To remind you not to feed horses

[lastqueenofscotland]

It doesn’t feel like it but summer is approaching.
While out and about PLEASE don’t feed horses unless you have express permission from the owner
Not carrots, not polos, no not even long grass from the other side of the fence, there is probably a reason the horse is in the field with the shorter grass.

Horses can’t burp or be sick, so a minor stomach upset can quickly turn into colic, which can kill them, they can suffer from laminitis if they eat too much sugar (which can be from grass he se why not to feed them grass from the other side of the fence)
They can also be really aggressive around food and can do some real damage to you/DC even from the other side of some post and rail.
More and more frequently I’m hearing horror stories about horses who’ve died/miscarried foals/cost owners tens of thousands in bills due to colicing all after being fed by well meaning strangers.
Please please please don’t do it.

PerspicaciousGreen, Would you expect dog owners to put a big collar on their dogs saying 'Don't feed me chocolate, grapes or raisins because they will poison me'?

Yes fermenting grass causes gasses with cause the horse to roll, then there guts can get twisted and die off, surgery is required to fix this, the horse loses intestines, if it survives the surgery, then has a long road to recovery (cutting a horse front to back and keep all the insides in place with a few staples has its downfalls) then trying to kick start a horses guts then you have a horse stuck in a stable trying to avoid infection, keep the horse mentally stimulated, this costs THOUSANDS, and months to overcome, if they even make it to the vets/operating table, are found in time before the only option is to have the poor thing put to sleep

Gosh, thanks for the info. I did not know this.

@ClarkeGriffin

Totally agree.

Also don't let your dog play in the horses fields. Your dog may end up dead if the horses don't like dogs, or your dog will hurt the horses and you'll end up with a massive vet bill.

Absolutely. And i would add, don't let your bastard dog play in the field with my young horses in, especially when I'm standing by the horses as it bloody hurts when they get scared of the dogs and dash off regardless of where I am. (I do like dogs, but not near my animals).

My oldie has dodgy teeth so I don't want people feeding her in case she chokes, at least my youngsters are wary of other people so won't take food off them.

I beg you to put up more informative signs than "Don't feed the horse".

I don't mean this in a nasty way, but if a sign says "Do not feed the horses" it shouldn't need an explanation. The owners of the horse(s) are telling you not to feed them at all, ever, under any circumstances, regardless of how someone else thinks they might know better.

In fact, if you put up a sign saying "Please don't feed this horse because he's on a diet", someone will think "Well a carrot is healthy, so surely he can have that". Similarly "Please don't feed this horse, you'll make him bite ("Ah, but he's being lovely to me!"), "Please don't feed this horse because he's on medication ("Ah, poor horse, he must be ill. I'll give him a mint to cheer him up...") and so on and so forth.

If it's not yours, don't feed it. My horse has a separate strand of electric fencing to keep her away from passers-by, so that even if they want to feed her they can't (we've allowed brambles, thistles and nettles to grow up along the outer fence to keep people away), but we shouldn't have to do this.

Wow, thanks for the info about grass clippings. That's nuts. I'd never even considered herbicides in particular!

I have known for some time that I shouldn't offer food to any animals that aren't my own. I am embarrassed that I did so in the past. I regret any harm I might have done to horses by offering them what I thought was some lovely fresh grass from my side of the fence. I have not done it for years and will be teaching my children not to, and why.

You will get plonkers who don't care, but you will also get the ignorant like I was. (And clearly still am a bit!) People don't know what they don't know. Putting a few sentences on a sign you're printing out anyway about what various foodstuffs can do to horses might educate someone for life. Particularly that it's all horses, not that this one is on a special diet. Had I seen a sign as a child explaining why not to feed the horse, many horses would have been spared my well-intentioned grass-pushing. Ideally people would just... not feed the horses. But is it really unreasonable of me to suggest to horse owners that a sector of the feeding public would actually stop if they knew the full picture, and it might alleviate their problem to put up an informative sign?

@PerspicaciousGreen

Wow, thanks for the info about grass clippings. That's nuts. I'd never even considered herbicides in particular!

I have known for some time that I shouldn't offer food to any animals that aren't my own. I am embarrassed that I did so in the past. I regret any harm I might have done to horses by offering them what I thought was some lovely fresh grass from my side of the fence. I have not done it for years and will be teaching my children not to, and why.

You will get plonkers who don't care, but you will also get the ignorant like I was. (And clearly still am a bit!) People don't know what they don't know. Putting a few sentences on a sign you're printing out anyway about what various foodstuffs can do to horses might educate someone for life. Particularly that it's all horses, not that this one is on a special diet. Had I seen a sign as a child explaining why not to feed the horse, many horses would have been spared my well-intentioned grass-pushing. Ideally people would just... not feed the horses. But is it really unreasonable of me to suggest to horse owners that a sector of the feeding public would actually stop if they knew the full picture, and it might alleviate their problem to put up an informative sign?

We have information ALL OVER our fences including pictures of what happens in late stage laminitis, and news stories of awful things happening to horses that had been fed.

Guess what?......

.....yup, you guessed right....ignored

We’ve even had people entering the fields an plonking their young children in the horses, removing muzzles, even DIRECTLY telling us they have every right to pick grass and feed/let their dogs run into the fields etc etc etc

I think the only thing that might stop the determined would be hiring snipers - and that’s illegal.

But is it really unreasonable of me to suggest to horse owners that a sector of the feeding public would actually stop if they knew the full picture, and it might alleviate their problem to put up an informative sign?

