[katylynn06]

Originally Posted by equestriandynam

Here's an idea.... dont let your kids try to feed a 1000lb animal unsupervised.

AMEN !!!!!

[lvmypnt]

I agree with JB 100%. I can hand feel Della treats. She is not pushy, she is not disrespectful and she will very patiently wait until the treat is offered and is very very gentle when taking it out of hand. She was taught the correct way to recieve treats.

I have a small girl (4 years old) that comes and rides Della occasionally and the girl feeds her treats and believe it or not Della is even more gentle with those tiny hands then she is with me. Again, she was taught correctly.

However, Poncho on the other hand is a treat monster and we are working on him accepting treats nicely. We do not put them in his feed bin any more as we realized we were just evading the problem. So we are working with him taking them respectfully. We will take him in the RP with treats and if he rushes us or noses us or shows one little sign of disrespect he gets sent off for some very fast paced "laps" then we will bring him in and try again. Sometimes he gets it other times he doesnt, but he is making progress. I would just much rather him learn to accept treats in the proper manner than just to avoid the problem and have some one get hurt.

[bay_blnd jmpr07]

I feed treats so rarely my youngens in the back never expect them. If I do give treats it's normally an after thought and I plop some into their grain for the night. If Mars was exceptionally well behaved for something I'll pop him a treat real quick my hand. I don't make a big deal about it. I hand him the treat and walk away. It's so rare (the treat, not the behavior LOL) that he doesn't go looking for them.

And I think Mars has a phobia about eating from hands...He takes forever to take it. He'll get close and back off and then take it...It took him MONTHS to finally eat treats (from bucket or hand).

Fiona...she's spoiled at the barn. She'll look, but she won't move or follow to find the treat. She'll sniff at you (no particular area though). If you give her one she'll beg/look for another. If you don't give her even one she doesn't go looking.

Legz...she's a mouthy mini...She rarely gets treats by hand. I normally throw them on the ground for her. She doesn't go begging/looking for them, but when she sees one she'll sometimes walk over for it, or I have to go to her. She's just not careful with her mouth.

My mom likes having neighbors come over and let them feed treats to Mars and Legz. I don't allow this any more. I love Mars and Legz, but I don't trust them around young, small kids with treats in their tiny hands. They can feed off of the kid's energy and I really don't want any accidents.

[royalrox]

I think it depends on the horse, I give Royal a little treat sometimes after a ride, and he's very polite about it. Most the other horses I'm around though inhale it like a vacuum...if your hand gets in the way so be it lol, so I don't feed them, and we try to keep others from doing it.

SO if your horse has the tendency to be rude about it then I owuldn't...

[AllAroundRdr]

I RARELY hand-feed mine anything -- they have feeders/buckets in their stalls for a reason. Neither of mine bit/nip, beg, search/reach, etc. but I don't want them to start either. It's far easier to create a habit than break one. --- mine aren't deprived by not getting handfed

[GingerSnap]

I have horses I hand feed treats and then there's Annie. Being an orphan she is mouthy to begin with so there is NO way I am going to encourage her to be even mouthier. Everything she eats is from a bucket. She has a completely different set of rules unique to her situation. And in a lot of ways we are more strict with her than the other horses.

[lvmypnt]

I guess I am a little confused about the majority of the posts here. IMHO a horse not knowing the correct way to receive a treat is just like any other problem a horse may have. Whether it's rearing, bucking, kicking, biting, not standing for the farrier, pulling back, not leading properly, or any of the other numerous problems that are being posted on here every day. Most of us want to and do fix all of these other problems for safety reasons and for the simple fact that it is not any fun to ride or handle a horse with the issues that I mentioned. Why would not being able to feed out of hand be any different. IMHO if you teach the horse to do it correctly then there is a lot less chance of someone getting hurt. Verses lets ignore the problem and when the horse doesnt know how to act accordingly then someone does get hurt.

[StarfireArizona]

Originally Posted by lvmypnt

I guess I am a little confused about the majority of the posts here. IMHO a horse not knowing the correct way to receive a treat is just like any other problem a horse may have. Whether it's rearing, bucking, kicking, biting, not standing for the farrier, pulling back, not leading properly, or any of the other numerous problems that are being posted on here every day. Most of us want to and do fix all of these other problems for safety reasons and for the simple fact that it is not any fun to ride or handle a horse with the issues that I mentioned. Why would not being able to feed out of hand be any different. IMHO if you teach the horse to do it correctly then there is a lot less chance of someone getting hurt. Verses lets ignore the problem and when the horse doesnt know how to act accordingly then someone does get hurt.

You read my mind to a "T"...... I was thinking the exact same thing.

A horse normally needs to be taught how to and how NOT to do most things we deem disrespectful or dangerous....and I am not quite sure how this is different

[puzzles mom]

I have given my horses hand fed treats for many years, I had one gelding who was a little pushy about it and needed correction but I haven't encountered any significant problems other than that. They are expected to be polite and respectful about that as with any other thing I do with them.

[zomer]

i agree with many of the posters here. taking treats properly is just one more kind of ground manners that horses need to have. you can never avoid a child feeding a horse through the fence, so get the behavior right. And not to mention the great rewards treats reap! My gelding thinks of me much more highly since I started giving him treats. He enjoys his time with me more, reward or bribe? who cares, he's happy, I'm happy, he uses his lips, not his teeth. It works for us so we will continue to do it.