Eating on the trail

[Serigraph]

I took my greenie out for his first solo trail ride yesterday. I meant for the ride to be short, and relaxing and not ask much of anything. He kept snagging the trees along the way though.

We will just trail ride for pleasure, but still he doesn’t have to snack and go every few steps.

Do you all have munchers on the trail? My other horse who learned to trail ride from being a show horse, doesn’t even think about it.

Fortunately I think it will be easy to break and I corrected him on the way back and he was getting it.

[ponygrl25]

It’s one thing to let them stop and eat on the trail when you want them to, but I wouldn’t let him grab tree branches. That can be very dangerous for you both. I have seen people almost knocked off of their horses when the horse snagged a branch at head height and pulled it right into the riders face and kept walking. A friend of mine actually got a piece of a twig rammed into her eye:eek: that caused serious damage and now she always rides in sunglasses (and doesn’t let her horse eat leaves). The horse also is not paying attention to you when he is doing this which isn’t safe, especially with a greenie. Not to mention that some leaves can be toxic to horses. Every horse most likely does this at some point, I know all of my ponies try it:mad:, but I wouldn’t encourage it at all. It is different if you are training your horse to stop and graze on longer rides or for competition. This not a good habit, but it sounds like you can stop it with a little work. Good luck with your greenie!!

[katarine]

train for it. For me, a verbal ‘go ahead’ and a push on the crest just ahead of the mane=EAT all you want. If they don’t get that, no eat.

Just train for it. Letting them do it willy nilly=distracted horses with clumsy feet and poor attention to detail.

YMMV

[Shadow14]

From the time the bit goes in my horse’s mouth until it is removed he does not eat, nothing, drink yes but no snatching at food regardless if it is put right in his face as plowing through tall corn.
He gets nothing. He won’t starve to death, he eats all day long, he can forgo eating for a few hours.
I bump him with the spurs if he snatches something with a stern NO

[chicamuxen1]

riding a horse for hours and not letting them eat forage is a recipe for ulcers. I do teach my horses the word “Eat”, keeping it simple, and after stopping I tell them eat and jiggle the reins to teach a lowering of the head. I also hate grabbing a branches and i want a horse to eat when told to, not just jerk and grab.

I know a lot about ulcers unfortunately and so does my credit card. If you ride for long at all and/or ride at faster than a walk then you want forage going into the stomach to suppress the splashing stomach liquid (acid) into the lower stomach, protecting the upper areas of the lining from the acid. Also, saliva generated when chewing has a buffering effect and most forages also do. so train them to eat grasses/clovers/etc and pull up briefly, eat and go on. Horses also relax when they lower their heads so it’s a settling effect.

Bonnie S.

[Guilherme]

When we go out for a longer ride we dismount and walk for a few minutes every hour or so (following the Cavalry practice of a bygone era). Part of that is also a “rest” time. If graze is available we allow the horses to graze.

IMO allowing the horse to grab food whenever is a poor practice. As noted it shifts control of the project to the horse and distracts them from their job. This can have some unfortunate consequeces for horse and rider.

If the rider wants to allow the horse to eat and keeps control of the situation then that might not be so bad, assuming the rider has the skill and experience to know when to say “yes” and when to say “no.” For green riders this is a dicey business and I’d recommend they not do it at all until they get some experience (and not just on the trail, but in controlling their horse under difficult circumstances).

G.

[JollyBadger]

When I am riding, I don’t allow my horse to “enjoy the buffet.” If I start to let him get into the habit of eating as he goes, his focus begins to shift from putting his feet where they need to go, and he ends up tripping over things simply for lack of paying attention.

We will occasionally stop along the trail (in my “home park,” there are some nice, open, grassy fields that are perfect) so he can graze for a while and take a break. Otherwise, the “buffet” is off-limits.

[Serigraph]

We don’t trail ride as our main discipline. I’d like to do more, but don’t have the access.

This was his first ride thru the woods out alone. When he did try to snag a branch, it was right in his face. We had to go right up against a tree line and then a very narrow path in heavy woods. Out where there is a little more space, he didn’t go out of his way or anything. But none the less, I told him no and he got it. No biggie.

It was more a question of some who do it naturally and some who don’t even think about munching like my TB.

[Auventera_Two]

Trail horses are often ridden for hours at a time and that’s a lot of time for a horse’s stomach to be empty. Horses are grazers and their digestive tract is meant to process food almost constantly. I encourage my horses to eat on trail! Trust me…you DON’T want ulcers! :eek: :no: As Bonnie said - me and my credit card know this all too well. The first time you dump 1500 bucks on gastrogard, you’ll be sorry you didn’t let your horse eat on the trail.

But you don’t let them just rip the reins out of your hand. You train them that when you tell them its ok, then its ok to stop and grab some mouth fulls.

I never let my horse go more than 30-45 minutes without grabbing at least 4 or 5 big mouthfulls of grass.

My endurance horse can eat at a trot. I give her some rein, and she swings her head down, grabs a big mouthfull and keeps trotting. I also trained her to turn her head around and take a carrot when I tap on the right side of her shoulder. She can do that while walking or slow trotting and never misses a beat.

Not only from a stomach standpoint - but I also think that it keeps the horses mind more fresh and interested. You can sure as heck burn out a trail horse just like you can burn out an arena horse.

[pines4equines]

Hay

I’m afraid I let my horse eat on the trail. He can not rip the reins out of my hands but can snag stuff along the trail. But we’re not doing any competition nor do we go faster than a walk.

