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.

They aren’t your animals so why would you feed them?

I wouldn’t feed them (or any animal that isn’t mine). But let’s face reality: for some mysterious reason lots of people like feeding random horses. They either don’t know it’s dangerous for the horses (or they risk their fingers being snapped) or they know and don’t care. Mostly I think they don’t know as most people don’t want to harm animals.

What percentage of the average population do you think even know what colic is? How many non-horsy people do you think have seen a horse suffer colic or witnessed a horse be put down in agony? Out of the ones who do know, how many link colic to feeding horses a handful of grass or a carrot?

I don’t know why people want to feed them or go to silly lengths to do so.

I just think if we choose to own horses we have a responsibility to keep our lovely animals safely out of reach of people who don’t know any better.

There’s a field of ponies where I walk my dog a few times a week. Had an absolute mouthful from a delightful woman the other day when I pointed out very politely that she should probably get her small child out of the field where she was attempting to feed a pony her ice cream!

Apparently I’m an interfering bitch and need to mind my own business.

There's field just opposite our gate where horses are sometimes kept (the farmer rotates the animals so sometimes it's sheep, sometimes horses and sometimes cows) and there's always someone leaning over the wall feeding the horses 😤

But the children so enjoy it. What about my children?!

I'm not gonna feed other people's horses, don't believe I ever have. But out of curiosity, how do you stop the horse eating the wrong grass, sometimes it must poke through the fence or grow inside the horse's field. My garden is full of random clumps of plants because of neighbours bird seed, I imagine it's hard to keep a field full of only a particular grass?

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.
Why not just spend the rest of your life paying attention to signs that say things like 'Please don't feed the horses' rather than second-guessing the owners' reasons/thinking the sign doesn't apply to you?

@WrongWayApricot

I'm not gonna feed other people's horses, don't believe I ever have. But out of curiosity, how do you stop the horse eating the wrong grass, sometimes it must poke through the fence or grow inside the horse's field. My garden is full of random clumps of plants because of neighbours bird seed, I imagine it's hard to keep a field full of only a particular grass?

The very tedious task of going all over the field and it's edges, removing any unsuitable plants. It's a bugger and takes ages.

As a horse owner this drives me mad. However, 10 years ago I had no idea about horse etiquette (although wouldn't have a fed a horse through fear!).

It is hard for people to appreciate the time, love and money that goes into horses, and for some reason people think that they are there for public benefit. I was timid and polite at the start of lockdown, the lunacy that we have experienced in the last year at our yard means I just shout at people now. Don't stroke them, don't feed them, don't let your dog in the field with them, don't take a selfie with them, don't park in front of the gates, don't picnic with them. It is neverending.

As a child who was desperate to get anywhere near a horse, I wouldn't have known any of this, neither would anyone in my family. We just had this romantic notion of how horses were and often fed grass from outside the fence if we ever had the chance to come across a horse, which wasn't often tbh.

As soon as I got a job I started riding, then owned my own horses eventually. That's when I got an education. Horses are surprisingly not anywhere near as hardy as they look. Wonderful and rewarding but need very careful husbandry.

There shouldn't be a situation where you can grow up not knowing at least basic countryside etiquette.

@BeneathYourWisdom

Sorry but I've never read so much shite in my life

And I’ve never read such rude posts. Are you trying to give all horse owners a bad name?

We need to educate and we need to protect our animals better from those who don’t know or care.

Not call people idiots for not knowing or threaten them with vet bills. What good does that do?

Problem is, people can put bigger fences up, padlocks on gates, put signs up everywhere telling people to not go in, leave the horses alone, don't feed them etc. You can have them on your own property in their stable and people still feed them.

People don't listen. You're talking about the general public here who have about as high an iq as the average rock. Collectively. You could have your horses in a paddock surrounded by a massive fence, around which is another paddock with lions and wolves in it to stop intruders, and around that paddock a most. Can guarantee some dipstick is still going to go across all that to feed the ponies.

Moat, not most.

There shouldn't be a situation where you can grow up not knowing at least basic countryside etiquette.

When I was growing up, our local suburban town library was full of books about children who went on camping holidays or rode ponies or lived in the country. One just absorbed all the knowledge along with the story.

Anyone who had read Pigeon Post for example would know about the danger of fire in hot dry conditions.

Then in the 1970s those kinds of books went out of fashion. Most of the older ones went out of print and new ones weren't published.

