I would be surprised if this thread didn’t veer widely off topic from what it started out as.
You have boarding barn and feeding all rolled into one. It is COTH after all( as you mentioned).
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Then why does most everyone on here insist that their horses must have 24/7 access to forage to manage/ prohibit ulcers??? Surely I didn’t make that up.
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Might I suggest adding a spin-off thread re: forage access/ulcers instead of continuing the tangent here?
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I can tell you that mine don’t show signs of ulcers and they don’t have hay in front of them 24/7…because they are not “foraging” for the hay they suck it up like a vacuum. There are a few threads around here with fat metabolic young horses…that is just wrong.
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Maybe the guns can go too?
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It’s not as simple as saying fat, metabolic young horses is caused by 24 hr access to food. What type of food? How is it fed? What breed of horse?
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To bring it back to the original topic:
It doesn’t hurt to ask
the BO/BM may say no for a myriad of reasons
If they say YES:
- your horse may (or may not) be grumpy about work before breakfast after (presumably) a pretty well set routine of food then ___ then ____.
- maybe a preride snack while you finish a coffee/tea/Mud/flat water/sparkling water/tap water/Insert sports drink
- your horse may not care at all
- the neighboring horses may cause a fuss
- the neighboring horses may not.
That’s about it. But I’m SURE i’ve missed something critical.
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Because there is evidence that doing so can be a mitigating factor.
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And when people have dealt with or are dealing with a significant health issue, people tend to want to do everything they can to help their horse. Because they don’t know which things will be the solution when there are so many possible contributing factors. And maybe it’s several things helping a bit that together become the solution.
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God bless clients like you 
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After all this, I hope the OP comes back and tells us what happened. Or has that bee posted and I missed it?
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Last barn I worked at, there was an older couple who did the stall cleaning on a barter arrangement in exchange for board for their OTTB. They handled 100% of the care for that horse in a barn where basically every other equine was on full or training board. They kept to a semi-regular schedule with him that ran about two hours later than the rest of the barn at afternoon feeding. Not only that, but he lived in the no man’s land of the Amish 4-stall barn in the back pasture with the trainer’s half feral horses and the field boarders. Feeding that crew was an unenviable chore – a noisy, epic saga on par with Gilgamesh or Beowulf.
Never heard so much as even a grumble or bang of a water bucket from that horse. On numerous occasions, I actually peeked into his stall because he was so quiet I got scared that something was wrong 
Nope. He was always just perfectly self-confident and content; chilling in his immaculately clean stall and munching his hay. He’d glance up to meet my gaze like: “Lady, I’m good. What’s your deal??”
Between the remoteness of the stall and the turnout arrangements, it always amazed me that he never fussed.
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No you didn’t miss it. I think the OP ran screaming away when the thread got a little derailed. They haven’t been back.
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He knew the deal and was old and wise enough to know not to waste the energy fussing. Add the probability of hay access 24/7 and I can see him being chill.
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They know us, they know Routine & are even flexible with that.
My 3 bring themselves in from pasture when they see me headed for the barn.
If I happen to step outside near the usual feed window (stretches an hour or more in either direction) & don’t walk their way, they’ll line up at the fence. If that falls to bring me, they’ll go back to grazing.
No fuss, they know I’ll be there in good time.
Even if I’m waaaaaay early or late, noone stresses. Except me 
They sort themselves into their stalls - Dutch doors at the back always open - & wait for me to dispense hay.
Well… except for the entitled mini who comes in the service door ahead of me: the VSE Doorman 
Horse is the only one who occasionally bangs his stall door. Reminding the Help who gets a flake first 
If “Quit!” doesn’t stop him, he gets served after the pony. 
Pony does an anticipatory Downward Dog waiting his turn.
Mini is in the aisle, plundering the stacked bales, before “helping” me fill feedpans.
He goes into his stall when I tell him “Go to your house”, but in a leisurely way.
To remind me of my status 
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I am in southern Oregon. It regularly gets 100° or more for at least two months out of the year. I have summer hours. That means Lessons and riding are done by 11. 12 at the very latest. Lessons commence again at 7 PM. And go as late as is needed. Same thing for hours in the Barn.
I own the place and I am the Burn manager, if somebody wants to come and ride at 5 AM they just need to coordinate with me so we can get the ring done the night before.
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I boarded at a barn with a 30 acre geldings only pasture. At feeding time they’d line up by the gate and the gate got opened and everyone trotted into their stalls. The number varied but it was never less than 20 horses nor more than 30 but it was AMAZING to watch!
Of course the first few times watching I was so nervous my heart was in my throat.
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I hear you. Southern Oregon, or Southeastern Oregon? Generally speaking, on the coast it just doesn’t get that hot. I’m in Seattle area. Obviously, in eastern WA they get the higher temps in the summer, too. I was referring specifically to her sweeping generalization of the “West Coast.”
I’ve been to Ashland OR on the SW side of the state, not the coast but not the east side and it was blistering hot. I think Medford might even be worse. I don’t know where Arlomine is but if you follow I-5 south it can get very hot in the summer.
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I love the idea of barns having summer hours–I wish more barns did this, if possible.
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