Sunday, June 7, 2015

Establishing Feeding Time Ground Rules


Sorry no new pictures today (reusing old ones).  I've been incredibly busy and had a headache all day, so it didn't happen.  :(

Yesterday we turned the boys out together for the first time and it all went smoothly.  Until feeding time.  I knew it was going to be interesting figuring out how to feed three at the same time again, but I wasn't counting on Rocky being food aggressive.  I can't really blame him since he lived in a big herd on 100 acres for several years and they fed by throwing feed out on the ground and letting everyone battle it out.


So yesterday I carried the buckets out to the pasture.  Hubby was there, but I wanted to do it on my own since I sometimes have to feed by myself.  I have to pour Chrome's feed in first because his bucket stays in the pasture (it's huge because he dumps smaller ones).  Chrome was standing by his bucket, waiting, like he always does.  Rocky came barreling in and got way too close to me, so I swung my hand around and smacked him with the feed scoop.  I think I got him in the face, but I'm not sure because he was behind me.

He ran away and I walked away from Chrome to sit Rocky's bucket down a fair distance away.  Rocky tried to go around me to chase Chrome off of his feed, so I chased him off again.  When I got him far enough away I was able to put his bucket down and he started eating.  Then I gave the donkey his bucket.  We stood there and watched them all eat.  Chrome got done first and to my surprise he came straight to me.  He didn't even try to go to Rocky's bucket.  When Rocky finished he walked over to Chrome's bucket and Chrome immediately walked over to Rocky's bucket.  When Chrome found it empty he went to chase the donkey off, but I beat him there and picked the bucket up since Zep was done eating anyway.  Then I grabbed Rocky's bucket and all was well.  Not too bad.


Today was a whole different ball game!!  As soon as we walked into the pasture, Chrome waiting by his bucket, Rocky charged!!  I was appalled!!!  Hubby chased him off aggressively several times and Rocky kicked in his direction once, but no where near close enough to touch him.  We were both PISSED!  I immediately moved Chrome's bucket into the round pen where he would be safe (he was eating this whole time) and went to get a whip.

Then I carried Rocky's bucket out again and he tried to approach me while I was still standing by it.  I've decided since he's being aggressive I don't want him even approaching me when I have feed so I smacked him with the whip when he got too close and he ran off.  After that he finally realized I was serious.  I stood by the bucket, facing Rocky and waited.  Every time he tried to approach me I chased him off (but did not hit him again).  When he stopped trying to approach me I turned my back and walked away.  He waited a long minute and then walked to his bucket, ears forward and started eating.  I let him eat for half a minute and then turned and walked toward him.  When he didn't immediately leave the feed I snapped the whip on the ground.  He trotted away.  I did that several times just to make sure he knew that I controlled the feed and that he had to leave if I asked him to.

Once he finished eating I walked over and picked up his bucket.  I had already let Chrome out while Rocky was eating, so he came to me to see if the bucket had crumbs.  To my surprise Rocky walked right up to us, ears forward, not aggressive at all.  I let them both sniff the bucket, pet them both and then walked away.  I put the buckets and whip outside of the pasture and then asked hubby to approach Rocky to make sure he would let him (remember he plays hard to catch sometimes too).

As soon as hubby walked in his direction Rocky bolted!!!  I was so surprised considering I was the one who hit him with a scoop and a whip and I was the one who chased him off the feed.  Then I realized hubby's body language was too assertive and that he was still angry about being charged and kicked at.  So we went to pick apples off the tree and talked for a few minutes while he calmed down.  Rocky can read people very well apparently (as opposed to Chrome who has no clue when you're mad at him haha).

Hubby tried for a few minutes to get Rocky to approach, but he wouldn't.  He just grazed and watched him, moving away if he got too close.  So I grabbed the scoop (Rocky needed more incentive than just an apple) and asked Chrome to follow me, then I asked hubby to walk to me.  Hubby, Chrome and I stood in a circle playing with the scoop and apples.  Rocky heard the apple rattling in the scoop and finally came to us.  Hubby fed him an apple (these are tiny apples) and we walked away again.  After a minute Rocky walked to us again and got another apple.  That time he stood still and let both of us pet on him and Chrome and the goats sniffed our fingers.  We were all a happy family again.

I'm disappointed that he would act like that, but I also understand why he does.  Living in that herd of half wild horses and being on the bottom in rank does that to a horse.  He will just have to learn the ground rules, which are that the humans control the food and he is NEVER allowed to threaten the humans.  I think he will figure it out quickly since we are fair and consistent.

I do not like hitting horses, but they are large, dangerous animals and if he chooses to escalate a situation like that I will return in like kind.  Once he was no longer being threatening I lowered my own aggressive stance.  I was assertive, but calm.  I highly doubt he will need to be touched with the whip again.  All it took was one time to get his attention and prove to him that my bark does have bite if it needs to.

So that's the update on how they are doing.  When there is no feed involved they are one big happy family with no problems at all.  They stand shoulder to shoulder at the gate and neigh at us when we come outside, happy as can be.  Rocky is a bold horse, but he's not mean, so I think once we establish that we are in charge that all of the feeding problems will go away.  For the moment I'm going to continue to feed Chrome in the round pen.  He's a little slow to back down from other horses when he's eating and I don't want him to get hurt if he decides to stand up to Rocky.

