Suggestion needed on feeding my pony!

[cackydoodledoo]

I have a 14 yr old Shetland pony. He is fed a flake of hay twice a day. We are wanting to go camping and I am going to have someone come take care of them but I hate to have to have them come twice a day. Could I just have them give him both flakes in the evening and then he can eat them as he pleases? Or will he hog them down at once and then be ticked because noone brings him any in the morning??

 

[greeneggsandham]

I would keep him on the same schedule as he is use to. I know it is only hay he is getting, but he could become an escape artist in search of food. Ponies are funny like that. I had a shetland many many years ago and if he didn't have his breakfast and dinner he would jump the corral to find something.

 

[2DogsFarm]

Maybe you can do what I used to:
I never wanted to ask one person to make 2 visits to the farm so I lined up 2 different farmsitters - one comes in the morning, one in the evening.

If you leave the day's ration of hay out it is highly likely pony will:
A) eat it all and have nothing left - this could cause him to colic
or
B)eat part then walk on/pee on/destroy the rest so it is uneaten

You also want to make sure he has water available, another reason to have someone check twice a day.

 

[TMNTCkins]

It just depends on the pony/horse. I have two horses that would pig it all at one time. It's not good to change there feeding times. They do better with small amounts of hay a few times a day.
When we go on vacation I give my friend gas money for going to my house 2 times a day.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Most horses and ponies will pig out and eat all of it at once. I would not risk the possibility of colic. I'd have two different people stop by any way - and have a relative or friend stop by TOO, to make absolutely sure the other two were feeding the pony!!!

There was a high profile case in New England last year, where a woman went on vacation and the people she hired did not water and feed the horses.

It just so happened that Animal Control came out that day, and the horses had no water or food. All 6 horses were confiscated, and the woman was not allowed to get them back.

Honestly, if I were you, I would NEVER arrange such a thing. Too many things can go wrong. I'd board the pony at a good quality boarding stable, where someone is there much of the day in case the animal gets sick, and he will be guaranteed to get fed on a schedule.

I can't even count the number of situations I've heard of over the years where 'horse sitters' did not show up, nor all the problems that arose - sickness, injury where the animal stood there for days with no food water or medical care - not me. Not in a zillian years.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I can have my neighbor come in the mornings and feed him. I trust him to make sure it is done. We regularly trade out taking care of each other's dogs. I was going to have the neighbor girl do the evening run as that is what requires more work but with proper planning she may only have to collect eggs.

We will only be gone for a few days at a time and I can give the rabbits extra food as well as the chickens. I am going to make some chicken waterers out of 5 gallon buckets and plan to place them weeks before we go so I can guage how much they drink in a day.

The pony has a 75 gallon trough to drink from so I am not at all worried whether he will have water. It takes him several weeks to get it down a quarter of the way. I end up dumping more than half of it when I clean it out every couple weeks. I will keep him to his twice a day schedule as I think he might do like one of you suggested and try to escape. If we happen to be out around him when it's time to feed he will let us know. He stands and kicks the gate until we pay attention!!!! Fiesty old man!!!

Thanks everyone for all the help.