Something I notice my minis do...

[MindyLee]

To funny now...

So It all started out with just one horse doing this stunt and I now noticed that it has spred through my entire herd of 8.

LOL. When I grain my minis, they all now paw the ground while stuffing the face in a bucket enjoying their grain. LOL

I also notice that they all push their hay around to eat the shake from the hay 1st also, then eat the hay.

Dose any of your minis or biggies do something funny like this when feeding them too?

 

[muffntuf]

My place is a circus at feeding time. I have everything from putting a hoof on a feeder and working themselves around in a circle to them picking their feeders up and tossing them around to stepping up on their gates so they can seem 'BIG' and implies a hurry out of me, to stomping, rolling on the ground because we are throwing a temper tantrum, to simple pawing. And yes if one starts, the whole barn goes. Its quite comical, sometimes annoying, but mostly comical.

 

[billiethekid40]

My two boys do both of those things most of the time. The only time they don't paw is when they're fed from a ground feeder... but then the little guy insists on dumping his tub over and eating off the dirt. His feed is always either in a bucket or on a mat or board for that reason (we have really sandy soil).

 

[MindyLee]

My place is a circus at feeding time. I have everything from putting a hoof on a feeder and working themselves around in a circle to them picking their feeders up and tossing them around to stepping up on their gates so they can seem 'BIG' and implies a hurry out of me, to stomping, rolling on the ground because we are throwing a temper tantrum, to simple pawing. And yes if one starts, the whole barn goes. Its quite comical, sometimes annoying, but mostly comical.

My mares do the same thing with trowing little temper tantrums till I put the gain in their buckets. Then All goes silent and the pawing begins.

 

[ohmt]

I have a stallion that literally attacks his grain. He yells at me while I get it ready (he is very vocal!) and then as soon as I drop the grain into his bucket he pins his ears back and opens his mouth so you can see all of his pretty teeth and then he takes big, fast bites of his grain at a time. It's pretty funny to watch!

 

[muffntuf]

Oh goodness ohmt that's actually bolting of food.

 

[minimom1]

Most of mine are good but I have one mare that likes to SLAM her bucket around in between bites, usually spilling most of her grain.

This same mare likes to PEE on the hay as soon as I put it down and turn my back which causes huge amounts of waste and I just got hay feeder bins so she can not do that.

We install them today when hubby gets home.

Then I have a foal that paws a lot and climbs in his feed tub while Mom is trying to eat.

 

[~Lisa~]

My minis do not do that but yep my ponies all do it paw the entire time they eat.. makes me crazy

all 3 ponies are almost cribbers to no one has quite mastered the entire thing but they all grab the pipe and pull back they have just not mastered the sucking air YET I am sure they will have it in no time.

Have not had a cribber here in a while last one was a mini.

And yes they are turned out 12 hours a day stalled at night in either a 20x20 where they can see neighbors or 2 are in foaling stalls 16x16 with large attached runs..

 

[cretahillsgal]

I have a mare here right now (not one of my own) who stands at the gate and then clamps her teeth on it and shakes it back and forth until I show up with the feed. Very annoying because she starts doing it the second that I open the feed room, but kind of funny too when you see her do it.

I also have a colt to bangs his feeder (hanging on the fence) with his front knee the whole time he is eating. I had to tie the feeder down so that he didnt flip the feed out in the process.

 

[AppyLover2]

I have a feeder tied down due to a rambunctous eater too. Haven't noticed him pawing recently but he was eating much faster than the others then running them away so he could finish their feed. I put a few rocks in his feeder and after about 3 days everytime I fed had to pick the rocks up and put them back. He learned pretty quickly to get them out of his way. LOL

 

[wingnut]

Our 11 yr old mare paws/digs the dirt in her stall while she waits. The other three mill about outside the stalls. I bring out two buckets first, one for the 11 yr old and one for the 2 yr old. The buckets get hung on the hangers in their stall. I lock them in their stalls.

Then I go back to get the other two buckets for the two yearlings. They start trying to push each other around and I've often gotten in the middle of them so I'm getting bumped around too. The one yearling tosses her head around and lays her ears back like she's the biggest baddest thing going in the pasture (when in fact, she's the lowest "man" in the herd). I've started making them stay outside of the corral until I've got their buckets hung. They have to wait until I release them to go to their buckets.

Each and every feeding, they both charge to the same bucket and the pinto yearling gets pushed away and moves over to her own bucket. The three younger girls "toss and bang" their buckets at some point while eating. I noticed the pinto yearling takes a mouthful of grain and then bites the side of her bucket...and loses 1/2 the mouthful as a result!

The younger three also paw and dig the ground while they eat. The one area under a bucket hanger has a large hole from their digging!

It's quite the show if you care to stand and watch!

 

[Katiean]

When Ellie wants attention she picks up the water tub (25 gal.) and dumps it. She has now tought Dusty to do it too. Some days I want to kill them.

