GROUP

While the advice in this article focuses on situations where horses receive their meals in individual stalls, I realize that many field-kept horses are fed in large groups while still outdoors. If you choose that method, any aggressive mealtime behaviors will affect herdmates much more so than people. But it doesn’t make them less problematic. Lower-ranking horses will quickly learn to give a wide berth to dominant animals at mealtimes, missing out on food in the process. If your field-fed dominant horses are picking up weight while others are on the slim side, it’s time to modify your field-feeding method. Here are few techniques you can try:

• Remove the most dominant, or least dominant, herd members at each meal and feed them separately.