Horse Licks Sand/Clay

[lvneri]

Hi friends! My horse will lick the sand instead of grazing when I hand graze him. I’ve noticed this a few times. Once was a while back but recently at a show he had a clay base in his stall and I noticed him licking the ground again, so now I’m wondering if there is something more.

He has a himalayan salt lick that he loves and is on Vitamin E. He’s an easy keeper but is fed 4-5 large flakes of T/A plus a high protein feed plus oats to support his energy. He works consistently 4 days a week. He can be a lazy guy. He’s UTD on shots/teeth.

Is he lacking some kind of nutrients? Could it be a stallion thing? He was gelded later. I don’t really know where to start. Thanks!

[Red_Barn]

Hello.

I have no idea why horses do goofy stuff like that, but I do know that the very prevalent, long-standing myth that animals somehow crave nutrients actually missing in their diets has been shown to be . . . well, bullshit, basically.

The only mineral for which a built-in craving truly exists is, apparently, salt. So, when choosing foods, the animal is going on palatability alone - not on some deep animal wisdom that tells them exactly what they need for health. Can they learn to seek these things out? Maybe, but it seems they don’t do it instinctively.

Mineral_Nutr.pdf

Don’t know if that helps, but I think it’s interesting.

[ChocoMare]

Salt licks are fine but… a horse’s tongue is not coarse enough to be able to efficiently & truly effectively lick enough. Offer loose salt instead.

Re: Minerals. Usually they’re missing Copper & Zinc - crucial to balance out iron and build thick, strong hoof wall. I prefer: https://customequinenutrition.com/products/copper-zinc-blend-free-shipping

[NaturallyHappy]

ChocoMare, do you find this to be more palatable than Uckele? Thx!

[ChocoMare]

I do. It’s so very fine and you feed so little, it’s easily mixed in with whatever you feed.

[NaturallyHappy]

Thank you!

[lvneri]

Laughed whilst reading this. Sometimes I think as owners we over-analyze the hell out of these animals Could be just a weird habit.

[lvneri]

Interestingly he does have bad hooves. I have been considering putting him on farrier’s formula to help, which adds zinc/copper.

[JB]

@lvneri

nterestingly he does have bad hooves. I have been considering putting him on farrier’s formula to help, which adds zinc/copper.

IME, not nearly enough cu and zn for most diets.

Plus, plain cu/zn is really cheap. Custome Equine Nutrition has a good mix, probably enough for most diets, not enough for some. Individual minerals are cheaper, but more labor-intensive to feed

Hay Harmony is another mix of cu/zn, and also has biotin

As for licking dirt/clay - clay especially has iron, horses like the taste of iron because it’s sweet.

[Adrian2]

Good advice here re: copper and zinc.
My mare was eating dirt too for some time and I just thought it was idiosyncratic behaviour. The last straw was when I bought a mineral lick (thinking she was deficient in something) and she literally ate it in one day. Nothing but crumbles left on the floor of the stall!
The bloodwork showed quite elevated iron and low copper and zinc. Apparently iron is abundant in many areas in both the hay and water, and also present in many supplements so it is more likely to be getting too much. Excess iron competes with zinc and copper absorption zinc they are all positively charged ions, hence the Zn/Cu deficiency.
My vet recommended:

1. mineral supplement with copper and zinc but no iron. This was hard to find as many have iron in them. I found a place in Ontario called Mad Barn that makes a Trace Mineral Pack without extra added iron. I believe California Trace is similar.
2. salt lick but not mineral lick (any of the red licks including the Redmond Rocks have too much iron )

As an aside, the elevated iron also led to extreme spookiness which resolved with the correct supplement. There is a scientific link to iron levels and glucose metabolism in humans so that may or may not have been the mechanism!

[NaturallyHappy]

This is such an interesting post. How long did it take before you saw changes in your mare’s behavior? When we had our last batch of hay tested, it came back w high molybdenum, which, I understand can inhibit copper absorption. I sent this hay to a lab I’d never used before-this was the first time I’d seen this value. The person at the lab actually called me to talk about this.

[Adrian2]

@NaturallyHappy it was pretty quick if I recall. Like 1-2 weeks.
And when I sold her I told the new owners specifically what supplement to use and they inadvertently bought the wrong one (same manufacturer) that had iron. Then contacted me asking about problems with extreme spookiness.
Once on the right mineral pack she was good again.

[NaturallyHappy]

Very interesting…thank you for sharing.

[JB]

@Adrian2

mineral supplement with copper and zinc but no iron. This was hard to find as many have iron in them.

There are quite a lot, and seemingly growing, number of “forage balancers” that don’t contain iron. California Trace, Arizona Copper Complete, HorseTech’s High Point Grass (been around a good while), KIS Trace, Lonestar Trace, Uckele’s U-Balance Foundation and Sport Horse Grass (and Alfalfa), and more.