To ask you to please not feed horses you don’t know

[lastqueenofscotland]

Out walking after work this afternoon and saw someone with some young children feeding a horse in a field leaves and various crap picked off the ground.
I’ve hear stories of people who’ve dumped grass clippings on the ground horses have eaten these and got colic.
My previous horse was a blimp and was on strip grazing/already grazed down fields and I once caught someone feeding him slices of bread
Please don’t do it, horses can’t vomit and get very ill if something doesn’t agree with them.

seven not a bad idea but some people literally don't care.

Fibbke that’s shocking. I used to have four until I sold up earlier this year all ex racehorses and one was SO sharp I honestly think if someone did that with her she could likely have killed them. Really sweet fun mare for an experienced rider and wouldn’t be dangerous with experienced hands. But shove a nervous child on and she may have panicked. Terrifying

I just kept thinking about what might have happened. She could have been killed!

I would never feed someone else's animal without permission

Why on earth would anyone feel it OK to do this ?

Definitely not carrots. You never know when a horse is prone to choke.

I spent 12 hours (1 on 1 off) walking a friends ex race horse up and down overnight so it wouldn’t go down and probably never get up again - just because some idiots don’t given it a jam sandwich!
Quite aside from making the horse ill you don’t want a large animal with limited spatial awareness running at you because it associates people walking through its field with being fed treats

My mare died because someone fed her bread. She got an impacted bowel and had to endure massive surgery and recovery (also at the tune of 10K in bills) only to drop drop dead 4 months later.

Fancyapint people like you are a nightmare with horses

Dd’s Pony isn’t the friendliest to strangers and can bolt. The little pony is companion only. She used to be lead rope safe. Till she was in a field around seven years ago and some children that lived nearby thought they could ride her and basically ragged her galloping round and round he field. So the next time my niece went to ride her she bolted. Could have killed my niece.

The ones tethered at the side of the road look so sad though, don't feed them just driving pretty fast past them, but they still look sad.

Defo bad! My friends horse died a horrible painful death because someone had picked some stuff from the floor and fed them to her (i can't think of what they're called but I remember calling them helicopters as a kid).

A friend's horse wears a grazing muzzle to restrict the amount of grass he takes in. It is not ideal but way better than him either getting overweight and ill, or having to be shut in all the time. Yard they are on won't restrict the grazing. Someone went in and removed the muzzle then cut it up!
And no, never feed a horse without the owner's permission. Seriously, it can be dangerous for both the horse and the human!

Anyone who has ever spent a night desperately walking a colicky horse and shouting at, shoving and even hitting the poor, desperate thing to stop it rolling in agony and twisting its guts knows how frightening it is to even contemplate the fact that some people might be feeding them any amount of junk over a fence.

@FancyAPint

NRTWT

Not even carrots? or grass from right at the fence or gate they are standing at?

No. Not even carrots - high in sugar which needs restriction for some horses - Google laminitis - very painful and ultimately can cause lifelong issues or a horse being PTS - want that responsibility and the vet bill to boot? Horses can also choke on carrots if not given properly - again would you know if you gave the horse choke and what to do? Be willing to pay the vet bill?
Grass - well yes, they eat it naturally but the grass in the field is monitored to ensure it doesn't contain anything poisonous to the horse, or is sprayed with anything, not the grass verges and outside the field. Do you know what plants are poisonous to horses? Do you know what they look like at every stage of growth? Do you know it hasn't been sprayed with anything? Are you willing to pay the vet bill if you accidentally poison the horse?
And feeding horses anything by hand is a bad idea, as someone else said, it teaches them that humans are vending machines, they will get bargy with each other, and you'll get caught in the crossfire as they compete with each other for the food source. They get nippy and bites from horses hurt, a lot, kicks can seriously injure each other, never mind an unwary human.
Admire them from the gate, but please don't feed other people's horses - you don't know what danger you may be putting yourself, the horses or other people in.

We used to give the horses on the farm we camped at apples. It was a huge treat to take dd to their field and feed them one apple each. The farmer had given us permission (in fact, suggested it, but he liked dd because he saw her as a sensible, mature child). He would ask her how many horses there were and then count out apples with her. She was allowed to do it once only during our holiday on the last full day. As farming became less profitable and camping more so, he reduced the animals he had (sheep, and then the horses went ) and now all his fields are for camping with stand pipes, electric points etc. TBH, we don't go there any more.

I did know this, because some years ago a CF relative landed me with her pregnant mare and I had to learn fast. I'm not a horsey person at all, and my experiences with CF horsey types mean that I avoid all things equine, but most of the horse owners I know genuinely put a huge amount of work into keeping their animals and have spent years learning the complexities of good horse husbandry- it's really complicated.

I'd also add that no farm animal needs to be fed by the public, and the lambs do not want to cuddle you or your children. The mother of the lambs could easily kill a small child.There are farms who make a business of letting members of the public fuss over the livestock. The other farmers would just rather you fucked off, mostly.

Not even polos

Fucks sake, no. Mine isn’t allowed sugar, he’s at risk of laminitis, can’t do much due to arthritis. People don’t seem to get the message: don’t feed other people’s animals.

There as a man in my horse’s field walking his dog the other day. The horses started galloping, he ran for his life, threw his dog over the fence and practically flew after him. Imagine trying to feed a horse and then the whole lot, probably 15 of them, decided to go nuts cantering at you.😱 Not good.

(i can't think of what they're called but I remember calling them helicopters as a kid).

Sycamore seeds? Incredibly poisonous, can kill.

I don't understand why horses are not properly fenced in, as a fence within a fence and electrified and cannot be accessed by people?

The reality is some people are stupid, some are kind but misinformed and some are cruel.

You cannot rely on people to behave, you should be able to, but unfortunately you can't so if the horse is important to you you must make sure it is impossible for the public to access it imo.

Fucksandflowers you'd be amazed how persistent people can be!

@sideorderofchips

No not people like me, I was merely clarifying something I didn't know, would you rather people were not informed? should we not ask a question? For clarification I have never fed carrots to a horse I was just surprised. If you want to change peoples way of think take a note of how grumpymug speaks, really you are the nightmare as you will not get people to change their views when you are hostile, surely this is worse for the horses....

I was joking 're polos hence the

This topic is hard work

You seem quite angry @FancyAPint, tough week?

@slightaggrandising

Not liking it back?

I've had the cheeky fuckers in my horses field before, I moved to a new livery yard and they also had two fields for camping/caravaning - went up one evening and found a father with his daughter in my horses field, when asked what he was doing he was 'Only showing her the big friendly horse so she could have a sit on.' He got short shrift and called me an unreasonable jumped up toff. I really am not 😁.

Soon moved yard when I found another camping family in there a month later 🤬.