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Kempshills
27 Apr 2010 22:16
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Is this a stereotypical behaviour, a deficiency or do horses need wood in their diet?
What's the current thinking?
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Horse Hero Guru
27 Apr 2010 23:54
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In answer to your question Kempshills, the answer is yes to each of your suggestions. There are several ways in which a horse can chew wood – and the way in which it does chew usually indicates the cause of the problem.
Probably the most common reason amongst stable horses is that they are bored –- horses have evolved as trickle feeders, eating lots of fairly poor quality fibre. We keep them in stables, removing their chance to find the food they want and instead feed them a restricted rich diet. If they run out of food they look for something else to chew and the wooden edges of the stable are convenient. In some horses this can become stereotypical behaviour, very often accompanied by stomach ulcers. There have been many studies that show that cuing the stomach ulcers (or turning the horse out and giving him back choice in his diet) will ‘cure’ stereotypical behaviour.
However, there are also horse that will eat bits of wood because their diet is actually lacking in vitamins that it feels it needs, so the problem can often be cured by checking that the diet provides all the vitamins and minerals he needs.
In a horse out at grass, there are many lovely tender leaves in the hedges at present and these can be popular treats for the horse to enjoy and will do no harm.
It is best to prevent your horse from chewing wood since, not only does it cause the disintegration of an expensive part of your stable, but it also damages the horse’s teeth and can lead to splinters in the mouth or lips. Treating the wood with something that will not upset the horse’s stomach or covering it with a metal strip is probably the best way of preventing the problem in those horses that have not yet develop stereotypic behaviour. I have found that cleaning my hoof oil brush on favoured spots works well, as does covering favourite pots with garlic paste (the stuff that you can buy in tubes in the supermarket).
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Kempshills
30 Apr 2010 12:04
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They do it out in the field too. While it might be anxiety on one of the horses' part, or even to get attention, they all do it. Now they are all on different feeds (yes it is a pain) with the recommended levels of vits and minerals supplemented. I have recently read that new studies have found that they are meant to eat wood and as you can imagine I'm conflicted as to what to do. They don't stand there and eat it all the time, but they do munch on it. When we pruned the apple and cherry tree this last autumn we did give them some of the prunings which was devoured with great delight.
I have been coating the timber surfaces such as fences and doors with their soilings to preserve the stuff that I do want to keep. No less confused! Sorry.
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Horse Hero Guru
04 May 2010 10:12
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When I replied the first time I was unsure what you meant by chewing wood – if you just mean they are eating bits of twigs then there is no real problem – in the wild, horses supplement their diet with all sort of different herbs, grasses, shoots and leaves. I imagine that apple and cheery shoots and twigs are very tasty to a horse! Every horse will use its mouth to feel and touch on a surface, but there is really no need to worry if this is occasional.
The time to be concerned is when they are standing at a fence chewing continually at the wood. Fencing is expensive, as is equine dental work. It is this type of chewing and it goes on for long periods of time, particularly if they arch their neck to get a good grip on the wood, then that is the stereotypic behaviour you do not want. Unfortunately, if this is the case there is no sure fire way of breaking the behaviour – think of it as like smoking cigarettes! Some people have had success by running electric fencing along the favourite piece of wood, but this is a prevention, not a cure, and the ‘addict’ will just find another spot to move to. There has been research that shows links between stomach ulcers and stereotypic behaviour, so if you are concerned you could ask your vet to check for these or excess stomach acid.
If using droppings as a preventative works for your horses then that is fine – although remember that some horses will eat droppings if their diet is lacking in some minerals and vitamins. Just make sure that whatever you use will not harm your horse if he eats it.
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