# Mass Feeding? :\



## Clair (Jun 7, 2010)

I'm bringing my boy up to college with me and we have him set up with a place to board close to campus. Its the best place we looked at.

Its cheaper than leaving him at home
They have a great tack room 
An English arena 
A western arena 
A jump field
50 Acres for the horses with a run in shed
A couple wash racks
And the owner is a young vet, her husband does the day-to-day work and is very sweet.

It all seems great. There's just one thing.

They mass feed.

I've never even heard of this... they put all the horses in together somewhere with one feeder per horse and they all get the same amount and they just switch and scramble I guess...

Which means no supplements and how the heck do you know how much they are ACTUALLY eating?

I'm worried because Kelty is an easy keeper but very dominant and LIVES to eat. He is extremely dominant to other horses with food and always assumes the alpha position at every barn. (Never aggressive towards people.. But horses.. You better stay away from his grain.)

I'm worried that:
A) this will really stress him out
B) he will injure other horses
C) he will injure himself
D) he will get really fat
Or 
E)All of the above

Right now he's in horsey Hilton and I will feel terrible moving him to this place if it will make him crazy.. 

Have you guys ever heard of this? What do think?

I'm not moving him til September as well, if that helps.


I was thinking of offering to pay extra for them to just tie him to a fence and feed him out of a bucket by himself...

Please input! 

Thanks!
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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

The summer camp I work at does this. We currently have 35 or more horses there and don't have the means to feed each one separately without big fights (they are pasture kept, not stabled individually). There are very large troughs and we feed by the bucket full. Once a pecking order is established, there isn't a whole lot of fighting. Maybe the occasional spat when one horse tries to butt in and eat before it's his or her turn, but they all get enough. 

Abby is fed this way in a separate pasture with only 6 (give or take. Some are moved into the camp herd because they were once camp horses now owned by staff) other horses. I would love for her to be taken out and given her supplements (SmartCalm and UGard, nothing absolutely important, just precautionary against ulcers she's had before), but it became a total hassle because most mornings they aren't even near the fence and at 7am, I am not in the mood to go chasing after my grumpy mare that won't eat her supplements from a bucket with some grain while being watched by other horses. So until August, she won't have them, but she hasn't shown nearly the anxiety she has in the past while at camp.

If he's easy to catch and tie up so he can eat separately, I would ask. It would definitely help you keep tabs on how much he is actually eating in case something health-wise came up and he wasn't eating like normal or just to maintain a specific weight.


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## Clair (Jun 7, 2010)

Thanks that makes me feel better... He will be with like 9 other horses I think.. 

he is ridiculously easy to catch, so maybe they'd do that... Hmm thank you. I'm glad its not some unheard of barbaric practice.
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## aspin231 (Mar 20, 2010)

My horse is 'mass fed' with about 30 other horses. They're all in good weight and there's enough to go around so there's never really a problem. It it starts to be an issue, then address it when the time comes, though I doubt it will.


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## zurmdahl (Feb 25, 2009)

I use to be at a barn that fed the same way and all of the horses did well, they were all easy keepers and out on grass anyways though and got very little grain. My horse who sounds very similar to yours did get pudgy though, so you might want to watch out for that


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## Skipsfirstspike (Mar 22, 2010)

I wouldn't worry too much about it. One barn I worked at used to mass feed.
The key thing IMO however, is to make sure there are more food stations than there are horses. Just like when feeding hay flakes in a paddock, you put out more piles than horses.
We did have one horse that was just too submissive, and the other horses refused to allow him to eat, so we would bring him into a stall. Had one been too aggressive, it would have been separated as well.
I would think it will work out fine.


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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

FEED BAGS!!!!!! The best invention ever! I have 10-20 that I have to feed in a group. I feed the dominant ones first and by the time I get to the last horse, I go back around and take bags off. There are soooo many benefits and the cons are minimal.

*No stealing food.. less aggression
*You can feed a different feed
*You can feed supplements
*They can drink with them on if they need too.
*Helps with catching horses
*Can help with head shyness
*You can feed them in a different place each time so there isn't a mud pit
*Very safe as it will pull the adjustable crown piece out
*Easy to clean

Cons

*They last on average about 6 months depending on the horse
*They only hold about 4 lbs of pellets.. (not sure for sweet feed)


I would ask the barn owner if they could use a feed bag for your horse and supply them with a extra one or two. Who knows they may switch the whole herd!