 

[~Dan]

I don't have that problem (yet) but my mare, my baby, my love likes to take her big shoebox filled with cement for a head and slams it around inside her grain bucket and since its a rubber tub that sits on the ground she builds up mountains of shavings in the corners of her stall lol

And my gelding likes to dump all his grain out of his bucket and leave half of it behind buried in the shavings

And I too have noticed my horses like the "wind fall" from their hay too much better than the stemmed stuff lol

Dan

 

[CCC]

I have a stallion that literally attacks his grain. He yells at me while I get it ready (he is very vocal!) and then as soon as I drop the grain into his bucket he pins his ears back and opens his mouth so you can see all of his pretty teeth and then he takes big, fast bites of his grain at a time. It's pretty funny to watch!

omg that's funny, my Arabian did that too when I first got him! it was strange to see!! It's like he's biting /attacking his grain! lol He doesn't do it anymore though, not sure why lol

 

[O So]

To funny now...

So It all started out with just one horse doing this stunt and I now noticed that it has spred through my entire herd of 8.

LOL. When I grain my minis, they all now paw the ground while stuffing the face in a bucket enjoying their grain. LOL

I also notice that they all push their hay around to eat the shake from the hay 1st also, then eat the hay.

Dose any of your minis or biggies do something funny like this when feeding them too?

My guy does the same thing! Paws the ground and pushes his grain around the feeder! He also grabs the hay and try's to push it back out the top of the feeder. Or he will pull it out and throw it on the ground! Lot of good that 100 dollar feeder did!

At least the grain stays in the feeder!

 

[Leeana]

Yep, it gets kind of crazy out in my pasture when I take grain out to the bunk feeders in the mare pasture and I have only a small broodmare herd out there. Now with the larger pony mares (my horses out there range in heights 32"-46"ish), I take a whip out in the pasture with me to grain the broodmares.

I have a couple ponies that are "demanding" in the barn too when it comes time to grain.

 

[bannerminis]

I had a stallion (Teddy) that once he got his feed (in a bucket) would put the head in and start eating but while doing so would then proceed to get down and roll with the bucket on his head. When finished he would get up and finish eating his food and maybe have a finale roll with the bucket on his head and then fling it for effect. It was too funny to see him at it. Any foals with him would also copy - I suppose it was monkey see monkey do

Last yrs filly (Teddys daughter) even though she had never seen her daddy as he has since been sold also tries to roll with her food but I now use fence feeders and you should have seen her try to figure out how to roll while eating out of a fence feeder. So then what she did was while I was putting out hay etc she would go to the empty bucket that I used to dish out the food and put her head in and get down and roll.

Her dam Slaney likes to eat her food and when finished goes off for a few leisurly rolls but paws the ground like a demon until she gets her food.

My two boys just eat quietly and Rosie attacks the food with her teeth for the first few mouthfuls and Shimmer tries to get into the feeder and head butting it and sending food everywhere

.

 

[rubyviewminis]

These are so cute to read! All of my weanlings and yearlings have pawed frantically the whole time they are eating their grain. Then they outgrow it. But Holy Kamaole' is the funny one. His *bowl* is metal (for good reason). I put it in his metal barrel feeder and as he chews he rolls the flat bottomed bowl around the metal barrel making such lovely noise. And he always announces when it is all gone by flipping the bowl out and looking to see who is watching, then picks up the metal barrel and flips it too, never moving from his spot! As if to say, "Okay, where is the hay now!" I can barely lift that metal barrel myself!

 

[Bess Kelly]

Most days mine just go to their feeders and happily eat. BUT do not get out of order on who gets their servings first!!! Woooweee, then you have a problem. In one group of 12 mares there are two who have "habits". One, when she sees me heading to the first bunker (she eats at 3rd one), will run to the potty area and pee -- every time. Another will eat several bites, then go roll and come to finish....trust me, THAT one made me watch her for a while to be sure nothing was wrong but, couple years later and still same, all is well.

Years back, I stalled almost 50 adults (plus foals, in season) every night. All feed/hay was in stalls and doors closed. We'd let them in from pasture and they would run to the barn, trot down the aisles and stand by their respective stall until we walked thru and opened the stall door to let them in. There was no fighting or attempts to get into other stalls (well, obviously if new some issues). Just an amazing sight!

They sure are creatures of habit.

One of my stallions watches patiently while I feed, knowing his turn and if I miss "his" turn, he will then talk loudly to me! Once I enter his paddock, he runs to his shed, goes in and waits for me to serve his meal. This has gone on for years -- so, one day I stopped and just stood there after he had happy trotted to his shed. Just wondered what the reaction would be. Sure enough, after a few minutes and my not appearing to dump the feed, he stuck his head out, looking for me! So nice to be missed, LOL.