I’m just too tired to do anything more these days.

[lizathenag]

I let my boy have a bite when we stop and I let him. As an OTTB I am thrilled that he is relaxed enough. I don’t let him graze as we go though.

[gypsymare]

My mare is absolutely not allowed to root the reins from my hands at anytime. So I can ride along on a loose rein but not so long that she can reach her head down to the grass. She will test it softly on occasion but when she meets the rein will not press the issue. So if I am inclined to let her eat on the move I give her enough rein to do so but demand that she maintain her foward tempo. Or stop, loop the rein and tell her to “go ahead”. I don’t allow her to grab at trees.

[rmh]

A narrow tree lined trail is a smörgåsbord for my horse. When leaves are touching me from both sides it is hard to keep him from snatching bites of leaves. If I can I don’t let him eat when he wants to to. But if I am stopped he can graze. It helps with keeping him there. He ground ties pretty well, something to munch on helps.

[Shadow14]

[QUOTE=rmh;4140973]
. He ground ties pretty well, something to munch on helps.[/QUOTE]

Ground tying and munching don’t go together. When I drop a rein I don’t want my boy dropping his head and start grazing. He would step on the reins and all horses graze and walk at the same time.
I want him to stand perfectly still, head held normal with a rein hanging on the ground, NO EATING.
If I am going a distance from him I slip on a hobble which I always carry and again no eating.
Eating leads to trouble.
Horses that are stalled over night in the winter don’t eat all night, they run out long before dawn and just sleep or stand and wait. They can go without eating for a few hours easily. I see hundreds at the market saturday or at church sunday and they are not eating.

[Sithly]

[QUOTE=Auventera Two;4140096]
I encourage my horses to eat on trail! Trust me…you DON’T want ulcers! :eek: :no: As Bonnie said - me and my credit card know this all too well. The first time you dump 1500 bucks on gastrogard, you’ll be sorry you didn’t let your horse eat on the trail.[/QUOTE]

Not trying to pick on you, A2, but I remember you talking about letting your horse eat on the trail long before your ulcer fiasco.

I don’t think eating on the trail is going to prevent ulcers. It didn’t in your case. shrug

Anyway, I have a grazing cue for my horse, both on the ground and from the saddle. He’s allowed to eat only when I give the cue.

[tabula_rashah]

[QUOTE=chicamuxen1;4139993]
riding a horse for hours and not letting them eat forage is a recipe for ulcers. I do teach my horses the word “Eat”, keeping it simple, and after stopping I tell them eat and jiggle the reins to teach a lowering of the head. I also hate grabbing a branches and i want a horse to eat when told to, not just jerk and grab.

I know a lot about ulcers unfortunately and so does my credit card. If you ride for long at all and/or ride at faster than a walk then you want forage going into the stomach to suppress the splashing stomach liquid (acid) into the lower stomach, protecting the upper areas of the lining from the acid. Also, saliva generated when chewing has a buffering effect and most forages also do. so train them to eat grasses/clovers/etc and pull up briefly, eat and go on. Horses also relax when they lower their heads so it’s a settling effect.

Bonnie S.[/QUOTE]

agreed

my horses are allowed to eat (grass, not grabbing random bushes) when they are on a loose rein and as long they keep moving. They all learned it relatively fast and do fairly well with an occassional reminder. We also usually do a stop for lunch and allow them to graze.

[Auventera_Two]

@Sithly;4141130

Not trying to pick on you, A2, but I remember you talking about letting your horse eat on the trail long before your ulcer fiasco.

I don’t think eating on the trail is going to prevent ulcers. It didn’t in your case. shrug

Anyway, I have a grazing cue for my horse, both on the ground and from the saddle. He’s allowed to eat only when I give the cue.

You’re right. But knowing that my horse is ulcer prone, I won’t let her go hours without food now, that would be a disaster.

[Beverley]

I don’t let mine browse while riding- but I haven’t gotten after my gelding as much as I should- he knows better with me but with others he will get away with murder!

I will let them graze, mounted or not, with bit in mouth, when I tell them it’s okay. Like on an all day cattle drive last week when we stopped every couple of hours. If I’m on a trail ride where we’re planning to stop along the way, I’ll put the hobbles on, remove the bridle, and let him graze while we are eating.

[amdfarm]

There’s a reason I nicknamed my horse “snack cake” when trail riding. He’s quick and does it when I least expect it. He uprooted an entire cornstalk on a ride once and happily carried this 5’ long + stalk in his mouth whapping the horse next to us in the face until I could turn his head and grab it from him. He did get in trouble for that and was not allowed to snack for the remainder of that ride. He won’t do it if I stay on top of it the entire ride, but I trail ride to relax, chat w/ friends, enjoy the scenery and so forth, not stop him from doing what comes naturally when he sees an open field or a big oak tree w/ leaves hanging in his face. He’s food motivated and will do anything for food. And after 17 years together, I’m not going to change anything.

[prudence]

Since horses are grazers (unlike us) that do best eating continually, this keeps the intestines continually active and the horse is much less likely to colic. On an endurance ride, one of the criteria to continue is a good score on “gut sounds.” You want noise there! If your horse can grab some chow on the trail, he will be more likely to have them, and have less chance of colicking.

BUT - the OP is a pleasure rider and I can understand training a pleasure horse not to grab at straws every chance he gets. When I was little, I rode a pony with a wire attached from the saddle to the bridle so he couldn’t chomp down. Most horses catch on not to do it; when you are little and not strong sometimes you need help.