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## StormvaleQHStud (Dec 16, 2010)

Oh I reckon there will be problems. You see the key points to me were the dominant bits. Because sure you could use fees bags etc if you are going to be there to stop the dominant ones. But I have an alpha mare that is the top notch no matter who she is places with even other dominant horses bow down to her. Shes a down right ***** to other horses ha! The problem being is not everyone sticks around to watch/wait for their horses to finish like I do. I either have to hold my alpha mare or take the slower eating horses out of the pad till they finish before putting them back. If you don't watch the dominant ones actually eat rather quick and will end up going and finishing off everyone elses feed and therefore get a million times more fat!!! And he may actually like being there because of all that feed selection haha. I would suggest him getting fed separate or maybe they put him in a pen for the night so they don't have to untie etc they can just put him back in the big pad in the morning? Just my two cents anyways mate 
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## Stakie (Jul 11, 2011)

I would just ask for them to watch over your horse and take precautions. I have never mass fed but I am sure problems can arise..but they can also be fixed.


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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

I don't get what your saying? You feed the dominant horses first then feed the less dominant. By the time your done putting feed bags on everyone you start taking them off. I'm not sure why someone would but a bag on a horse and not wait to take it off? There is virtually no downside to feed bags.. I've been doing it for 2 years and IMO there is no other way to feed groups of horses.




StormvaleQHStud said:


> Oh I reckon there will be problems. You see the key points to me were the dominant bits. Because sure you could use fees bags etc if you are going to be there to stop the dominant ones. But I have an alpha mare that is the top notch no matter who she is places with even other dominant horses bow down to her. Shes a down right ***** to other horses ha! The problem being is not everyone sticks around to watch/wait for their horses to finish like I do. I either have to hold my alpha mare or take the slower eating horses out of the pad till they finish before putting them back. If you don't watch the dominant ones actually eat rather quick and will end up going and finishing off everyone elses feed and therefore get a million times more fat!!! And he may actually like being there because of all that feed selection haha. I would suggest him getting fed separate or maybe they put him in a pen for the night so they don't have to untie etc they can just put him back in the big pad in the morning? Just my two cents anyways mate
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


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## StormvaleQHStud (Dec 16, 2010)

Yep if I don't she charges every one if she doesn't get hers and won't let others eat. And I can guarantee she will find a way to make that horse want to die if they didn't stop eating from theirs. I know it's attached to their faces but god she would kill them!! I couldn't use them it would be too dangerous for my own horses IMO. Nothing beats having an alpha mare :/ seriously. I love her and she is very well trained if I step in and say no but it's easier to separate here and also I won't paddock horses together that don't get along because if I do my alpha mare will literally run them through a fence if she doesn't like them so better to be safe than sorry.
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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

I have an alpha mare who is the sweetest horse to people but is the DEVIL to other horses. Unfortunately for her, she is fat and is always the 1st one done. I leave the bags on until everyone is finished. Sometimes she does go up to the other horses and tries to get their bags but they just move away. She may chase them for 10 seconds and then stops. She figures out pretty quickly that its too much work and goes back to licking her bag clean making sure she's got every last morsel.. Another thing that's great about the feed bags is she can't really bite anyone when chasing them. 

Bottom line... don't knock it until you try it! Give it a week and you'll be sold!


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## StormvaleQHStud (Dec 16, 2010)

Nah I'm ok. Seriously my mare does not give up untill I intervene she will boot them and do everything under the sun. Plus I do not like you can't put full feeds in which my horses get if they need to be hard fed. If they don't they have just hay and grass. And btw I wasn't knocking them I am only stating my opinion for the OP lol.
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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

StormvaleQHStud said:


> Plus I do not like you can't put full feeds in which my horses get if they need to be hard fed. If they don't they have just hay and grass.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I have absolutely no clue what your saying here. lol


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## StormvaleQHStud (Dec 16, 2010)

Didnt you say something about their size of the bag that you can only put a small amount in each time?
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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

I don't feed more than 4lbs in them at once but they make bigger sizes that could comfortably hold 5lbs.. if your horse is eating more than that in one feeding, there are other issues at play.


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