Inconsistent Feeding - Western Training & Behavior - Western Training & Behavior - Horse Community, Horse Pictures, Horse Forum and Information

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Posted : 6/1/2009 12:49:04 PM

The barn where my wife and I keep our horses we have suspected for some time that feeding are skipped. Our contract states they are to be given feed 2 times a day.

This is a mother/daughter operation. The mother is awesome and the daughter is lazy. The mother was gone all weekend to visit another daughter so we suspected the lazy would be be in fin form. The horses were fed Saturday morning and we were there all day. Before we left I "staged" the feed room in a way that if the horses had been fed Saturday evening/afternoon I would have known as there was no way she could duplicate what I did. When we arrived Sunday morning, nothing had changed. So at that point they had missed two feedings. When we drove up we suspected they had not have the Sunday morning feeding since all the horses were hanging around their feed buckets in the pastures.

Anyway, moving on to my point. Lately I have been calling my horse a "Feeding Terrorist" because she has been overly agressive with her food and other horses when she eats. I fed another groups of horses and they were totally crazy in a way I have never seen. For Memorial Day weekend we helped the mother do EVERY feeding as the daughter was away, and things were not nearly as crazy. As I look back I also realized that my "Feeding Terrorist" and really a new thing. She has not been doing this until the past few months. She is not the boss of her pasture and really never seems to care about horse politics. She is only like this at feeding time.

Now I realize things are always crazy at feeding time. However, if horses are not being fed consistantly, will this lead to bad behavior when they are fed. My observation after missing two feedings was that they were going after their food as if they had no clue when the next feeding was going to be. Another boarder fed them that afternoon and things were pretyy much calm since they had their breakfast that day.

The mother has also commented that all the geldings were losing weight and she didn't understand it. We noticed a lot of the mares are losing weight as well.

So what are the opinions out there with horses missing feedings and becoming agressive?

HGPaints

Posted : 6/1/2009 1:58:20 PM

First of all, I would address the issue with the mother about the daughter not feeding the horses when she is supposed to. You seem like a very understanding person to not be more upset about the lack of care for your horse when that was agreed upon in a contract.

As far as missing feedings, there is a lot that it depends on. Some horses with adequate pasture are fine with just minerals if that. I know some people with good pasture that just give them some feed once a day to check on them and make sure all is well. I personally have limited pasture, but don't feed any grain, just lots of hay and a balance supplement. However they get that hay 4-5 times a day and all are at a good weight. Horses do get used to a routine and will do best when fed at a similar time daily (on the dot timed feedings make neurotic horses if you are 5 minutes late, so I usually try to not be too specific about feed times, but do keep them close together)

Horses are grazing animals and going long periods of time without food in their stomach can cause other health issues as well. Managing a rescue barn, I do see a larger amount of starved horses get very protective with their food once they have the energy to protect it. Do your horses have adequate forage between meals?

To sum it up, there are alot of variables to tell how harmful this is to your horse. In my opinion, yes it does contribute to food aggression in some horses if they are not fed regularly. Regardless of forage available, I would still be upset about the breach in contract and would bring it to the mothers attention immediately.

I wouldn't be surprised if this thread was moved to another place.

face

Posted : 6/1/2009 2:38:18 PM

The mother was contacted even before we started feeding all the horses ourselves.

Sadly, we care a lot for the mother and have been trying to promote her business so she will be successful. At this time, I don't feel I can continue "advertising" her business.

Luckily for me our horses will be moved by the end of the summer to across the street where my sister is building a barn.

My reason for placing this thread in this board was due to the behavior question I asked.

Thanks for your response!

jungle_cat

Posted : 6/1/2009 6:45:53 PM

If the horses are loosing weight, then obviously the amount of hay/pasture they are getting without those feedings is inadequate. A horse that is hungry will get more aggressive when presented with food - espcially if they are fed in a group and need to compete for what is given to them. A horse with food in its gut all the time is a happy horse and more manageable horse.

face

Posted : 6/3/2009 12:28:20 PM

UPDATE:

The mother is now personally handling ALL feedings to insure that everyone is fed.