Bob
Well-Known Forumite
I’ve been meaning to put a post like this on for a while.
We moved recently to the middle of nowhere, we bought the dream house with the space for the kids to grow, with beautiful views and room for ponies!
It’s a fabulous spot in the Staffordshire countryside and that fact is shared by the many people who come out walking down the lane outside my house.
Now I don’t for a second believe this is malicious, I believe it is ignorance which is why I’m posting.
Several times we have had grass cuttings dumped in our field, I’m assuming from somebody’s back garden, I’m sure the ethos was – lets not waste it – so they decided to feed it to my ponies.
Now horses are cleaver creatures, they tend to know what’s good for them, we have an odd shoot of ragwort and they avoid it at all costs, but when the grass is finely chopped they cannot tell weed/flower/leaves/fruit from the other which could lead them to poison themselves, not to mention the problems associated with skipping a digestion process because a machine has already mashed up the grass. Then I don’t know if there is any weed killer/ kids bubble mixture/something that has leaked from the shed and all I can do is put up a sign politely asking people to not feed my animals.
Yesterday I saw somebody clamouring through a thick hedge to feed apples to the ponies, to most horses apples are fine dining but I’ve currently got my 3 on restricted grazing, one of them is 22 and prone to colic, two of them are susceptible to laminitis, a nice treat from a kindly passer-by could be a ticking time bomb of painful illness/expensive surgery/extensive recovery period/death.
My 3 have limited grazing access, a low sugar chaff and speedy beat tea and an apple each twice a week, the other days they have two carrots, one is on additional gastric supplements – this is the nutrition they need and is what’s good for them.
I’m fed up of hearing from friends about the problems caused by strangers with no clue feeding animals that don’t belong to them; there was a small child who lost a thumb from feeding and unknown horse, countless animals being destroyed due to ingesting things they shouldn’t.
If you have something you think would be a nice treat for an animal you don’t own, please approach the owners first – the people who can tell you about the medical issues, temperament and dietary needs of the animal, otherwise PLEASE chuck your treats in the bin before you kill somebody’s much loved four legged family member.
We moved recently to the middle of nowhere, we bought the dream house with the space for the kids to grow, with beautiful views and room for ponies!
It’s a fabulous spot in the Staffordshire countryside and that fact is shared by the many people who come out walking down the lane outside my house.
Now I don’t for a second believe this is malicious, I believe it is ignorance which is why I’m posting.
Several times we have had grass cuttings dumped in our field, I’m assuming from somebody’s back garden, I’m sure the ethos was – lets not waste it – so they decided to feed it to my ponies.
Now horses are cleaver creatures, they tend to know what’s good for them, we have an odd shoot of ragwort and they avoid it at all costs, but when the grass is finely chopped they cannot tell weed/flower/leaves/fruit from the other which could lead them to poison themselves, not to mention the problems associated with skipping a digestion process because a machine has already mashed up the grass. Then I don’t know if there is any weed killer/ kids bubble mixture/something that has leaked from the shed and all I can do is put up a sign politely asking people to not feed my animals.
Yesterday I saw somebody clamouring through a thick hedge to feed apples to the ponies, to most horses apples are fine dining but I’ve currently got my 3 on restricted grazing, one of them is 22 and prone to colic, two of them are susceptible to laminitis, a nice treat from a kindly passer-by could be a ticking time bomb of painful illness/expensive surgery/extensive recovery period/death.
My 3 have limited grazing access, a low sugar chaff and speedy beat tea and an apple each twice a week, the other days they have two carrots, one is on additional gastric supplements – this is the nutrition they need and is what’s good for them.
I’m fed up of hearing from friends about the problems caused by strangers with no clue feeding animals that don’t belong to them; there was a small child who lost a thumb from feeding and unknown horse, countless animals being destroyed due to ingesting things they shouldn’t.
If you have something you think would be a nice treat for an animal you don’t own, please approach the owners first – the people who can tell you about the medical issues, temperament and dietary needs of the animal, otherwise PLEASE chuck your treats in the bin before you kill somebody’s much loved four legged family member.