Do I Give That Horse a Carrot?

Our guests come to ride and bring treats for the horses such as carrots, apples, and sugar cubes. One young lady even brought a banana because she wasn't sure what horses would like as a treat. It's a very kind gesture and as humans we appreciate the thoughtfulness. But, as the people responsible for assuring our horses are safe for guests, we feel like big meanies because sometimes we just have to say no.

Horses do work hard on these rides so we understand and appreciate our guest's desire to reward but there is a significant downside to treating. Bringing treats is another example of humans believing that a human emotion (you're appreciated, thank you, you did good) will be attached to the reward as a human does. Unfortunately, feeding a horse means to the horse only that...you relinquished food. Treats are food. Food is a survival item which horses respond to as a herd animal should; I ate it, you didn't, I'm the boss, give me more!

It softens our heart when a horse nickers at us, we think it's cute when a horse nuzzles our bodies, and we may even get a laugh when a horse pushes us around with their nose. But, if you're a person who works with horses every day you probably don't feel special nor get a kick out of a horse that exhibits these behaviors. A horse nickers when it see us because...we may be bringing their meal. A horse nuzzles us...to check pockets and clothing for any food we may have on us. A horse pushes you with it's head because...it's being bossy, where's the food?

Food, food, food. That's pretty much it. Actually, makes sense when we consider that horse's graze. A grazing animal eats all day, every day so, why do we not want them to show excitement by checking our bodies better than a policeman's pat down? Why would we not want them to come running to us as fast as they can looking for food?

Besides the fact that horse are BIG, we also don't want this behavior because horses live in a linear hierarchy with dominance determining who is in charge. If you watch horses in a large pasture, you will see that each and every horse has it's place in a pecking order. Throw a flake of hay for each horse and watch the dominant horse eat first, then the next dominant, then the next, all the way to the lowest ranking herd member. That's how a herd survives so whether we acknowledge it or not, to a horse, we are either dominant or subordinate; http://www.juliegoodnight.co/questionsNew.php?id=16.

Our not accepting this fact can lead to danger. For example, I had an adult boarder whose first time horse was kept in our pasture with other horses. This gentleman believed his perfect (??) horse was biting and chasing off other horses to protect him from harm as he carried hay in. His horse's circling him tighter and tighter, kicking and biting other horses caused the other horses to fiercely fight for the food until there was a swirl of fighting horses surrounding him. He was so proud of his horse's “protecting” him, he never questioned it's behavior nor attempted to correct.

Eventually, it was so unsafe, we had to step in. How we handle feeding a group of horses is to bring the feed in a cart and make sure no horse gets near us as we drop the feed from place to place. Only when we have left the dropped flake and move on to another, do we let the horses approach. They may circle around but they are not allowed close to us or the flake until we leave. The longer they push us the longer they are kept from the hay. Soon they learn that staying a proper distance away from us will get them to the food faster. Trust me, it's hard to push away my sweet little yearling as he tries to hang out next to me while I feed but he will grow into a full size horse with manners if I am consistent with him now.

Here's where it's gets difficult for us to protect beginners. They want so badly to believe animals relate to a human emotion that our words to the contrary are often ignored or simply disbelieved. It's uncomfortable for us to decide when to draw the line even though there is no doubt we must. Being fully aware of a horse's power and strength overrides being uncomfortable because the chance of debilitating harm or even death is the alternative. I had to put a stop to our boarder's feeding pattern and he did begrudgingly comply but I could swear I saw a caption bubble over his head that went something like; @#$%^&* how rude!.

Take a look at the first picture on this hub. Our small herd of horses are enjoying a windy day on the ocean. As sometimes happens, they run off to play and have no interest in being haltered to go with us. A horse is no dummy and quickly figures out the difference between feeding time or if we're there to bring them in. Add a brisk sunny day with an ocean breeze and even our twenty year old mare acts like a young foal (sorrel with tail high leading the group). We don't, no matter how much easier it makes it, bring food to trick them to coming to us.

We don't bring food to catch horses because they will just as easily learn not to come to us if they don't see food. Ultimately, you will always have to bring food with you and once you start doing that, you're back to the whole crowding, fighting, and getting pushy looking for food issues. If you walk up to our horses in the pasture, they normally just stand there waiting or, unfortunately, it can also turn into one of those days in the picture. Not offering food to bring them in IS a hassle and sometimes we do a lot of walking back and forth. Still, the extra steps are worth it since we have students who need to get a horse from the pasture now and then. It's just not worth the risk of having our horses swarm around them looking for food. To encourage our horses to wait for us to walk up, occasionally we walk out to a horse, brush it or give it attention then simply walk away. This helps keep them from associating our arrival to work.

Every barn has their own rules about treating, some leaning towards allowing treating without limitations and other barns, such as ours, which don't treat at all. If our boarders or students must treat, we have them leave it in their horse's food bucket but not hand it to the horse. Seems like a lot of work for something so innocent but here's a look at how quickly a horse can turn quite dangerous and hurt you in a split second.(Warning, some of the written comments are inappropriate):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpXVZxnrdrI

My first thought about this was...bad horse. After reading the comments, I understood how my opinion could be the minority. Knowing horses the way I do, I didn't think her “hitting” was significant enough for the horse to feel fear or pain (definitely annoyance) but not fear or pain. I bet this wasn't the only time this horse has bitten someone. In the herd, horse's threats to one another are very loud with biting and kicking involved. More often than not, the threats are far worse than the bite or kick unless two horses are extremely determined to be the superior rather than subordinate. In that case, I've seen them fight to exhaustion or until we can stop them. I think this horse had no problem biting this child like it would another horse.

I don't want anybody around my horses to be bitten or kicked whether the horse was wronged or not. If the young girl had hit one of my horse, I wouldn't want any of my horses to respond as that horse did. Eliminating as many food issues as possible helps but it also helps to eliminate non-supervised children (if not for my horse's peace of mind at least mine!)

If you decide to bring treats anyway, do understand the reason we may say yes or no such as our solid NO for the paint horse pawing the air (second photo). This young mare looks wild and crazy but really, she was born on our ranch, halter broke and groomed since one week old and had never, ever gave us such a hard time. It was the same day as the picture with the herd running when all the horses decided to start running, bucking and playing as soon as we drew near. She was only playing and being a horse but, nope...no treat for her should someone ask.

We would allow a treat to be given to Alena (last picture) even though she at 20+ years got crazy along with the other horses that day. This little old Arabian mare turns on a dime, goes forward eagerly and stops with nothing but a halter for itty bitty child legs just like she would for a full sized adult. If someone wants to give her a treat, we often let them because she has paid her dues and deserves a bit of spoiling. Don't get me wrong, we pay the price for this digression because Alena's the first to be pushy looking for a treat. See her story at http://gohorsebackriding.blogspot.com/.

So, don't give that horse a carrot unless it's owner has specifically said it's OK. Nothing is worse than seeing people feed our horses without asking because they don't know the risk to themselves and they don't even know if that particular horse can stomach the treat (horses can have adverse reactions to certain foods or can even choke). If the owner says no, please be understanding because they aren't trying to be mean to you or the horse.

If you really want to do something the horse enjoys, maybe the owner will let you brush them a bit. A horse will stick their necks out and pinch their noses in pure delight if you hit the right spot!