Trying to figure out a logistical challenge here. Let me start by saying that the horses are not going to be unsupervised, but things go wrong so fast…
Also, feed bags are not an option, the problem child goes ballistic if he feels that sort of confinement.
I need to figure out a way to safely feed soaked feed/supplements/grain out of ground pans to three horses. Because of wildly different calorie needs and dominance issues, I need to be able to tie them up while feeding (this is a pasture situation with no stalls). Until recently, I didn’t need to do this, but the calorie needs/supplements/dominant horse has all changed. And yes, of course the slowest eater is the least dominant and needs the most and specialized food!
I can tie to a fence, but what I can’t do is use hanging buckets. Or at least not for the problem child, because he will choke unless it is soup and on the ground (really soup and a lot of it). So he has to be tied long enough to eat out of a big pan on the ground.
Am I overthinking this? Do I just tie him to the fence with an unsafely long rope with a quick release knot and twine. Or is there something safer? Would a Blocker tie be helpful as a safety backup?
I just have this vision of him getting a leg over the rope while I am 20ft away and still having a wreck…
Get 3 10ft used gates and make yourself a portable stall somewhere along the fence. Feed problem horse in there, where his friends can’t bully him away from his food. (Alternatively, put the aggressive horse in there if he disturbs multiple horses and the remaining ones are relatively passive to each other.) You will have to go back out and open the stall gate, but you would have to untie them anyway. Keep the stall fully closed, or fully open (flat along the fence) after feed time to prevent someone getting trapped and hung up inside by the boss horse.
There is no safe way to tie and allow ground feeding.
If he is the least dominant, don’t tie him, tie the other two. Keep them off of him until he finishes. If you have to tie all three, can you try rigging some kind of high line in their feeding area? Or three tie posts buried in the ground with an eye bolt on top?
Another option might be portable corral panels - get enough to make two pens and leave the least dominant horse free.
I have a similar situation -feeding four horses outside, no stalls and different rations/supplements. Can everyone wear feedbags except the problem child? I feed three horses in bags, one eating out of ground pan just because it’s simple. Achieves the same objective, each horse can only eat their food.
Edited to add, I really like feedbags because the I know supplements/meds aren’t lost on the ground.
I have a fully implemented plan to build something similar this in our pastures for this exact reason:
You can tie the horses so they can’t back out and bug the others, you can leave them loose, you can add a butt bar…lots of options.
But for now…I would also recommend feed bags for those who will tolerate them, and ground pan for the one who will not. Horses learn pretty quickly - even the food aggressive ones - that they can’t get at feed in a bag on another horses head and thus learn to ignore it.
There’s some good ideas but if you really want to tie him, you can tie the lead to bale string on the fence and then drop the lead so it only falls a few inches from the ground. If the lead line is long enough to hit the ground it’s long enough for them to get caught in it. This way the horse can touch the ground but the lead line does not.
I worked as a trail guide and we would have to keep the horses tied up in between rides but we would give them hay and this worked. Never had any accidents and only once in a blue moon someone would break a bale string.
Thanks all. I totally agree there is no way to do it truly safely. But I was hoping that someone out there had that miracle, bright idea. Two of them I can tie and hang feeders on the fence. It is problem child that must eat on the ground, can’t deal with a feedbag, and is of course super dominate so must be tied. Sigh.
I am thinking that I tie the other two, safely, and simply hold him while he eats.
What I need to build is the configuration in Abbie’s picture, but that is not going to happen this winter!
I thought of portable panels, but then I thought about the average amount of mud, and then snow, drifting, and ice in the best location for them, yeah, not moving panels twice a day!
Can you tell this was not a planned for change?
As above, as he is the least dominant and takes the longest to eat, he does not need to be tied. You can give him his feed on the ground away from the others who are tied. If you want to let the others go when they have finished eating, you can hold him then.
Never tie any of them longer than them being able to reach the ground. They get ropes wrapped around legs and end up with nasty rope burns above their heels.
