Horse eating dirt

[Training_Cupid]

My horse is a 4 y/o gelding. He is normally in a pasture 24/7, but has been in a stall a little over a week due to an injury. I bring him out to graze 2-3 times/day. A few days after he started stall rest I noticed him eating dirt; sometimes just licking the ground and sometimes actually biting in and getting mouthfuls. I realized he has a mineral lick in the pasture but not the stall and maybe he was missing it, so I got put one in his stall and he has definitely been using it (nibbling on the edge even), but he’s still going after dirt when I bring him out. I move him along when I see him doing it. Any ideas on what this means?

For reference, he gets hay 3x day (grass and alfalfa), and I give him Nutrena Senior w/ MSM and Ulc-R-Aid (this has not changed since he’s been in the stall; the pasture is pretty dead). He’s also been on anti-inflamatories and antibiotics for the injury.

[outfoxem]

I used to have a gelding who would do this. Never figured out why. He would find a certain spot in his paddock and lick it out until it was a perfect bowl. Everyone’s guess was lack of a certain mineral, although we didn’t conduct blood work since he was normal in other ways. Perhaps your horse has been doing this all along and you have just never seen him do it before? May I ask why you are feeding a “senior” feed to a 4YO? no condemnation here, just curiosity.

[jawa]

Both of my geldings would stop to eat the mud at one particular crossing. They wouldn’t stop to grab a bite every time, and sometimes it was more than one bite. They would sniff at other crossings or new crossings, maybe even dig their teeth in, but this ONE crossing had the mud/dirt they wanted.

They both had 24/7 turn out on pasture with either grass or hay available 24/7. They also both had salt blocks and were fed the appropriate amount of feed to get their recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals.

I never really worried about it too much, as they were healthy horses.

[SportArab]

I always assumed it was related to a mineral imbalance.

[Training_Cupid]

[QUOTE=outfoxem;8202232]
May I ask why you are feeding a “senior” feed to a 4YO? no condemnation here, just curiosity.[/QUOTE]

It’s easy to digest, good fat content, lower in sugar. I don’t think it’s uncommon to feed to OTTBs, even younger ones. I’ve discussed with the vet, and we will re-evaluate if his workload ever increases, haha.

[Ozora_Moon]

A horse with an upset stomach may eat dirt or particularly clay. Could be lack of iron or some other mineral.

[ladyj79]

Same here, all three of mine, good quality feed and forage, mineral block…and they eat dirt. I’d always heard mineral lacking/imbalance, but seriously, they have everything and they still eat dirt. I’m just going with it.

[ohmissbrittany]

Just a word of caution- if you’re going to “just go with it” you may want to talk to your vet about adding psyllium to his feed. We had a horse at our barn that started doing it neurotically (like digging through the shavings and eating holes in the floor of the stall, as well as the pasture dirt) and he had to be hospitalized to clear the massive amount of dirt built up in his system!

[ladyj79]

Yeah, I’m familiar with sand colic :). And psyllium. Which is to say, I’ve never had a case of sand colic. But a good tip for those who aren’t familiar.

[sublimequine]

My young mare was doing similar things (licking dirt), and also would try to gnaw off big chunks of the mineral block. She was also eating poop. :dead:

I added a vit/min supplement and it was gone within a week. It hasn’t come back since.