Something to stop a horse chewing their outdoor shed?

[quietann]

So… over the many years I’ve had her, Feronia has very occasionally chewed on her fence, stall door etc. But hardly ever.

She’s been in her current boarding situation for 17 months and has been happy. She’s out 24/7, individual paddock because she doesn’t play well with others, nice big shed. Hay in a small hole net, not quite 24/7 but pretty close (she is an easy keeper.)

A few weeks ago, she started chewing on the outside of the shed of her over the fence neighbor. BO blocked her access, and things were fine for a bit, but now she’s chewing on the outside wall of her own shed!

BO wants a solution, quickly, but not anything that will drastically alter the appearance of the shed. I thought of CribOx but will it be too dark? Outside of shed is weathered hardwood of some sort. It’s a roughly 12 by 10 foot wall. So far she isn’t chewing on edges where you could put a metal barrier over them.

Help?

And yes - starting treatment for ulcers. (Abler omeprazole, arriving next week.)

[jvanrens]

Irish Spring soap has worked well for me, Just rub it on the wood. Other than the obnoxious smell, it must taste bad.

[quietann]

Do you think that would work on the outside of the shed? Because that is where she is chewing.

[LCDR]

Screw a sheet of aluminum over the walls where she can chew. Paint it to match the shed. Assure BO that it will be easy to remove, and you will take care of it when (if) you move on.

[CHT]

Vics vapour rub, Irish Spring, or even some dish soaps work, but need to be re-applied often. Test apply on a spot to check that whatever you choose doesn’t change the colour.

[LCDR]

How much of area does she have available to target with her chewing? If a lot and you decide to try the chemical deterrent approach one way would be to buy and keep a pump type garden sprayer at the barn and use it to coat everything each time you are there.

[quietann]

Well, right now she’s focused on the outside wall of the shed that she can reach. It’s 12 feet wide and maybe 7 feet tall at the back and 9 at the front? So a pretty big area.

I’m there 2 or 3 times a week and could certainly keep something to spray on the wall.

[clanter]

we had a weanling who was bored, we got him these toy chickens to attack which he did with vigor

[Foxglove]

Two thoughts: A million years ago when we moved to this property (25% woods, rest open pasture), despite having 24/7 turnout and abundant, lush pastures --my geldings started chewing trees. I showed my vet what they were doing in the woods. He recommended a “Purina Lick Tub” --green tub, brown minerals --can look up if necessary. He said, “They must need something in their diet.” Thirty-five years later, I still put out a lick tub in each shed along with a salt block. My horses do not chew trees, sheds, stalls, or anything else. I did have a cribber --but that’s a different vice.

Second might not work for you. I had/have a gelding who rubs his booty against the sides of the shed, sometimes hard enough to bow the siding. (Aluminum outside, lined with wood inside). I string an uncharged piece of electric tape around the outside of the shed to keep him off by about a foot. No more rubbing. I also put a similar piece of non-charged electric tape across corners to keep horses from “trapping” each other in the corners or visiting too closely with the horse in the next pasture.

[Pico_Banana]

What worked for my cribber: use up last bits of CribOx in the deodorant style tube. Sigh and buy large tub of same. Apply once. Problem solved.

Also, consider getting her something she’s ALLOWED to chew on so she can satisfy that urge without destroying the shed.

[trubandloki]

Likely the shed chewing is just because the days are getting shorter and somewhere in their horse brain it says that this time of year is when there is less grass available so we start to eat bark and such.
It does not always mean the horse is actually lacking for something.

I would start with trying various deterrent sprays, which will have to be reapplied regularly.

[MorganMaresVT]

I had a mare that would beaver on the shed during winter but stopped completely went I put a few substantial tree branches out in the pasture. She’d nibble them occasionally- nothing excessive - but left the sheds alone when she had the tree to satisfy whatever her body told her she needed.

[trubandloki]

Oh, good point @MorganMaresVT!!! Very good point.

I literally tossed a reject Christmas tree (no tinsel or such) out there and that solved the fence chewing problem I had.

[MorganMaresVT]

@trubandloki

I literally tossed a reject Christmas tree (no tinsel or such) out there and that solved the fence chewing problem I had.

For whatever reason my herd has thoroughly rejected the Christmas tree option! I tried several years in a row and they wouldn’t touch it. But hardwood branches get some attention.

Now every year my vet calls me in early January and asks if she can swing by and get our Christmas tree- she has a bunch of Arabs who can’t get enough evergreen

[punchy]

So nice to know I am not the only one who gives horses evergreen branches. It started as a joke, but now when branches fall off during storms or whatever, I thrown them in the pasture. Far as I can tell, they eat them. And like to fling around the white pine branches to play with.

[Weezer]

I once boarded at a place where they ran a strand of hot wire along the outside and inside walls of the shelter. No chewing and the horses adjusted to it so it didn’t seem to affect their comfort with being in the shelter

[Libby2563]

I also have electric tape around the outside of my shed. I use a combination of those long insulators and some wooden blocks plus regular insulators to hold it off the side of the shed. If your horse is used to electric fence you may not need to keep it charged (I don’t), but if not I imagine you might need to, at least at first. Mine has been set up this way for about 7 years and my shed has not been chewed.

The other idea I’ve had but never implemented is to attach small-hole wire mesh (hardware cloth) to the wood. Has anyone tried this? You could even paint over it if needed for appearances.

[quietann]

Ooo I need to try giving her branches! The outside of the shed is pine; only the inside is hardwood. One of the trails near the barn has a bunch of pine limbs along the sides of the trails; a couple of big pine trees came down in storms this year, and were sawed up and the detritus was put to the sides of the trail.

Now here’s a silly question: my eager beaver is retired, but I handwalk her on that trail a couple of times a week. Could I drag a branch and lead the mare at the same time? Get panniers for her and load them with branches? Just kidding.

The fence is electric, and she respects it, so running electric tape set off the shed might also work.

Can’t do much until the BO is back from her Christmas visit to family, though.

I did rub Irish Spring soap all over the shed wall today, but it’s going to rain on Tuesday.

[SusanO]

Good to know! I wish I had done this before my horses smashed in the gutters by rubbing their tail on them. Thus causing water to run down between the Hardiplank and the stall lining in one stall. I joked about doing it but now I know how. Thanks!

[Libby2563]

Here’s how I have mine set up. There used to be a second, lower strand but the black insulator at the far end got damaged and I haven’t replaced it. They’re not really secure attached at corners like that, hence the wooden spacers instead on the bottom (that one broke too). If they start nibbling I will have to put that second strand up, but that wood is hard and apparently not very tasty.

Then here’s the very old shed I didn’t protect in time! This is the one I thought about putting mesh over, but frankly it needs so much repair that it might be a tear-down. I put the corral panels there once they (okay, really just the 5-year-old) chewed the giant hole in it, because I’m afraid someone (okay, him) will put a leg through the hole.