All you need is a couple round pen panels to make a safe place for the slow eating horse to go in. Much safer and easier . I don’t see any safe way to tie in your situation.
No, he is the most dominant. And eats the fastest. And has to eat on the ground. And, when weighed on the truck scale the other week, tipped it at just shy of a ton. Which is another reason, along with the snow, that I really don’t want to try the portable panels, which would make sense otherwise
Sorry I wasn’t clear on that!
He behaves perfectly when his halter is on, I was just hoping I didn’t have to stand with him while he eats.
I could leave the others untied to eat, but I can feed them at manger level, so I can hang their buckets on the fence. The big guy can just wait, in hand, while they finish! Actually, after he is finished, I can simply tie him up, safely, while the others take their time.
Are you thinking he will crash the panels down to get to the slow eater? Now I am confused 
Yep, he absolutely would. He respects the halter and he respects hot wire. When I first met him, he Climbed the tube gate. As in both front feet up on it. Because the former owner was carrying his food bucket and was, in his view, being slow.
So put a hot wire fence around him, feed him inside that, and make him wait until the others are done. If he respects the fence enough to not test it, you don’t even have to charge it. Or, use a battery powered fence charger for the short time he’d be in there. Step in posts and 2" tape is my electric fence of choice. Cheap and easy.
I like that idea, what worries me is that he might start thinking about testing the hot wire. And then I really am in a pickle. Because if he ever learns that he can go through hot wire…
I know I sound like I am creating a monster or overstating the case. But he really is that pushy. Except when he is tied. Once his halter is on, he is respectful. Which took me three years with some very ugly bits, but we got there.
None of this was a problem until recently because he and the other horse I had ate very little and about the same. But, I unexpectedly added another horse. So I now have A (our dominant, fast eating, must eat on the ground), B (old, not dominant, air fern pony), and now C (slow, not dominant, and needs a lot.)
Like I said, a battery powered charger is not that expensive and will deliver enough bite to convince him. 4 or 6 D-cell batteries can pack a wallop! Turn it on every other time you feed if you’re worried. Or, turn it on every time you put him in there. Doesn’t have to stay hot (and drain the batteries) unless you want it that way.
ETA - I just googled a few, you can get one that uses a 12V battery ($20.00) for less than $100.00 at Tractor Supply. THAT would certainly take care of any pushiness he might try.
Any way to set up an overhead tether? We fed at CTRs on the ground with the horses attached to overhead tethers all the time. Tether is tight about 3 feet above their heads, lead rope can be stationary attached and should hang about 3 inches above the ground.
That would be easy. But wouldn’t I still have the threat of him getting a leg over it?
Honestly, I would just hold him. If he takes less than 10min to eat, just chalk it up to a few minutes of zen time to yourself. You might come to enjoy it! There is really no safe way to tie him to the fence while eating off the ground. Even if there is very little slack, you’re likely to run into other issues (like him pushing his feed pan out of his reach).
Few other options:
Feed bags on the two less dominant horses (they learn pretty quick that they can’t steal feedbags)
Build a pipe stall on the other side of the fence for the slowest eater, so the dominant horse can’t break in
Tie him with a fence feeder of hay while the others eat loose, if he can eat hay at shoulder height, then feed him his dinner on the ground when they’re done (only works if he doesn’t riot, but if it becomes routine, he may think everyone is getting hay first)
I have made a feed pen from step in posts and electric tape and it worked very well. I had 4 broodmares, two fat and dominant, two skinny and submissive. However the submissive ones were dumb about being “confined” and eating, so I locked up the two fat mares at meal time.
I have electric on my top board fence, so I could easily hook into existing hot fence if needed. However, my fat mares are VERY respectful of white tape and I didn’t have to make it hot. A single half inch tape strung on 3ft plastic step in posts, tied to the no climb fence, kept them contained while others ate.
I’m thinking the moment of zen route and holding him is the best one. It is no bad thing to have to spend more time with him. Sometimes, one does circle back to where one was at the beginning of the idea!
