Horse eats leaves/tree branches?

[Amy3996]

My barn owner sent me a video of my gelding casually chomping on some small bits of an evergreen type tree in his paddock. We’ve noticed that he always seems to want to snack on leaves/trees no matter the season. He does this on trail rides, walking to and from turnout, and now in turnout, apparently.

He has free choice access to a round bale and is turned out with a few quiet buddies. He gets 2.5 lbs of Tribute Senior Sport, 1 lb Purina Enrich Plus, and a Vit E/ Selenium supplement.

Is he just weird and likes to nibble on trees from time to time, is it boredom, or could there be some nutritional deficiency? He’s healthy and well as far as we know, I’m just curious. :lol:

[JB]

Horses aren’t simply grazers, they are foragers. Leaves, twigs, bark, bushes, trees, all fair game.

[Scribbler]

Yes, normal behaviour. You might want to identify the species and make sure it’s safe for horses. But most well fed horses won’t eat noxious plants. They did evolve as selective browsers. If you take a horse out for a grass walk it’s interesting to see how much they can do with their lips to get just that one leaf or sprig, and how they will move on from one patch of weeds to the next.

[Simkie]

Totally agree it’s normal behavior. I have one that I often catch with her head straight up in the air, trying to pull leaves off high branches.

It does seem some horses are more prone than others. But people have individual palates…horses do too? Or perhaps it’s partially driven from past experiences–maybe horses that have been hungry have done more nibbling on weird stuff out of necessity and now have a taste for it 🤷

Regardless, nothing to worry about as long as everything they can get to is not toxic.

[Scribbler]

After the first snow fall my mare gets super interested in nosing through the snow and eating any old twig or leaf she can find. Dead weeds she wouldn’t have looked at the day before. it’s something like an Easter egg hunt to her.

She also eats leaves like a giraffe. Once my coach had her on a cross country run past a copse and said she could see the mare eyeing up a low hanging maple branch at full speed.

[Pehsness]

My old mare dessicated some pine trees. I had read it was because of anti inflammatory properties in pine and she was a hot mess, so I always chalked it up to that. No idea if it’s really true.

My current gelding leaves the pines alone, but loves the poplars. They drop branches a lot and he and his mini buddy will have the bark stripped in no time. I try to leave random patches of weeds and such for them to forage, just removing the know problem weeds.

[Training_Cupid]

My horse will even eat the moss off trees!

[sherian]

my mob likes poplar and willow branches, I figure it’s good mental stimulation to have variety in their foraging. They also like to play with the fallen branches - so I guess its like a happy meal with a bonus toy?

[wsmoak]

Ugh, mine is eating oak and hickory leaves. And I have picked up gallons of acorns to keep him away from those.

I don’t mind if he eats a few leaves or chews on branches, but this is precisely the time of year that he might be drinking less due to the cold weather, and those leaves are tough and leathery, so impaction is a concern. He’s also had gas colic from the acorns before.

I keep bringing warm water and soaked senior feed, so far all is well!