Yes it's ridiculous of you to expect animal owners to educate you. Do it yourself.

@LaLaLandIsNoFun I'm so sorry to hear that. But I believe heartily that there are some people who will have read those signs and changed what they do as a consequence. Thing is, you'll never know as they haven't caused any problems!

I would imagine those who have voted YABU feel that it's quite unreasonable to remind someone who was never going to do something not to do it.

From posts on this thread (eye-opening! I only clicked on it because I thought "What type of weird shit is this code for?"), people randomly feeding other people's horses is clearly a problem, but I'd be willing to bet that the numbers of Mumsnet readers/posters who partake in this bizarre behaviour are infinitesimal.

@PerspicaciousGreen Honestly, some people don't care no matter what you say.

We had a woman bring her granddaughter into the yard and was feeding the horses over the stable doors. No matter how much I explained that several of them had special diets for very good reasons, she wasn't having a word of it. No, we were "Stuck up snobby types" denying her granddaughter the fun of feeding the horses. In the end I pointed out that she was on private property and if she didn't leave I'd call the police. She huffed off after that, but calling me all the names under the sun as she went.

On top of that we ended up having to lock all the internal gates as people either opened them to let themselves in to walk their dogs across, or to let the horses out into adjoining fields. We even caught one person doing that and she said she felt sorry for the horses in a field without much grass when there was nicer grazing next door...

You can explain all you like but some people just will never listen so it's easier and less ambiguous to go with "JUST FUCKING DON'T"!

I think the only thing that might stop the determined would be hiring snipers - and that’s illegal.

It's only problem if they can make the evidence stand up in Court.

@conywarp

But is it really unreasonable of me to suggest to horse owners that a sector of the feeding public would actually stop if they knew the full picture, and it might alleviate their problem to put up an informative sign?

Yes it's ridiculous of you to expect animal owners to educate you. Do it yourself.

O...K... Clearly I'm in the minority here and everyone on this thread is fully aware of all their personal unknown unknowns and I'm just a lazy arse for never knowing as a city child that horse food grass can be bad for horses. I'll just back away slowly now and spend the rest of my life double checking that I do in fact know everything about every topic in the world just in case I've missed something I didn't even know I didn't know. Sorry I intruded with a different perspective.

@PerspicaciousGreen No, I'm glad you posted because it shows the other side of the equation. You'll get people being spiky about it though, because it's such a serious problem for horse owners. I do see where you're coming from on the education front but, sadly, bitter experience tells me that it doesn't work.

Also holding my hands up to say I didn't know it wasn't ok to feed a horse grass. Please don't shoot.

That said I'm not sure I can really recall ever randomly feeding a horse, I don't want horse slobber all over me and no way of washing my hands!

Absolutely agree, OP.

The only people who have hit the “YABU” have either done so accidentally, or they are the type who see horses as toys for their children, and how dare you ruin the children’s enjoyment of feeding animals that do not belong to them.

Horses in fields are for waving and saying hello to, not for feeding.

Well, when you’re having to watch your child’s beloved pet take a bolt to the brain because someone wanted Little Johnny to have a good time feeding the cute ponies, your ‘perspective’ is somewhat different

There's a field I pass every day which now has a sign up saying 'Do not cut the horses hair'.

Tbf a handful of grass pulled from the side of a field isn’t going to cause an issue unless than handful contains something like ragwort.

However, some people think it’s ok to empty their lawn clippings into fields which is potentially lethal.

Trouble is, you can explain, put up horrifying pictures/x rays and people will STILL insist that it’s their right to feed your horse. Their desire for the immediate gratification of potentially killing feeding your horse is apparently more important. Apparently they know more than us owners, some of whom have studied equine nutrition for years. Silly us!

It’s bizarre, this absolute need to feed horses. I went to catch in once and a group of ramblers was going past the gate. The second one guy saw me bringing in my horse, he started fumbling in his pockets for something-anything-to give him-cereal bar containing both raisins and chocolate, both poisonous, just as they are to dogs.

Just don’t feed an animal that doesn’t belong to you, it’s unacceptable.

@Polkadotties my exMIL (who I still get on with) has a 17.1hh big old school Irish TB who is SO aggressive with food. His field mate has to be brought in to be fed. If he saw someone pick grass for his field mate and not him he’d probably try and fight his field mate and if he could, get a good bite of the person who fed him.
While a handful of grass may not be harmful in a colic etc sense it’s not ideal if 50 people a day are doing it and something is meant to be on strip grazing, or there may be other reasons why feeding them is a shit idea I’d agression or just not wanting them to try and mug people for snacks!

@Polkadotties

Tbf a handful of grass pulled from the side of a field isn’t going to cause an issue unless than handful contains something like ragwort. However, some people think it’s ok to empty their lawn clippings into fields which is potentially lethal.

Except when several passing people per day decide that handful of lush Spring time grass (that’s been holding onto its sugars because the night time temps have been below 6 degrees) will do no harm...

We have a neighbour whose daughter always liked to go feed the ponies carrots on their walk. Often I saw her and suggested it wasnt a good idea as she didnt know them. Came across her one day in the field with the 'cute little horse'. She wanted to pet the horse and was close to its backside. She ended up in the hedge and I ended up with four cracked ribs and a sprained wrist because I got between her and the hooves. If I hadnt he would have had her head off. Mum had a rant at me for stopping her daughter have fun.

So stay out of fields as well as not feeding anything not belonging to you.

Horses: need to eat constantly or they die but like wise if they eat too much the bones fall out of their hooves...

Why must we love such badly designed animals 😢