YO upped my horses feed without telling me!

Quartz

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After my thread last night about hard feed versus hay, I spoke to my YO today and said I want him to have more hay (apparently ab lib out of the question) and keep his hard feed the way it is (infact I would prefer less but she won;t have that either). She then proceeded as expected to tell me how hay was bad for him, etc etc and that she had upped his hard feed anyway.

So that explains why in the last week he has turned from chilled to get more and more uptight. Found this out after had been on a hack with the incredible spinning monster!! He was nightmare to ride and scared of everything and I could just feel he was all twitchy and ready to spook.

Really annoyed that she would go ahead and do that without my permission. I am going to put notice on his stable door saying exactly the quantity he should have and more hay please!!!
 

forestfantasy

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I haven't read what you posted last night but that is bang out of order!
I would be looking for another yard asap!

Any YO with any sense wouldn't do that!
Hay is bad for him?
Ad-lib is out of the question?
I'm sorry but i'd be out of there sharpish, she clearly hasn't got a clue!
 

ThePony

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Crikey that would annoy me! Assume you are part or full livery? Must admit that if my horse wasn't getting the hay she needed then I would be off! Is there any chance of you heading up of an evening and putting more in? If she won't listen to you then I wouldn't have thought that a note would make any difference.

I prefer to feed both ours adlib hay (soaked if they are getting more cals than needed), then a little token feed for minerals. I would always want to feed a horse adlib hay if needing more feed rather than just adding extra hard feed - don't fancy an increased chance of ulcers or colic thanks!!
 

debsg

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Even if you are full or part livery, surely it should be your decision what to feed your horse and how much? Did you tell YO how fizzy your horse was on the extra food? I would have a long chat with her and if not resolved to YOUR satisfaction (not hers, you are a paying client) then move your horse elsewhere. xx
 

Natz88

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I would not be happy with that at all. At the end of the day it's your horse you feed what you feel your horse needs, it's not her place to up the feed & give less hay without your consent & whether she like's it or not it's not her horse she is being paid (I assume) by yourself to feed your horse. We all have opinions & yes maybe she may feel your horse needs more feed, but rather than taking it upon herself she should at least ask you. I def wouldn't be impressed with that :(
 

ISHmad

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You are paying for a service, not for a disservice to you and your horse. Too many people chuck hard feed at horses instead of extra hay or haylage. Does she not understand that eating fibre is the best central heating for horses and is what they are designed to do, trickle feed for hours on end rather than woof down bucket feeds?

I feel for you, if that happened to any of my horses I'd be absolutely fuming.
 

4faults

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I'm sorry but I would be moving yards. I assume you are on full or part livery so you must be paying a fair amount to keep him and the service you are paying for is not being met.

She is endangering both your horses health and your own and that is unacceptable.
 

Quartz

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I would like to do it myself, but she is strict that its her routine so she does it. It is a small village in France, so they can be quite small minded ie there is only one way to do it and thats my way!! As I said in my post last night, I kept him at mine all summer on only ab lib hay and he still looks the healthiest at the yard with a lovely shiny coat and good weight (not too much not too little). There is no reason at all that he needs more hard feed, so its driving me nuts that she won't listein.

I do pass by when I know she won't be there to give him more hay if she hasn't done it. The reason I want to put the note up is because I don't want the work experience girls to do what she says by giving him more, I want to make it clear its against my wishes. To be hones I would be more than happy for him to just have hay and see how he got on.

Oh, and for the extra fizziness she says its the weather, to which I would agree if it was really cold. Its still between 12 and 15 degrees during the day so its hardly freezing!!! Sorry rant over, well almost I am just livid. And on top of that caught another livery using my numnah at the weekend!!!
 