In happier news we ordered Rocky a bridle and I can't wait until it gets here.  It's so cool!!!  It's going to be a looooong week waiting for it.  :)

14 comments:

  1. it sounds like you handled it well. It's good to nip food agressiveness in the bud.

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    1. Yes it's something I have a no tolerance policy on. It's one thing if it's happening between horses and another if it's directed at humans. I think once he realized he doesn't have to fight for food or to defend himself that he will settle down. He's not used to being pampered.

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  2. Good job stopping that obnoxious behavior. Hopefully it'll get easier.

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    1. Thank you. I really don't think it will take long.

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  3. You did everything right, in my opinion. One time when I was feeding my neighbors' horses, she had told me to just go out in the pasture and spread some flakes of hay around it. I bent over to set a flake of hay on the ground and looked up to see two hooves flying toward my face. Fortunately, they didn't connect. That was my first experience with food aggressive behavior. A local lady here was found dead in her horse paddock by her roommate. It looked like she had gone out to feed the herd and got kicked in the head. Keep using that whip, if you have to. You can work out the relationship issues later.

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    1. Thank you! I hesitated to write anything because I know a lot of people are against touching a horse with a whip (or scoop, although that was an accident), but I want a record of this so I never forget that he has it in him to do that. That's terrifying about the lady who was found dead in her horse paddock! Yikes! That's exactly why I will not tolerate that kind of aggressive behavior! Thank you for telling me about that. It makes me feel better about being so strict with feeding behaviors!

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    2. Food aggression is one of the most dangerous behaviors in a horse (or dog!) and it needs to be curbed right away. Don't apologize for asserting yourself with Rocky: you do what you have to do in self-defense.

      This was a BIG deal with Gracie when I moved her to my friend Kathy's place. Kathy is in her 60s and has back problems: one of my greatest fears was that Gracie would hurt her at feeding time because she was so very food aggressive. Gracie was starved 2 owners prior, and the woman that had her before me was basically a treat dispenser for her because she felt sorry for the mare. She created a monster: Gracie was incredibly pushy about food. She had no qualms about running a person over if she thought they might have something for her to eat. It was one of the first things I worked on with her, and we did a big review of this when we moved to Kathy's. One of the first things I established was the "Back up" command: she HAD to back up immediately whenever I asked for it, regardless of circumstances. Yes, she did get whacked in the chest with a whip a couple of times in the beginning to get her to respect the voice command, but it worked.

      Our routine consisted of tying her to a fence or in the run-in shed, in Kathy's circumstances, FIRST, before we fed any of the other horses. All of the other horses then got fed first, leaving Gracie for last. Gracie would be dancing around in anticipation but she had to calm down, back up, and WAIT before the food would get dumped in her bucket. For a while it took a tap with a crop on the chest to reinforce the back-up command at feeding time, but she learned very quickly to back up on her own and turn her head away from the person before food was dispensed for her.

      I don't give treats to food aggressive horses; it can make them so dangerous. I do other things: she enjoys scratches and pets and grooming, so those are the rewards she gets. I use treats only to reinforce behaviors that I REALLY want her to do, like getting on the trailer, and the goal is to eventually wean her off of them even then.

      Do be careful. But I think you handled everything perfectly!

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    3. Thank you for your comment Saiph!! Also thank you for sharing what you did with Gracie! Since Rocky is being hard to catch (and chasing him is making it worse) I think I might try what you did. Catch him, tie him up and ask him to back up. I did the backing up thing with Chrome when he was younger and he's not in the least bit food aggressive, but he did crowd me. It worked great!! Thank you for the tips and compliment!! :D

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  4. No bueno on the food aggression - but I think you handled it very well! I'm sure it will get better.

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    1. Thank you! I think it will get better really soon. He's very smart!

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  5. I agree with your observations and how you handled it! New horse will introduce new dynamics into a herd, no matter big or small. When I first got Quest, she was often pushy on the ground due to being inconsistently handled by inexperienced owners for years. I had her on a strict no treats rule for awhile while we worked out who was going to be lead mare in our herd of two. Like you said, horses are big powerful animals and they NEED to realize that people cannot be bullied. There is a lady at my barn that has an very food aggressive horse that I handled once and will never again for my own safety. It's just not worth the risk.

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    1. Thank you! I don't blame you for not handling that food aggressive horse. I wouldn't either. The only reason I will do it with Rocky is because I know he's only acting this way because of the way the herd was fed. He had to fight for any little scrap he wanted. Also his threats haven't really been toward us, but more toward Chrome. Also there's lots of room in my pasture and I have a long whip hehe. He did great today. I'll get an update up soon.

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  6. Good job with handling it. I think he'll come around quickly. Skeeter could be pretty food aggressive if we let her. She just gets so impatient. At breakfast, when we go out with their "cereal", both horses have to stand and look away. They can be at the fence, near the feed tub, but their heads have to be turned away from us. Feeding hay is a bit more difficult. We've got them so that they won't dive into the hay, but they watch (and follow) very closely just in case we forgot our own rules.

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    1. Thank you! I didn't know Skeeter had those tendencies too. I'm so, so far behind on your blog (everyone's actually... no time to read at all lately...). Thanks for the comment!!

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