Dirty rotten bucket flinger

[Xanthoria]

Why do (young) horses fling their buckets, throw feed everywhere and make an over enthusiastic mess?

I have tried many solutions (fence feeder, tied bucket, manger, feed bag, grain dumped on the floor) and still often see expensive supplements and grain sprayed around the place and stomped on. My youngster dives in, takes two bites, then grabs the bucket lip and THROWS the whole thing out of reach, then fusses because he wants it back. Or scoops wads of grain over the edge of a fixed bucket with his nose onto the ground.

KNOCK IT OFF!

thanks. I feel better…

[Libby2563]

I don’t know but if you find the solution, let us know! I have a 14-year-old who hasn’t grown out of it yet. :mad:

[moving_to_dc]

I know that this isn’t the solution for everyone, due to the logistics of the space required, but…

I have found that feeding “flingers” in an empty 100g water tank allows them to fling (and paw) to their hearts content, and not loose any feed. IME, most of them settle down after a while and stop flinging and pawing. I continue to feed them in a 100g tank, and they seem perfectly content.

[S1969]

I think I read here once about someone that screwed a feed pan to a piece of stall matting. In order to get close enough to the pan, the horse would have to stand on the mat and it would make it impossible to pick up. Still moveable for cleaning, etc.

[Xanthoria]

But… but… why do they DO IT?

[keysfins]

@Xanthoria

But… but… why do they DO IT?

Because they CAN.

Have you tried a feed bag? Might be entertaining to you, instead of the horse.

[Bluey]

Have you tried these already?

http://www.doversaddlery.com/jr--feed-saver-lip/p/w1-c2853a/?eid=X18A00U1000&utm_source=google&utm_medium=PLA&utm_campaign=NB_PLA_Stable_GOOG&adpos=1o4&creative=193690851572&device=c&matchtype=&network=g

There are different kinds of feed buckets with lids you can add for the flingers, so the grain doesn’t end up on the ground.

Helps if the feeder is tied to the wall in three places.

Those kinds is what we used with race horses when one would sling feed around and it did help very much.

Now, those that take a mouthful and drop in in the water bucket, there is not much you can do for that.

[tazycat]

My one gelding does the dump his feed out.Grabs the feed pan in his mouth and slings it across the stall or pasture. Feed flies in all directions. Breaks the hanging flat back buckets within a week’s time. So rubber feed pan it is but feed ends up on the ground quite a bit. Does it more when not really interested in eating and that’s been the case now for a week. Flying feed pan and feed.

[Lord_Helpus]

If they want to fling it on the ground, then I feed them on the ground, on the grass. I put the little feed bucket that I mix the feed in so they can locate their food again after chasing other (faster eaters) away. Before I am out of the field, all of them have tipped the buckets over and are happily eating on the grass. If you can’t beat 'em, join 'em.

I wet everyone’s feed down so it is a mush. This way the horses with supplements have to eat them if they want the rest of their dinners.

[DoodlesMom]

I feel your pain. My older guy and his 32 yr old bff get fed lunch out in their field occasionally. They each have a fence feeder, which is bungied to the top rail, because… evil pony. Their pasture-mate is a 11-ish hand little devil child. She runs up to the buckets and slams her muzzle into the bottom of them, popping at least one side off the fence or flipping them completely over. Even WITH the bungies. sigh She can’t eat most of the food, because of the muzzle. And she gets her own tiny portion. But still. If she can’t eat it, NOBODY can eat it!

[mmeqcenter]

My 19 year old is still the worst so…

[buck22]

I have a dirty rotten food flinger. He’s the one with the most drama at feed time, begs and begs for me to hurry up! hurry up! because he’s staaaaaaarving. Then the instant he gets his food he flings it everywhere like confetti on new years. Inhales the measly pile left intact and then scrounges and grobbles through every crevice and corner of the mats to find each crumb.

Why horse? WHY???