Children, it was decided, wanted books that were 'relevant' to their own lives. 'Relevant' was a buzzword in education at the time. Children didn't want to read about things that were outside their own experience. Of course they don't, that's why Harry Potter, and the fantasy genre generally, is so popular.

As a child we would feed horses carrots. It seemed a nice thing to do I'm sure there were lots of countryside type children's tv showing this. I had no idea it would harm them so threads like these are a real education. I'm much older now and I will make sure my grandchildren do not feed the local horses in the field near them. Although thee are no signs up.
I know some of you are saying we should just know not to do it but I didn't. Sorry

who the hell has voted YABU.

It drives me mad as i had a horse very prone to colic and he was a greedy piglet too so could easily blag treats from people.

It's also infuriating when people give my greedy cute Labrador treats on his walks without asking me! We were in a pub once and someone justwalked up to him and gave him a honey and mustard sausage-I know they mean well but hes always on a diet haha

@InpatientGardener

And no fucking bread rolls either. They aren't ducks

With this attitude my ducks wont last long, not all about horses, its animals in general, please dont feed them.

@PerspicaciousGreen I can’t believe how rude the replies have been. I totally agree with your point.

Yes there will be some people that unfortunately will still not look at the sign or choose to ignore. The amount of people it could educate though could be a lot lot higher. Not everyone is on mumsnet and reading these threads. It’s not something I knew until recently about the grass for example. A little bit of extra information can only be beneficial in my eyes.

I don't see why you need to be on Mumsnet or have a specially tailored sign. If they're not your animals, leave them alone. It's not rocket science.

I don't feed anything that doesn't belong to me so not to worry! Glad to have raised some awareness that ducks can't have bread with my post though

This is good, I didn’t know about not feeding horses grass clippings etc. Obvious now it’s pointed out! Thank you for the info, I won’t do it again.

@Throckmorton
Thanks for the answer, it does sound incredibly tedious 😞

[quote WrongWayApricot]**@Throckmorton
Thanks for the answer, it does sound incredibly tedious 😞[/quote]
It’s incredibly tedious. Can involve things like pulling out tiny sycamore saplings by hand, burning ragwort away from the fields as even the burnt plants are still poisonous etc.

Why do so many people think it's acceptable to feed other peoples' pets?

@BeneathYourWisdom

Raising awareness is good. Rudeness isn’t.

But horse owners need to take some responsibility too I’m afraid. Putting your horses in a field with a footpath through it is not a good idea IMO. Either someone will feed them regardless of the sign (they shouldn’t but let’s be realistic they do) or they’ll get chased/kicked/mugged for carrots and sue you for injuries. Horses and footpaths don’t mix well!

Same with fields without public access. If you care about your horses make the field secure, even if that means higher fencing and cattle-type electric fencing to keep people out. Big signs warning of the voltage. Do not feed the animals etc. Make the gate higher too or have an inner fence.

In an ideal world everyone would know not to feed horses. Everyone would understand and care. But it’s far from ideal.

The utter entitlement of that post beggars belief. Perhaps people who feed horses should be forced to watch videos of horses thrashing around in agony. My friends horse kicked the stable wall out, it was too dangerous to go in the stable to do anything.

@WrongWayApricot

I'm not gonna feed other people's horses, don't believe I ever have. But out of curiosity, how do you stop the horse eating the wrong grass, sometimes it must poke through the fence or grow inside the horse's field. My garden is full of random clumps of plants because of neighbours bird seed, I imagine it's hard to keep a field full of only a particular grass?

My horse died because sycamore seeds had blown in. Tiny seedlings killed 1 horse and put the other in intensive care.

@BeneathYourWisdom

BeneathYourWisdom - what if that is the only field you have available to you?

Then I would say the field is unsuitable, and any responsible owner should not be using it if the public have access and ignore signs.

If you can’t afford a suitable field or are not prepared to move closer to one or drive further to get to one... perhaps owning a horse isn’t a wide decision?

BeneathYourWisdom - in Scotland, where I live, everybody has a right of access over every field in the whole country, thanks to the Land Reform (Scotland) Act of 2003. Should nobody in Scotland own a hors, then?

Last summer, when tourism in my part of the Highlands went absolutely bonkers post-lockdown, I deliberately moved my three horses well out of the way. To get to them, you had to go to the far end of my small village (28 houses on a dead-end road), walk a quarter of a mile down a rough track and then through somebody else's field before you got to the field mine was in. They weren't visible from the village, you might have just been able to see them from the beach nearly a mile away if they were in a certain part of the field. Still found a plastic apple bag trampled into the mud by the gate one afternoon.