Titbits - yay or neigh

MontyandZoom

MontyandZoom

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I recently came under fire from one of the Know-It-Alls at my field about feeding my horses carrots. I always give my ponies a carrot or an apple when I put them away (field-kept) and a banana for Zoomy after sponsored rides etc. Another owner practically shouted at me the other day saying I shouldn't feed tit-bits because 'it makes them bite'.

Now if I had a youngster I can see why it wouldn't perhaps be a good idea but neither or mine bite. Monty is the ultimate gent in hand and Zoom will go through your pockets but NEVER nip whereas alot of the other horses who don't get treats do. Soooo..........do you feed titbits to your horses and in what circumstances?
 
I always give my boy a treat when catching in...trying to encourage him to walk to me and not vice versa!
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Also if hes been good after hacking....as has been naughty! I think tibits are fine as long as your horse doesnt expect one every time.

Maybe some people on your yard should just mind their own business and let you get on with it
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Well, I'm using them to gain my new mare's trust; I'm not sure on her past but she's spooky in the stable. Fastest way into a horse's head is through its stomach
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Plus BHS says 1 succulent a day; I think they know what they're doing
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I tend to give treats occastionally, I do think it totally depends on the horse. I would never feed my sisters horse treats by hand as he can bite, we will just stick a carrot in his feed. However Pickle has never bitten anyone and is always very gentle.
 
All the time - apples, carrots, mints, whatever. I always have something in my pocket for her. She doesn't bite or nip and never has!

Like you I can understand not encouraging a youngster to search pockets or nip for treats, but mine is old enough and wise enough now to know that she gets a treat if she steps back and waits patiently for one.
 
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Maybe some people on your yard should just mind their own business and let you get on with it
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So true! There seems to be one on every yard. Thanks guys, I feel better now. Off to buy a bag of Waitrose organic apples (mum started buying them for Monty since she thinks he's too posh for tesco value........spoilt much?!)
 
My boy gets a treat after his work everyday he does expect it but in a good way! He has never bitten ever!
 
There is a line of thinking that goes this way...

if you watch a herd of horses you will identify the most dominant as they are the ones that will go to food first, and see others off - to the extent of taking food virtually from the mouths of lesser horses in the herd.

Then consider how a horse might view a human who is willingly giving food away from their hand to the mouth of the horse - following the same rationale it could be saying to the horse 'you are my herd leader, you are the boss, you dominate me and that is OK'

Just another way of looking at it.




And no, I don't feed treats except very specifically in a training environment - and only as a reward for doing something, not as a bribe to do it
 
mine never ever get treats as they are all youngsters and to be honest i don't see what is wrong with giving a nice pat instead.

if i want to give succulents i just put them in the feed bowl but i really hate pushy horses that owners think are sweet when they are mugging total strangers
 
I get what you're saying so perhaps I would think differently if I had a dominant horse.

I also agree with the reward not bribe mentality. A girl at my yard has three horses and she has to have three buckets of fibre pencils ready before she opens the gate and they all run out to the buckets. Only then can she put headcollars on and she can't lead them anywhere without food. On thinking about it, her two bigger ones are the bullies of the field and regularly try to beat the crap out of my mare. Hmmmm...............interesting.
 
When I leave the (very small) yard at night I go to each one and check they are ok, door secure etc and they each get a small treat. They are all very polite and gentle - owners know I do this and are happy for the night treat to be given.

Mine are allowed some treats, they are young but are very gentle and a toddler can feed them. If they ever were to bite, nip or be agressive they would be firmly told off and nothing given. They will stand and wait their turn in a well mannered way. For me this is part of their training - food will be given, but on my terms.

Their fav treat at the moment is a boiled butterscotch sweet - Chancer carefully sucks his for several minutes and Farra the Piggy crunches hers in seconds.

