What do I do about bad table manners?! *tears hair out*

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kit279

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This happens every year round about now... The field turns to mush. The horses are hungry. I bring them their feed in tub trugs. They promptly throw most of their feed upon the ground then fly buck madly to trample it into the mud. One of them cow kicks while eating and also noses the tub from side to side reptitively in a very *special needs* kind of way until it falls over. The other one paws at it, usually getting his foot in the tub and upturning it. I yell uselessly at them. They have the worst table manners of any horses I've ever known.

So how in God's name do I stop the horrors wasting most of their food?

Things I have tried:-

- Tyres/tyre feeders - no chance, they upturn these instantly.
- Mangers on the fence - they break these instantly by relentlessly headbutting them.
- Brick/s in tubtrug - had absolutely no impact. Both horses simply upturned them, kicked the bricks out of the way and continued treading their feed into the mud.
- Huge Tubtrug - they immediately tread straight into their food and paw the rest out.
-Tying the tub down to stakes in the ground with bailing twine - a total pain to do and undo in the dark and the b*stards STILL managed to upturn the tubs and break the twine.

Things I can't do:-

-Bring them in to feed in stable - grey horse has punched four holes in his box already this year by fly bucking as he eats. Plus I don't have time in the mornings to wait for them to eat up and then turn them back out.
- Stand there and physically hold the tub down - don't have time! Although I have been known to do this...

So, what are my options? Bar replacing the ill mannered oafs with polite dainty mares...
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Could you buy one 6'x4' rubber mat for each horse, place them along the fence line with a bit of space between each one, and tip their feed straight out onto it? That way they won't trample it into the mud and won't have the buckets to play with.
 
Have you tried the really really big heavy tyre feeders? I know mine never could upturn hers when we had one of those, especially if you stick a load of bricks inside the tyre.
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OH, sounds like my mare so i guess selling the things for mares arent much more of an option-i think any of them could be like that!
Maybe put a little hardcore down?, we have our 3 on a small yard in the winter(loads of haylege) with hardcore down and it doesnt get to mushed up-maybe a bit if there's torrential rain...then there'd be a reasonably hard surface to eat from? x
 
Do they really need the feed?
My elderly horse lives out 24/7 all year with 2 others
We will start to feed them hay in a couple of weeks, when the grass has gone. For the last 3 years they have had between one and two bales per day during the winter months and no hard feed.
They all maintain very good weight - they are what you would call 'well covered' at the moment but will slowly lose it over the winter and start to pick up again in the spring.
Perhaps work out if they can maintain weight on hay diet, you may have to buy better quality hay, but if you don't have to feed them it would cost about the same.
 
Yes, at the moment they really do need the feed. Both are full TBs and are a good weight at the moment but are very fit and competing every weekend. One of them is also draghunting regularly. I doubt I could keep the weight on them without the feed and once they started to lose the weight, I'd struggle to get it back on them during the winter.
 
I often Put a slice of hay in the field and pour the hard feed on top of the slab hay, but like a bucket, might not work but its wirth a try.

When I do this mine eat the feed on top of the slice of hay and make a hole in the hay, I think they quite like rummaging through it after too.
 
Concrete their feed bowls into tyres.

Seriously, I know someone who had the same palaver as you and that is what he did, then just tipped the feed in. In his words "That stopped the buggers!"

If mine chuck their feed about that's their bad luck.
 
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Concrete their feed bowls into tyres.


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This is a great idea or do something similar.

Is there any chance of building a trough that they could all eat out of or cemeting a sheep feeding to the ground?
 
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