I have seen a couple of people say that he might be acting up because you are working him during his feeding time. I don't happen to believe that it should matter. As long as he gets enough to eat sometime during his day, it should be you that controls him whenever you like. We show horses and if they were allowed to behave badly just because it was their "feeding time" then there would be a problem at a lot of shows. Mine all have learned that they "will" get fed sometime so they are a bit more patient.