Do you stay while your horse has his dinner?

[gordysgirl]

Do you give your horse his dinner & leave him to it or do stay around until all finished?
All the other owners on our yard feed just before they leave but I always kick around until horse finishes his tea. One reason is in the past he has colicked once or twice during/after his tea. But one of teh horses on the yard has choked mildly in the past - and yet they still leave him to it.:eek:
He always gets a sloppy dinner so I think the risk of him choking his quite small but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Do you guys keep an eye on yours or leave them in peace?

[chickyd444]

i put the stall guard across and sit on the floor just outside the stable next to him with a cigarette and the cat on me lap & stroke his ears - telling him about my day , how much i appreciate him and what a good listener he is, he loves it when i sit with him, and he doesnt shuvell it down either. Gives us both a chance to chill after what ever excercise he has been doing earlier on. ;)

[gordysgirl]

i put the stall guard across and sit on the floor just outside the stable next to him with a cigarette and the cat on me lap & stroke his ears - telling him about my day , how much i appreciate him and what a good listener he is, he loves it when i sit with him, and he doesnt shuvell it down either. Gives us both a chance to chill after what ever excercise he has been doing earlier on. ;)

Awwww...thats really sweet!!!
Have to admit I waffle on to my ginger hunk while he's eating his too..much to my farmer/yo's disgust!

[martini55]

I've normally left before she has finished her dinner. But that's because she eats half of it and goes off to eat some hay and finishes it off later. She used to have problems with choking and I would always make sure it was finished before leaving. However these days it doesn't cause me much worry as she eats really slowly and her food is nice and sloppy.

[kat1]

I go and fill nets whilst they eat it because I have to know they have all eaten it in order to sleep soundly in my bed that night! If they leave it - I go into panic mode! I also worry about them hurting themselves in the night with empty buckets!

[acw295]

I stay on the yard but don't usually actually stand and watch her eat - I usually put tack away or do something else until she's finished. Then I clean bucket and refill for next day usually!

I have on occasion left horses eating due to time issues - or horses that are fussy eaters and take ages to eat.

[*Sez*]

It depends on what my plans are. The trouble is that he's such a s-l-o-w eater, and even on his reduced summer ration, he takes at least 30 minutes to eat it. He likes to chew each mouthful and contemplate the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything :rolleyes: So I've never really worried about him choking.

If I'm just going up for a flying visit, I tend to stay, because I like to take his rugs off for at least half an hour a day, so it seems easiest to whip his rugs off and stay while he eats, then rugs on again and out.

If I've been riding or lungeing, then I often just pop the bucket out for him in the field when I am happy he's cooled off and is ready to turn out.
Sal can be a bit grumpy about his food, but has never been bothered by the colts who live out with him - he pulls a few faces or feints towards them as though he's going to chase them away and they back away and leave him to it. However, the older colt has started learning to stand at a "safe distance" so as not to draw his attention, then stretches out his neck and top lip, hooks the bucket and draws it closer so that he can get his nose in :rolleyes: Cheeky monkey! So I can see Salsa getting a bit more posessive of his feed, and he might have to stay in to eat to stop him being harrassed by the youngsters and deciding to give one of them a kick or nip. I'd hate him to injure one of them purely so I can get home a few minutes earlier.

When he was stabled, if I had done everything else, I would leave him with a bucket, but he has bendy buckets to prevent him hurting himself with them. If I had something to get on with for half an hour or so, I'd stick around and take the bucket out when he had finished.

[Big Ears]

mine get so little and eat so quickly they have finished in a flash - i do hang around though as Molly can sometimes choke, and Mouse donkey used to do it regularly.

Rosie almost eats the manager as she is so aggressive about food - she likes to be left alone to kill it. Molly quite likes being stroked as she eats, and sometimes i have to referree with the three donkeys to be sure they all get their fair share.

[ForestGump]

I give Forest his dinner, check that hes eating it (as hes fussy!)
Then I go and do my poo picking and when I come back he has finished his dinner and I take away his bucket and put him out again.

In the winter I give him his food while I'm doing his rugs and stable etc so I'm watching him eat.
Then he goes back into his stable until the morning :p

[heartofrainbow]

I stay around!
They have different amounts and different things in their buckets, so I make sure they eat the correct bucket!
And it also means I can stop any fights (although they don't happen very often!)

[soph1985]

I stay because the bucket gets thrown around the stable, scraped up the walls and finally launched over the stable door nearly knocking people out:eek::eek::D:D

[ForestGump]

I stay because the bucket gets thrown around the stable, scraped up the walls and finally launched over the stable door nearly knocking people out:eek::eek::D:D

Forest does that! Hes like:

'Don't want that anymore!'

He actually got another horse in the head by throwing his bucket once!:eek: oops! :p

[soph1985]

Forest does that! Hes like:

'Don't want that anymore!'

He actually got another horse in the head by throwing his bucket once!:eek: oops! :p

I know its a nightmare the amount of buckets I have gone through:mad:

Once I caught him standing in it-both front feet god knows what he was up to!;)

[Clava]

Forest does that! Hes like:

'Don't want that anymore!'

He actually got another horse in the head by throwing his bucket once!:eek: oops! :p

Belle does that too and she has a habit of dropping itin the water trough to make a real mess. Perhaps it's a TB thing?

[Sammii]

There'd be nothing left of my poor bucket if I left it alone with Red all night. :p

Red tells you when he's finished with it, you see a blue rubber tub come flying at your face, or being dropped over the stable door, quite literally. :D

[emmathechief]

I tend to leave Lou to it! The Moody Mare Syndrome kicks in if I stand watching, she's quite convinced I'm going to steal it:rolleyes:
I potter about for a while, and by the time I'm leaving she's usually finished though.

As for buckets! I used to buy loads of plastic ones as they are cheap but she would trash them so often I bought a rubber feed skip. Now I can leave it in her stable as something extra to chuck about and break the boredom! She's on her 3rd skip in two years (which is brill):p

[gordysgirl]

Lol, i often go into Gord's stable in the morning & he has his neighbours bucket who obviously doesn't require it once it has been licked spotlessly clean!

[MelanieD]

Got one that chokes occasionally so always stay until she's finished. I never wait for Jay to finish her food when stabled since she likes to eat really slowly and save some for later.

[Ginger Thing]

When they're stabled I just feed and go - they take forever to eat, and sometimes leave it, have a bit of hay and go back to it later :rolleyes: I sometimes don't get home until 9pm if I've ridden, so would be a lot later if I had to wait for them to eat their huge winter teas!

Now, in 'summer' (honestly, it is!) they are living out 24/7 and only get one smaller meal per day, so I will bring them in, feed, flyspray and turn back out. I'm sure they eat slower when they know I want to get home :rolleyes::D I only wait as I have to put them back out.

[mindymoo]

yes i always do because as soon as my back is turned Barney is gobbling down Poppys much larger feed and she is standing there like an idiot and letting him ... ... so i usually have to stand between them and referee :p