What time do you feed?

First SJ yard I worked on we fed at 5pm on the dot. They could be quite funny about us feeding a minute before 5pm, which was a bit of a pain as we were supposed to finish at 5pm, but obviously given that we had to go and feed all the horses in outdoor stables as well as the main barn, and rinse all the buckets, we were never done before 5.15pm. Last yard I worked at, where I was yard manager, we fed at 3.45pm. That was just their routine and it worked well. We then went round and hayed, and they got hayed again at 9pm.
 
Ours are all kept at home, and currently fed at 7.30am (earlier in summer) and at 7pm.

ETA they all go out at about 8am (after having rugs changed & groomed), and then come in at 4pm. Between 4 & 7pm, they have their first lot of nets, and then their second after having their supper.
 
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Around 6.45am & 6.30pm but have hay to come in to around 3.30pm with top ups at feed time and then night time net at 9.30pm
 
I've reluctantly brought the evening(!) feed forward to 4pm. Am currently settling in the new foster filly, and whilst she's doing great, it's all so much easier doing things in daylight. Small black ponies don't show up very well outside after dark, even under the lights!

Hate the long dark evenings.
 
At this time of year mine are coming in at around 4.30pm so they get a bucket feed and hay then and at around 9.30-10pm they get more hay to last them through the night.
 
Morning feed is always 5.45am and evening feed is whenever they come in - anything between 4pm and 6pm depending on the weather/riding. However I feed grass nuts so they can be fed immediately before or after exercise if need be :)
 
mare 7.30am, currently not having an evening feed as she is retired

gelding gets fed when the first person arrives at the yard, so I think about 7am then when he's put to bed he has a scoop of fibre plus nuggets, as the others get fed, he doesn't really need it. so think that's between 3 and 4pm depending what ym is doing that day!
 
Mine live out. They are at the fence as soon as they hear movement in the house. They get fed anywhere from 6am -8am, and usually about 4pm in winter before it gets dark.

I don't have a rigid routine, I hate to be bound by the clock, the horses (all the animals) get fed when they are fed, they always have hay available so are hardly starving.
 
My girl gets fed at 7am, then gets her small lunch when she comes in around 3pm and then her dinner at around 6 (depending on riding and cooling down etc).
 
I don't like feeding before 4.30 either. I'm not at the yard in the evenings Mon-Fri so don't get to decide (boo), but at the weekends I feed at 5/5.30.
 
Morning feeds between 8-9am, then evening feeds from 4.30-7.30 dependent on riding etc! Poor Louis is often last as I don't get down to yard until 17:30/18:00 so I am not finished up until much later than the others who are quite often sorted by 5pm. Whereas weekends, sometimes they come in at 4 and get finished by 4.30 - they are pretty easy going, always have haylage.
 
Enfys said:
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I don't have a rigid routine, I hate to be bound by the clock, the horses (all the animals) get fed when they are fed, they always have hay available so are hardly starving.
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In principle I totally agree with this, but the sad reality is that it is only really the dog, the yard cats, the owl and the ferrets that get fed when I get round to it....... the horses get fed as soon as I arrive in the mornings and come in to tea already in their stables, the ducks and chickens get fed as soon as they are let out otherwise they become a serious trip hazard (and in the evenings they got to bed as soon as they have their corn), and the pigs make such an intolerable racket singing for their food that I feed them to shut them up.... which has of course reinforced their belief that they are entitled to be fed when they think they ought to be! The house cats also have to be given breakfast at a particular time otherwise they mug everyone in the hope that they will get seconds!
 
We have no choice on our yard. They all have to be fed at the same time, sometime around 7am ish and 4pm - goodness knows why. I think its to prevent kicking of doors when some are fed at different times as some play up. On the previous yard of some 40+ horses, they were all fed at different times and we never heard a peep from any of them, but then they were all very well behaved to be honest.

I have to say I was very proud of my boy last weekend when he was tied up outside another horses stable and that horse was fed. My horse was too hot as I'd just finished riding and was helping partner to muck out stable. He stood like a rock, even when the horse whose stable he was outside pulled faces at him, and never moved a muscle, he was licking his lips. His head was parallel to the manger about two foot away! I was so proud of him and had to smile. Even after I'd put him away in his stable and I went to get his food there was no kicking or being silly, just head over the door eagerly but patiently waiting. Thank the Lord for a sensible and kind horse, I do love him so very much.
 
I should preface this by saying that I'm talking about the time we give hard feeds - our horses live in and have ALWAYS got hay to eat.

I work on a yard of 18 showjumpers and full liveries. In the winter when we're not competing, morning feeds are around 8.30am and evening feeds are between 5pm and 5.30pm depending on what we're up to. But during our showjumping season (March to November) they could easily be fed at a different time every day of the week, because it depends on what time we're at the showground or if it's a non-jumping day. Non-jumping days we do morning feeds at 8.30am as usual, evening feeds could be any time up to 7pm (obviously with light evenings we may still be working horses until this time). Jumping days they can have their morning feeds as early as 5am, and evening feeds as late as 10pm, if we have an evening class.
It's so varied that we don't have anyone who bangs doors or gets restless/grumpy, they know they'll get fed sometime and don't seem to worry about when. They're also so chilled out about it that, if one of the liveries is coming to ride in the evening and hasn't arrived by the time we want to feed, we can leave the horse's hard feed outside their stable and they don't get upset about waiting, because they're happy enough with their hay.
 
Breakfast at about 5:45am. One feed when he comes in at 4 and then another at half 7. This last feed is either after I've ridden or after I've finished work if I'm teaching late. I then go back out at about 10pm to skip out and top up haylage and water.
 
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