Hi everyone. This is my first post to this forum and I am looking for some help. My 16.2 Irish Draught Blue is 19 years young and shares her field with 2 young (5&6 years old) Highland ponies and they all live out 24/7. I and my friend who has the ponies have done much work with Blue as she was very tense when she first came to us, very head-shy, "bargy" (with people and other equines) and quite unpredictable. However, we have worked very hard with her, mainly going back to basics with long lining, de-sensitising and much ground work, and she is now much more relaxed and confident on the ground and when I'm in the saddle and is almost never (cant remember the last time) "bargy" or aggressive. In the last week or so she has however become difficult at feeding time. They are fed on hay morning and evening as we don not have much grass at the moment and all are at a good weight- although it can be a balancing act for them not to tip over into being a little overweight being natives. Blue has a not-heating, low sugar conditioning feed (Pure feeds company) in the winter as as she has got older, it is harder to keep her weight on during the colder months. All 3 get a small bucket feed, mainly to carry supplements, in the mornings and Blue is in such a rush to get hers she paces the fence-line, pushes & bites the ponies out the way, and then when she does get her feed, she knocks it over and then moves onto the feeds of the ponies. This morning, I made her wait until she stood quietly before giving her the bucket but this took a good 7/8 minutes and she the ponies were chased around in the process. we have more than likely "trained" her to be like this somewhere along the line by consistently feeding her first so she leave the ponies alone. I am now considering separating her at feed times if making her wait until standing quietly doesn't work as I don't want my friends' ponies getting bitten etc. Please could anyone offer any advice? I have tried searching forums but can only find advice on horses that are fed when in their stables.
Any advice much appreciated.
Thank you, Liz.
Hi Liz, soounds as if you have done a great job with her so far :-) It sounds as if this behaviour has got very steadily worse as she gets a bit more impatient for her food is that right? I have a suggestion. (1) I agree with you that for now it would be an idea to seperate them for feeding so that the ponies get to eat in peace and you can concentrate on Blue. (2) Good for you for making her wait, but if she is in a safe place I can offer a step further (I did this with a horse and it worked after one session). Take the food to Blue, if she is not quiet, turn round, walk away with the food and go out of sight. Wait til she is calm then try again. If she starts up again, walk away again. Keep going till she realises that every time she gets impatient the food goes away, she will then realise that she is making the food go away! I did this with a seriously bad door kicker and she got the message after four door kicks. If it's not practical to do that Liz, just do what you are doing, stand quietly, ignoring her until she settles down. Same process, she will learn that being impatient gets her nothing. Good luck and keep us posted :-)
Hi Liz - welcome to the uni! Good advice as always from Vicci. If you can find an old car tyre then if you place the bucket in this it will be harder for her to tip over. Find an old free tyre then try to find a bucket or bowl which will fit in snuggly. Separating them seems the best solution so that the ponies have a chance to have theirs - can you make a small yard in the corner of their paddock - few poles and rails with a slip rail gate is a pretty easy and cheep way of doing it and most land owners don't mind especially if you offer to remove it when you leave. In a corner you already have two sides. I always just wait outside the gate until my boss horse goes to her bowl for me. If she doesn't move to her bowl I say bowl and point but I doubt if that helps! She usually goes straight to her bowl when she sees me arrive these days. If you do not feed them from the bucket at all while it is in your hand then they soon realise that they only get fed from the bowl and will start going to it for you. Good luck with it.
OO I like the tyre idea Maggie :-)
Hi Liz,
i agree that separating them at feed times is the safest solution; you can buy some electric fence posts very cheaply & some electric fence tape & gate handles, you could then make a separate small feeding area for each of them, put them in their own area before giving them the feed, using the above methods to quieten her down & behave before she gets hers.
Electric fencing is great as you can move it anywhere at any time, i would suggest you get the tall horse posts not the very short pony posts as your mare with either push it over or go straight through it. you don have to put a pulser on it it you only use it for this purpose, as that's the expensive part, but if you could perhaps borrow one for a while to start with so she does get a small shock if she tries to barge through it would be better. We are talking a safe small 9 volt or 12 volt shock here folks, not wiring up to the mains :-)
Thank you everyone so much for your responses and advice. I am actually really excited about trying out all your suggestions- starting in the morning! She was already noticeably quieter this morning as I totally ignored her when taking their feeds (rather than my usual "chatting" to her about how lovely she is!) Luckily we already have electric fencing with pulser Beryl, separating the field into smaller paddocks so will be very easy to put her in a different one before bringing the feeds out. We replaced the smaller plastic posts with the tall ones last winter, not because of Blue amazingly but because the cheeky ponies were jumping over them and getting into mischief :) so will definitely be staring tomorrow. Its great to have this advice before the weekend as I will have more time to try the "calm or food out of sight" method Vicci. I even know of some fly-tipped tyres on a lane on the way to the field so will be able to stabilise the bucket as well as help to clear up the countryside!
Thanks again everyone, will keep you informed of progress!
Liz x
Looking forward to hearing how it all goes Liz :-)
Great stuff Liz, they're great escape artists aren't they!!!
you're off to a very good start, have fun
Hello everyone, we've cracked it! Started Saturday with the tyre and done the same process each morning- my friend did the morning today and had a text to tell me she went directly to the "bowl" and there was no chasing the ponies! Didn't have to separate them at all and am now going to introduce a tyre bowl for the ponies too as its so much calmer arriving and simply saying "Blue, bowl" and off she goes to wait! Much safer for all too and hopefully we can be much less anxious about family and friends being around at feeding time. Thank you all so much for your help, I can't believe how simple this problem was to resolve. She's a quick learner but even I was surprised- obviously taking the food out of sight once was enough for her (her previous owner informed us that she would follow you through the gates of hell for her feed!)
Just to share another massive break through with you too- I also took her out on my own on Saturday, planning just to walk out in hand but tacked her up and rode her after a while of checking she was listening to me and even had a little trot. This is the first time ever without at least another human for company whilst I was on board so was thrilled. Then, had a lovely hack out on Sunday with friends and even did 3/4 steps of canter (by accident admittedly!) and I haven't been able to canter since falling from her and fracturing 3 ribs over 2 years ago! Sorry for all the exclamation marks (!) but had such a positive time, needed to share.
Liz x
Aww Liz, what a fantastic outcome, I feel you happiness from here hahaha Glad it went well :-)
That's fantastic Liz!!! Absolutely great to hear.
Brilliant Liz, wow that was quick, you've got a clever mare there,it's obviously given you masses of confidence, well done you!!!!
Enjoy her
Great news, Liz. Well done! Hope everything goes well now.