WIBU to feed these apples to these horses?

[BestZebbie]

We have just harvested the apples from our garden and after picking out the perfect ones for us and composting the rotten/wormy ones I am left with a carrier bag of 'seconds' - apples that are basically good and could be intensively processed to make into puree etc, but are small or have minor skin blemishes etc.

There is a field with horses in just down the road, WIBU to take these apples down to that field with my DS and put them over the gate with the expectation that the horses would eat them?

In my mind apples are a nice treat for horses, but I am aware that I am not a horsey person and so would there be some terrible injury I could potentially do the horses by doing this? They are red eating apples, I think Red Windsor, all ripe.

Seriously don't. Not your horses. If you fed my pony lots of apples you could help her get laminitis. Not nice.

Birds will eat apples and they're fine for them this time of year. I just mash them a bit with a fork and gang from a tree. Won't get rid of many though.

Best way to get rid is to put them in a bix by the front door and put a sign saying 'windfalls, help yourself', we get a lot of apples from neighbours this way .

Lovely idea but please don't. One of mine ended up very ill over winter as people were throwing bag after bag of carrots into her field daily, another mare ended up having choke. The fact she wasnt kicked by the bully mares was a miracle, the £329 vet bill was painful enough.

You can harvest from your apple tree in august?

Meanandlow: We were also surprised as usually it wouldn't be for another 6 weeks and the pear tree is still nowhere near, but this year they have been large and red since June and have started to fall naturally in large numbers (from a healthy tree) so today we took off all the ones that would fall at a touch - probably 25% are still on the tree. They are a bit tart, but definitely edible without cooking etc.

villainousbroodmare -
Of course it's the same thing. You're feeding someone's pet without permission something which could potentially harm them. Where's the difference? And thank you for listing the content of chocolate. Very helpful.

And also, yes you're right, august grazing is very lush. Which is why mine have grazing head collars and managed paddocks so they don't get too much grass. It's management by the owner. Just like a dog owner managers it's dogs diet.

Well done OP for asking. Very considerate of you :-)

Very sensible of the OP for asking.

Definately dont give them to the horses, if you see the owner you could ask if they want some to give to the horses themselves.

Too many apples can cause colic.

I also had a pony with equine metabolic syndrome, which is basically horsey diabetes and also causes the bone inside the hoof to rotate (very serious). That much sugar would have lead to a couple of months of box rest (being confined to a stable with a thick bedding), specialist shoes (@ £150 a pair), pain relief, possibly requiring more xrays of hooves, etc. Basically pony would have seriously suffered and I'd have been extremely upset, distressed and financially hit.

Oh gosh, we used to do this when I was a child quite often - got sent from my gran's with apples for the horses in stables up the road. Haven't had much contact with horses for years but I never realised it was so wrong.. Birds quite like apple though. My mum usually scatters it on the bird house with breadcrumbs and seeds.

My old horse has just recently been diagnosed with equine metabolic syndrome, Lioness. She's on 24 (expensive) tablets a day, and I think I may soon have to make a very tough decision.
I'm happy to see the op ask first about the apples. I've had people feed my horses white bread, apples, carrots etc, they've been quite surprised when I've asked them not too. I know it's not done with any bad intent, quite the opposite in fact, but it can cause huge problems.

I know many people on my yard would be very happy if you stopped by and asked them if they wanted your apples, so if you have a riding school close by you could stop and ask if they want them. My horse is always up for an extra treat, but it is better not to feed them yourself, as others have said. Horses can be so sensitive for such large animals.

I had a horse who was terribly sensitive to colic and even 1 apple would trigger it

It's a lovely thought though. What you could do is put them in a bag by the gate (far enough where the horse can't reach!)
With a note for the owner
They will probably be very grateful :)

I would be grateful for a bag of apples left by the gate so I could feed them appropriately. And if i didn't want them would just chuck on the muck heap.

"tbh the perils of feeding a few apples to the average nag in a field are being seriously overestimated by the respondents... however if nothing else a few of these responses show the intensity of feeling of the typical British leisure rider and as such I would give their animals a wide berth unless invited otherwise. "

So 19/20 someone tips a bag of apples into a field of horses and the horses eat them happily and that's it, no big deal. And 1/20 a horse gets kicked because they're not used to being fed together, or it turns out a pony is laminitic, or has EMS, or chokes or gets colic. It may be that there's a small risk of these things happening, but it's still not a risk you want to take with someone else's animal. Using a risk matrix I'd still categorise this as high risk behaviour (unlikely outcome but critical problem if it happens). If that shows intensity of feeling, that's fine by me. My horse is important to me and he tends to get up to enough worrying shenanigans without outside help.

OP, thanks for asking the question. There's a small orchard where I keep my horse and in the autumn many of the horses get chopped apples in their feed and the feed is adjusted accordingly. I'm sure, as PP have said, that many owners would appreciate the apples, it's just they'd rather be in control of the actual feeding process! There are horses on the yard on strict diets for one reason or another so they don't get the apple treats.