food, beautiful food
Your horse’s world: He’s motivated by food, but that motivation is secondary to safety and social concerns. Food triggers aggressive interactions-and establishes social hierarchy-among herd members. If a subordinate horse were to approach a dominant horse’s feed, the result would be a threat or act of aggression from the dominant one. This is a hierarchy-related dispute-food isn’t part of the conflict, merely the trigger for it.
Your world: Food is not only is necessary for survival, but also has strong social and psychological connotations. “Comfort food’ makes us feel good; we also use food as a bribe, a reward, and in our celebrations.
Opportunity for conflict: First, when you dispense treats to horses in groups, you’ll trigger aggressive, dominance-related behavior, which could result in injury to you, or to the horse(s). (Note: This aggressive behavior often is misinterpreted as jealousy because you’re giving treats to one horse, but not all. But jealousy isn’t the issue-that’s human emotion. The enticement of food induces subordinate horses to challenge, and encourages dominant ones to exert real rather than threatened aggression to assure their reward.)
Second, your urge to make your horse feel good through food can be an inadvertent reward for inappropriate behavior, resulting in reinforcement of such dangerous bad habits as biting, (Examples: Your horse nudges you for a treat; you give him one, rewarding the behavior-and encouraging him to butt you again. Your horse refuses to step into your trailer; you give him a handful of grain in an attempt to lure him in-when all you’re really doing is rewarding his balky behavior.... Your horse acts up when the farrier works on him, so you provide handfuls of grain , to keep the horse quiet; he continues to act up-because you give him treats when he does.)
How to avoid conflict: Avoid handing out treats in a group situation. If you wish to single out a particular horse for your attention, halter and lead him outside the group enclosure, where you’ll be able to feed him safely. Avoid hand-feeding your horse, and never allow him to search your pockets for food. Instead, provide treats in his regular feeder, or offer them in a bucket. This will help prevent nudging and nipping behaviors. Think before you feed, to avoid inadvertently rewarding bad behavior. If your horse is balking, pinning his ears, refusing to stand still, etc., food will reward that behavior. Wait until he’s displaying a desirable behavior, such as a step forward, an ears-up expression, or a still moment, before dispensing those carrots.
