Possessive feed times

SCD

New Member
Sep 8, 2024
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Have a new horse which is very possessive at feed times as attempts to dominate and turn his back end a raise back leg to kick.

Is fed in in field and upturns the bowl and paws until all food on ground and then will eat but if approached will turn his back end, ears back and bring back leg up. Once fed aggression disappears.
 
I'd leave him to eat in peace. As he's new to you it may also be that he's not settled yet and the behaviour will ease when he knows you better.
 
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It’s not that uncommon sadly, often seen in horses who had to fight for enough to eat, or those who haven’t had bucket feeds and when they get that bucket of gold get a bit overexcited about it. Generally with time and regular feed it lessens. With positive reinforcement you can definitely help it along but as he’s new to you it’s best to wait and see if it sorts itself with time initially, it can take some a year or more to settle in a new home.
 
My young lad use to take the biggest first couple of mouthfuls he could and whilst trying to scoof it down, pawed/struck his feed bowl so the rest went straight on the floor. He did this every feed be it in the field or in the yard. It became very dangerous because id barely be out the way or still bending down when the foot came forward to stike the bowl. It got worse the longer this behaviour continued. Whilst he never kicked out with his back legs when i went round the back end he did swing towards me when i put the bowl down. I learned to get out the way quick but this didnt teach him anything. So in the end i did intervene and asked for respect. By putting the bowl down and asking him to back up a few steps. If he did this calmly i then invited him forward with my arm/hand gesture (much like you do training a dog,) as a way of granting permission to have his food. It had to be a direct back up or he would be cheeky, try to turn and bring a back leg up or worse out sideways in my direction.

I resolved his pawing behaviour. In the yard i got a metal beer keg stood it up on end and my black rubber feed trug sat nicely in the rim. This was far too high for him to get his foot to.
In the field was more tricky as i feed in different spots but i got some tyres and stacked them two or three high then used one of the bowls you can buy that fits in them. Again high enough if was too much effort to lift his foot up to strike.
Eventually he just forgot about striking out.
You need to be consistent with the raised feed bowl for a couple of months. On the odd days i forgot to raise his feed up, he went straight back to pawing the food bowl on the floor. I think it took me probably 6 months to completely fix it.

Even now 7 years on he will still try taking big mouthfuls as soon as the bowl goes down and he will lift his legs or pace a little whilst scoofing the first couple of mouthfuls but generally he doesnt strike or swing round so im much safer. I dont ask him to back everyday but if he gets cheeky every so often i do remind him that i am to be respected and i make him step back.
 
My young lad use to take the biggest first couple of mouthfuls he could and whilst trying to scoof it down, pawed/struck his feed bowl so the rest went straight on the floor. He did this every feed be it in the field or in the yard. It became very dangerous because id barely be out the way or still bending down when the foot came forward to stike the bowl. It got worse the longer this behaviour continued. Whilst he never kicked out with his back legs when i went round the back end he did swing towards me when i put the bowl down. I learned to get out the way quick but this didnt teach him anything. So in the end i did intervene and asked for respect. By putting the bowl down and asking him to back up a few steps. If he did this calmly i then invited him forward with my arm/hand gesture (much like you do training a dog,) as a way of granting permission to have his food. It had to be a direct back up or he would be cheeky, try to turn and bring a back leg up or worse out sideways in my direction.

I resolved his pawing behaviour. In the yard i got a metal beer keg stood it up on end and my black rubber feed trug sat nicely in the rim. This was far too high for him to get his foot to.
In the field was more tricky as i feed in different spots but i got some tyres and stacked them two or three high then used one of the bowls you can buy that fits in them. Again high enough if was too much effort to lift his foot up to strike.
Eventually he just forgot about striking out.
You need to be consistent with the raised feed bowl for a couple of months. On the odd days i forgot to raise his feed up, he went straight back to pawing the food bowl on the floor. I think it took me probably 6 months to completely fix it.

Even now 7 years on he will still try taking big mouthfuls as soon as the bowl goes down and he will lift his legs or pace a little whilst scoofing the first couple of mouthfuls but generally he doesnt strike or swing round so im much safer. I dont ask him to back everyday but if he gets cheeky every so often i do remind him that i am to be respected and i make him step back.
My yearling started doing this in the summer so I just walked her round her field until she looked at me or away from the food only had to do it twice and she got the message. With the hoof in bucket I just got taller buckets and she only tipped it over once as she didn't like the feel of the bucket on the tops of her ears lol
 
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