A feed bag has gone miles to help, though he still flips his head in the air every once in a while and either a not insignificant amount of food spouts out the side and all over his neck and shoulder - which he then spooks at - or he’ll flip so vigorously the bag flings off his head completely. But most days, it stays contained.

If the drama increases, I’m going to sew in a light elastic to the top of the feed bag so it’s snug to his face a la lunch-lady cap style, while still allowing him to chew easily.

Oh, and he’s 13. Apparently, has been doing this all his life. I don’t expect it to change any time soon.

[Pippigirl]

You have my sympathies. While my horse waits until the feed pan is empty before flinging it about, she’ll take a big mouthful, lift her head and look around contemplating life while chewing with her mouth open. Feed goes everywhere and once feed hits the floor she rarely eats it. Her teeth have been checked, they are fine. It makes no difference if I feed on the floor or off the floor. If I hold the tub for her, nothing gets spilled and she’ll eat all of it…

[piedmontfields]

Why? Probably because they’re geldings aka mouthy babies at heart.

If my mare doesn’t like something, she destroys it. She doesn’t play with it!

Feed bags do work really well

[skipollo]

Mine does this and it drives me NUTS. He is never without food, so it’s not like he’s starving when he comes in for dinner. I’ve tried feeding him off a flat surface (swirls his head in a circular pattern thus spraying the grain all over the floor), rubber feed tub on the ground (takes one bite, swirls his head, sprays grain, STEPS IN IT AND FLIPS TUB OVER AND DRAGS IT THROUGH HIS BEDDING), and right now I have a regular flat back bucket hanging in his stall. I made a redneck bucket holder out of twine strapping the bucket to the wall (reinforced with Gorilla tape and multiple strands on twine), but he’s somehow worked those loose too.

He would flip his head around and empty a feed bag in a nanosecond. They do have bucket holders (look like metal cages) that you can buy for pretty cheap. I’m looking into one of those next because he makes me bonkers. They’re $20 or less on Dover.

[Xanthoria]

Yes - feed bags are the best! Mine can still get grain out with vigorous head tossing, and scrapes the bag on the concrete roughly so the bottoms wear out every few months, but it’s better than nothing.

Mangers fixed to the wall in a stall lasted 1 day. He’s on 24/7 turnout now. Concrete cow manger in yard is amazing, but popular with boarders so can’t always tie him there.

The head swirling! skipollo mine does that too. A veritable food blender with the lid off. GAH!

I still want to understand the why though. What evolutionary advantage is to be had from wasting food? :mad:

[Peggy]

Another frustrated owner of a head swirler here. He gets his pellets in a rubber feed tub on the ground and it doesn’t bother me that much bc he does rummage through his bedding to find them, they are findable, and if he doesn’t get it all, then so be it.

The supplements plus O&M are more problematic. They suffered from collateral damage when he swirled his pellets and are harder to find in the bedding. I tried a separate flat tub, but he doesn’t love the supplements, would loose interest in them, and then the tub would get buried. So I got one of those things that hooks over a railing–it lasted maybe 30 seconds before he flung it to the ground. Now I have a small flat bucket that I clipped to an existing ring in the corner of the stall using a carabiner (non-climbing version). This had worked ok. Eventually he gets bored enough that he eats the stuff in the bucket. But yesterday he managed to detach the bucket. Stable help found the bucket flung into the corner. I found the carabiner outside the stall. I suppose I could attach the bucket in more places, but he’s kind of a walking disaster-in-waiting at the moment. A bungee, for example, would probably end up taking out an eye.

The supplements are HorseTech and I plan to add the peppermint to it next time. Maple syrup is helping a bit. The crushed peppermint I bought during the holiday baking season (at WinCo, in the bulk bins) was lovely but I ran out. Most of the pelleted supplements use alfalfa as a binder to which this special flower of a horse is allergic; hence the HorseTech.

The total amount of O&M plus supplements fits in a quart ziplock if anyone has any bucket suggestions.

At least he’s cute (profile/avatar photo).