What I don't do is to feed them all the time, they get one on arrival and one when I leave and the occasional one if they have done something very good, Farra has been difficult with her hind feed and she now knows if she is good and lets me do them without a problem or the farrier trim them without snatching, then she will get a treat at the end and maybe one half way through.

What I would not do is feed a horse treats that the owner does not wand fed - their horse, their choice.
 
The main problem I had with treats was when owners fed them every single time they caught, turned out their horse etc. Which is fine when they are the ones catching, but when we, the yard staff, had to catch them, or turn them out, they would come looking for the treats which we didn't have (would never feed any treat to a livery), and some occassionally got bitten for their trouble.

Likewise, we used to have some owners who fed tidbits over the stable door. We were a working riding school, and often clients would pet the horses in the stables (tho we had signs not to, the layout of the yard made if nearly impossible to enforce) and again, the horses that got treats over the door sometimes pecked at people, expecting treats.

That isn't to say I never give horses treats, I snuck mine the odd polo - but it was a) a rare occurrance, not everyday and b) wasn't associated with something like catching etc. Succulents should be fed every day, but the proper way, according to the same source, the BHS is in the feed bucket.
 
I use them for my mare's stretching exercises and usually when I go to catch her. She's never been a biter and giving her treats hasn't turned her into one
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Ah this is a bugbear of mine I'm afraid. I never ever give my horses treats as in from my hand - never! If I give them vegetables or fruit, I always throw them into the field, or they have them in their buckets.

I never ever carry foodstuffs about my person. I have 6 herds that I go into a number of times daily and I cannot possibly be smelling of food in order to do what I need to do.

I encourage all of my owners to never ever feed their horses in the field. Horses may not be the brightest tools in the box, but their sense of smell is very good and within no time will realise which person has treats and although they are respectful of people, who knows what could happen if an argument amongst the horses transpired because they all smell the person with the treats in their pockets? No just not a risk I am willing to take here. Thankfully all of my liveries completely understand why I ask them not to do this.

I spend a lot of time watching my herds and I understand herd politics pretty well ... another huge reason for never treating any without the others having a chance at getting something too; so much more rational not to give any to any of them, except where they have to find it for themselves from the foods I throw about the field.
 
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mine gets 2 treats on turnout one to get him to lower his head (he is mahoosive) and one when the headcollar is off

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Yep, me too!!!
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And mines not even turned two yet! God knows what I am going to do when she's full grown and has her head high in the air with excitement when I turn her out. I'll need a step ladder if the Polo mint stops working!
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Mine get a carrot when I turn them out, no matter how fresh they are they'd never try and tank off down the field with me still attached to the headcollar because they know after mummy takes the headcollars of, we get a goodie
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And one when I catch them after I put the headcollar back on, so they know if I go to the field and dont put a headcollar on, they're getting nothing
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i neber carry anything, but mine always have something if they have worked hard, jumped ani ce round at a show, or schooled really hard at home, as soon as I get off, they geta carrot. No other time would i give them anything.
 
OK well up until today I fed treats for ridculous things mainly cos I like to fuss her a lot. It just started with one after she had been worked and turned out but thats soon crept up to when being tunred out, saying goodnight and then it escalated to the point I must have been feeding her about 10 a day. Why should she have a treat walking 10 yards from stable to field?! I dont think shes going to start misbehaving because she now doesnt get a treat is she???

It wasnt until yesterday I turned her out after a hack and I didnt have any on me - I searched she waited then I gave her a pat instead and she just realised there was nothing there and walked off as normal. Now I felt a bit guilty as she had just been out on her first group hack after box rest and did well but I got over it. Today she misbehaved at first but worked ok in the end, turned her out and didnt give her a treat just a pat and she carried on as normal. So this got me thinking about how often I treat and for what and got into the conversation about it with another livery and I have decided she isnt going to get them anymore for nothing. Though I may continue with the treat after working as a thank you
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...I'm doomed - its like that one square of chocolate that leads onto a whole bar
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