too weird and wonderful and stick to horsey food, but my old horse has partaken in fruit salad, sandwiches and tea. Not always with my permission mind you !
 
Magicmillbrook said:
None of mine will eat beetroot. My daughters old grey loved it when we threw her any old or woody beets, she would look like she had deep burgundy lipstick on.
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We used to feed a lot of stockfeed carrots and one time they arrived with a lot of beetroot mixed in. It was a bit of a shock the next day to see piles of bright purple poo :D
 
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