Natz88

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Thing is she isn't listening to what your telling her so I don't think a note will make any difference as she has ignored your request so she will just tell the girls to ignore your note. I think your only option is do your horse yourself or just leave. I hope you get sorted :)
 

Flicker

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Do you think she's telling you that 'hay is bad for him' because she is actually wanting to hang onto the hay (which is probably more expensive and difficult to come by) and substitute it with feed? Ie - do you think it is driven financially rather than by concern for his welfare? It sounds like that to me.
 

Moomin1

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I echo what most people are saying in previous posts. If she won't listen to you and do as you request then I would be looking elsewhere sharpish. Doesn't matter if your horse is on part or full livery, it is still your horse and it should be your decision. I sympathise with how you feel, I have been on a tiny diy yard for the last two years with only three other people, and one woman who moved on a month or two ago decided within a week of being there that she would remove my horse's sweet itch rug from her in the field because it had poo stains on it....:mad:
 

Quartz

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Do you think she's telling you that 'hay is bad for him' because she is actually wanting to hang onto the hay (which is probably more expensive and difficult to come by) and substitute it with feed? Ie - do you think it is driven financially rather than by concern for his welfare? It sounds like that to me.

At first I thought it was the price and shortage. But after numerous conversations with her, I really think she is just against giving lots of hay. Bizarre Bizarre Bizarre!!! She says he does not get any nutrients from hay and will just be bloated.

Anohter little thing, which is neither here nor there and not what I am basing this on but just by coincidence, I had a reading done by a communicator,long distance, had never spoken with her and she said he did not eat enough hay and his guts could not function properly like this. I would never mention this to YO she would laugh me out of the yard!! No, in actual fact I had the same problem last year and she fed him more than I wanted and he was nuts and almost unrideable. The year before he was on less hard feed and a dream. This year I am sticking to my guns and am going to get it sorted, if I leave she knows she will be losing a good deal as I let her borrow him for lessons with the advanced riders and she doesn't give me a penny!
 

forestfantasy

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At first I thought it was the price and shortage. But after numerous conversations with her, I really think she is just against giving lots of hay. Bizarre Bizarre Bizarre!!! She says he does not get any nutrients from hay and will just be bloated.

Anohter little thing, which is neither here nor there and not what I am basing this on but just by coincidence, I had a reading done by a communicator,long distance, had never spoken with her and she said he did not eat enough hay and his guts could not function properly like this. I would never mention this to YO she would laugh me out of the yard!! No, in actual fact I had the same problem last year and she fed him more than I wanted and he was nuts and almost unrideable. The year before he was on less hard feed and a dream. This year I am sticking to my guns and am going to get it sorted, if I leave she knows she will be losing a good deal as I let her borrow him for lessons with the advanced riders and she doesn't give me a penny!

LEAVE! Why stay? I see nothing that would encourage me to stay there in any of your replies! I'm sure there are plenty of yards that will look after your horse properly & without free rides!
 

Quartz

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LEAVE! Why stay? I see nothing that would encourage me to stay there in any of your replies! I'm sure there are plenty of yards that will look after your horse properly & without free rides!

If I had a choice honestly I would love to go somewhere else. Unfortunately my OH hates horses and finds it, which it is, a very expensive hobby and one he doesn't understand and could do without me having!!! As long as horse causes no problems he can stay. I did talk about moving yards before and he couldn't understand why not just sell. The yard I am had has its benefits of being quite, can use arena whenever I want, off road hacking, can even hack to my house, is in my village. All other yards are at least half an hours drive away, which means I would see him so much less and that I would hate.
 

dafthoss

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Does this woman know any thing about horses?
I'm sorry but I dont know any one who would say hay was bad for a horse if any thing they all feed as little hard feed as possible and then make up as much as possible with hay/haylage. Your asking her to up his hay and she is refusing whats else is she doing to him when your not there especally in lessons! This woman needs to read up on horse care and nutrition before she goes spouting so much rubbish to people who dont know better (not aimed at you OP more the people she supposedly teaches).
 

forestfantasy

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If I had a choice honestly I would love to go somewhere else. Unfortunately my OH hates horses and finds it, which it is, a very expensive hobby and one he doesn't understand and could do without me having!!! As long as horse causes no problems he can stay. I did talk about moving yards before and he couldn't understand why not just sell. The yard I am had has its benefits of being quite, can use arena whenever I want, off road hacking, can even hack to my house, is in my village. All other yards are at least half an hours drive away, which means I would see him so much less and that I would hate.

