How can I keep my 4 yr. old thoroughbred from spilling his grain?

Question

He's just so inattentive to his eating. His teeth have been checked, and they're great. :) All tips are appreciated! :)

Answer 1

Use a feed sack. They save a lot of money in waste and the grain stays cleaner. Takes a little for them to get use to it but they learn fast on things connected to the belly. If you don't like feed sacks than pour the grain on top of a flake of hay so it don't slide around and let him have at it. If you feed from a hay feeder then just stand with him for a few minuets and hold a bucket of grain until they finish. Don't take that long.

Answer 2

Once your vet has cleared him of any medical issue then the probable cause is "because he can." Every horse and human partnership has a leader and a follower. There will be select times when the follower may be asked to lead, but in reality there is one boss. Your horse has applied for the job and assumed the leadership role. If I were fixing this issue (and I've fixed many issues over many years and hundreds of horses) I would begin on the ground. You have to take back the leadership position. You need to decide when and how he moves his feet. Every time he wins the problem will get worse. Stop riding him until you have his attention. What that will take depends on your level of expertise and the degree to which he wants to stay in control. It would be advisable to get a good trainer now. Find one who uses a natural method to train. That means a trainer who understands leadership and how to create obedience and willingness, not a trainer who dominates the horse and relies on punishment. Longe him. Do ground work. Work on ways to build leadership without letting him take over. This behavior needs to stop and stop now. With that said, here are a couple of things to think about. One way to keep a horse moving who won't go forward or backwards is to yield their hindquarters. Once your horse knows this maneuver on the ground you can teach it from the saddle. When I mount a young horse for the first time the first step I ever let a horse take is crossing one hind in front of the other to yield the hindquarters. They know it on the ground and learn it quickly from the saddle. With this tool a horse can't bolt, rear, or buck. You must have control of the feet. If I have a bad actor under saddle I will yield the hips (creates a habit of obedience as well as greater safety) and then I offer the horse the opportunity to walk forward. If the horse doesn't walk forward I yield the hindquarters the other direction. I repeat until the horse thinks that forward is a good idea. Never escalate your cue if the horse doesn't escalate his refusal. I can keep a horse's feet moving no matter what they have in mind. That's the entire matter - I choose where his feet go.

Answer 3

You didn't say how you fed it. I would try a trough (if you want to go cheap, a plastic barrel cut in half works great) if he swings his head from side to side, or you could put it in a dish on the ground, a raised bucket, etc. Horses respond better to different things.
One other thing might work- we use this to get horses to eat slower, but he may get less grain in a mouthful then and spill less- place a large rock in his feeder so he has to eat around it. Make sure it is big enough that he could not accidently eat it.

Some horses are just always messy- there is a mare that we feed twice the amount of grain to so she eats enough- we clean half of it off the floor everyday, no matter how we feed her.

Answer 4

Hi Glory, some horses just are messy eaters. I know what you mean. : ) Try getting a large flat pan for his grain, this way if he spills he will hopefully spill back into the pan. Putting a big rock in the middle of this pan will help slow down his eating, he may be gulping his grain? If this is the case give him his hay first too. Thanks for getting his teeth checked, that'd be the first thing. Other than that all I can say is some horses are that way. However, don't give him lots extra grain because then he'll just waste that. If he's wasting too much and getting hungry he'll watch his 'manners'. Hope it gets better!

Answer 5

Inattentive? Does this mean he looks around while he is chewing, tossing his head, and the grain is falling from his mouth? Or is he tossing the bucket off the fence while he eats(my mare did this), knocking the bucket over on the ground, running around it while he chews, kicking it over with his foot, just plain making a mess? In any of these cases, this has worked for me every time.
get a tire cut in half and nail it to a piece of plywood. A BIG piece of plywood like one of those 3X5 or bigger. This way, the horse steps on the plywood to get to his feed bucket, so if he tries to flip it, push it around, or whatever, he can't cause he can't push himself.(oh yeah, put the feed inside of the tire. I figured you might get it, but needed to say so, so not all is lost! lol) And because the plywood is soooo big, it catches the feed that is lost due to a tossing/wandering mouth, so that he can go back and pick it up and eat it without eating dirt. This position is also more natural for a horses eating and digestion, and improves what he gets from his feed. Horses were made to eat with their heads down, it streches their back and neck muscles, making them flexable, stonger, and more able to perform. These days everyone feeds their horses in hay feeders, Up off the ground, and in buckets, Up off the ground, so horses don't really get the stretching they need, and in turn get stiff and can't perform like they could.

Answer 6

Your horse may be excited or he may have trouble breathing through his nostrils. It's been proven in thoroughbreds that they breathe mostly through their mouths. This may be a breeding blunder where your horse has race lines where his sire, dams or grand sires, and granddames were raced. A lot of ignorant race horse owners use to plug their horses nose before a race with the belief that they could take in more air and run faster if they breathed through their mouth. Unfortunately when that horse got use to doing so he may have passed that habit down hereditarily.

A good way to stop your grain guzzler is to oil down his feed ration with veggie oil or corn starch works the best. Oil causes feed to clump and cause the horse to chew their bites more efficiently and longer- which will cause him to either drop his food or force him to breathe through his nose. Either way he'll get so sick of dropping his feed that he'll start breathing through his nose to eat.

Also moving his feed bucket to the ground will help him eat a whole lot better. He'll eat more naturally like he's grazing- and it's okay if they eat off the ground. It will not hurt him one bit.

Answer 7

I've dealt with this two ways:
1. I fashioned a flat and shallow feed box to place on the ground. Something that doesn't have round corners and won't tip over.
2. (And this is time consuming) Split up the feed amount into one to two handfuls (mouthfuls) at a time. If he has to wait in between bites, he has to "think" about how to handle that and pay attention more.

Answer 8

Put your horse's feedtub in a tire. Change what he's eating? Try a crunch mash or beetpulp. The tire thing works really good and cheap.

Answer 9

they sell pouches that fit over their head like a halter, but has a bag attached at the end for grain- try that, my quarterhorse did the same- except i baught it from India, so i don't know if they sell em here

Answer 10

have ya tried putting one of the feed holders that fit around his mouth and hooks onto the halter so when he eats it pretty much stays in the bag