Regular Feeding Times??

This is something I've been meaning to post about but got sidetracked because of the email and trainer posts, so here goes.

By and large, I'm not a fan of super regular feeding times. It's been my experience that as long as I get out to feed within a certain time period every morning and evening, the horses do fine.

Now I have friends who would rather DIE if they deviated even 10 minutes (no kidding) about feeding. But it seems to me, when a horse is soooo regulated, they get kind of like Pavlov's dogs and start acting up in the barn, such as pawing and kicking maybe, when the internal clock goes off in their grapefruit-sized brain. I think horse's know what time you feed if it's a really regular time.

My way, when I go to the barn, I may fiddle around a bit or I may even be 'late' getting there or better yet, from the horse's point of view, feeding earlier in the morning. Keeping them a bit off balance and not anticipating when their feed is going to hit the bucket is way better to me. Also, if something comes along, such as an emergency or an important event, you almost know that your horse isn't going to go nuclear and hurt himself if feed is a little late.

What do I mean by 'within a certain time period'? In my book, give or take an hour at the very most, excluding emergencies. I used to be the right-on-time feeder till I watched a friend of mine who didn't ever get out to feed till around 10a.m. every morning and she never had a problem with hungry horses acting up. She fed late in the day too with plenty of hay and all was fine.

I do feed a lot of hay as I want my horses to 'graze' as I don't have pasture right now and I want them to keep busy and not concentrate on the feed time.

Another thing, when you feed late or at 'odd' times, you have a chance to watch your horse as he moves around the corral or stall or whatever you have him cooped up and make sure things are okay before you throw feed and hay. He's not going to stand at the fence and bang on it or pace or act abnormal, he'll just know in his mind that feed will get there and don't sweat the small stuff.

I'm sure you'll find all sorts of studies that say to feed at the same time every day but in my practical experience, it's not the best way for me or my horse(s).

Get out there and enjoy that caballo!! :-)