I understand that it is comfortable to have the yard so close to home but i'd have to put my horse first, even over your OH in this instance.
The YO clearly hasn't got a clue, has no comprehension about how to feed a horse, uses your horse for lessons without payment & ignores your requests!
I'd cope with a 30 minute drive if i knew my horse would be cared for correctly and not being used as a riding school pony.
 

criptic

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Thing is she isn't listening to what your telling her so I don't think a note will make any difference as she has ignored your request so she will just tell the girls to ignore your note. I think your only option is do your horse yourself or just leave. I hope you get sorted :)

I think doing it yourself will solve this issue too!
 

Moomin1

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I know what I'd be saying to my OH if he told me to sell my horse because he couldn't understand the point in having her! And it wouldn't be nice!!! ;)

OP with what you have said about this woman it sounds to me like she really hasn't got a clue about basic horse care never mind advanced stuff and if my horse was on that yard I would be be seriously worried about her welfare and wouldn't be sleeping at night knowing she was there!! This issue may be one of many issues of bad horse care that this woman dishes out, some of which you may not know about.
 

Daytona

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I'm sorry but it is your horse so just put your foot down and say under NO circumstances is he to get more feed and to have as much hay as he can eat and if she won't agree tell her your offski....!!!! You don't pay her for her advice you pay her to look afteryour horse how you want it looked after.
 

Trot_On_Dressage

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Increasing the amount of feed your horse eats may not be causing his fizzyness. It is the type of feed that causes excitable behaviour not the quantity so if he's on horse and pony cubes or similar low energy feed and a chaff increasing the amount will not have affected his behaviour. How ever if he is on competiton mix or racehorse cubes than obviously that may have done!

Why does she think hay is bad for him?
 

Quartz

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Increasing the amount of feed your horse eats may not be causing his fizzyness. It is the type of feed that causes excitable behaviour not the quantity so if he's on horse and pony cubes or similar low energy feed and a chaff increasing the amount will not have affected his behaviour. How ever if he is on competiton mix or racehorse cubes than obviously that may have done!

Why does she think hay is bad for him?

As I said I would rather he didn't have the feed that she provides full stop. But on her insistance he has some. Every year that she feeds him it he goes mad, he would be just fine on hay as have already tried it. I would prefer to give him something other than her feed to top him up if needs be. I think I am going to research what I can get over here (France) and maybe even move on to the poney pension which just does not include hard feed.
 

Quartz

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I'm sorry but it is your horse so just put your foot down and say under NO circumstances is he to get more feed and to have as much hay as he can eat and if she won't agree tell her your offski....!!!! You don't pay her for her advice you pay her to look afteryour horse how you want it looked after.

Like:)
 

Quartz

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I know what I'd be saying to my OH if he told me to sell my horse because he couldn't understand the point in having her! And it wouldn't be nice!!! ;)

OP with what you have said about this woman it sounds to me like she really hasn't got a clue about basic horse care never mind advanced stuff and if my horse was on that yard I would be be seriously worried about her welfare and wouldn't be sleeping at night knowing she was there!! This issue may be one of many issues of bad horse care that this woman dishes out, some of which you may not know about.

Problem is he finances it:eek:
 

Pedantic

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My YO has my request to give mine more or less as she thinks, she has a lot more experience on feeding horses than I have, she gives what I ask, but just varies the amount to suit his weight and what he needs.

Your YO seems to be "dictating" to you what to feed your horse, not good, it's your horse, unless you were asking her to do something detrimental to the horses health, she should do as you ask, if she isn't and won't, time to leave grasshopper.
 
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