Wood chewing - how to stop new habit?

[mfglickman]

My daughter’s 12 yo OTTB gelding (purchased in September) has started chewing on fence boards in the past couple of weeks. He’s not windsucking; he’s like a beaver chewing and dropping bits of wood on the ground. He was just treated for ulcers, and Lyme. I’m sure he’s a little bored as the fields are all still mud and there’s no grass in sight here in CT.

I picked up a stick of this: https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/hydrophane-cribstix-10772 and it seems to slightly deter him but not much or for long.

He’s turned out every day from 7:45 to somewhere between 3:30 and 5:30 (depending on whether he’s working that day), and is in full view of buddies, some of which he can touch over the fences. He has access to hay in his stall and also outside in a trough; he eats all of his hay overnight but rarely finishes what’s out in the daytime (so I don’t think he’s hungry).

Any suggestions for making this stop would be much appreciated!

[Angela_Freda]

What was the lyme treatment? Did you follow that up with a probiotic?
How long and with what did you treat the ulcers?

[Simkie]

My horses all start chewing wood this time of year. Toss him some barked branches of horse safe wood. He’ll get his wood chewing thing satisfied and you’ll save your fences.

[trubandloki]

@Simkie

My horses all start chewing wood this time of year. Toss him some barked branches of horse safe wood. He’ll get him wood chewing thing satisfied and you’ll save your fences.

This!

Even with free choice hay, wood chewing happens.

[danacat]

Yep, a few of mine chew fence too – even after I’ve thrown tasty branches and logs into paddock.

I’m beginning to think it MUST have something to do with the height of fence boards or height of posts (mine LOVE to chew on tops of posts) – just the RIGHT height for optimum, easy ‘chewing’…

… plus post tops and boards are everywhere! So why bother to walk all the way over to tasty log when a perfectly good fence board & post are right there — and I don’t even have to put my head down! = horse logic.

[mfglickman]

@Angela Freda

What was the lyme treatment? Did you follow that up with a probiotic?
How long and with what did you treat the ulcers?

30 days of Doxy (still have about 3 doses to go). Ulcers 30 days of GastroGard followed by 36+ (still going) of 1/4 tube UlcerGard per day (keeping him on it until the Doxy is well and completely finished per vet). He is also on UGard. When we scoped, he had areas that were inflamed, but were not full-blown ulcers. Vet felt best way to move forward was to do the full ulcer treatment, and it did pretty immediately help with his symptoms.

I tend to agree it’s some flavor of boredom; maybe I will give him some branches! One of the mares is pulling twigs off the cedar tree in her paddock (she has piny fresh breath lol) so maybe that’s the ticket!

[MissAriel]

@Simkie

My horses all start chewing wood this time of year. Toss him some barked branches of horse safe wood. He’ll get his wood chewing thing satisfied and you’ll save your fences.

What are some horse safe wood sources? My little guy is chewing his paddock as well, and he likes to chew and play in general.

[DunByMistake]

If it’s not an ulcer related thing, I think they just go through phases in the year where they need some extra fibre.

My guy, who did not put his lips to fence all winter, suddenly decided he needed to do some fence chewing a few weeks ago. In my typical fashion, I had small nervous breakdown and started to obsessively research. From what I could determine, there is little concrete evidence as to why they wood chew but its more common in spring. My horse has since stopped.

But I kept a horse over winter who I am 99% certain has ulcers and when I adjusted his food a bit in year, he started on fences like a beaver and nothing stopped him.

[gumtree]

Most horses regardless of breed like to chew on wood from time to time. Especially in our winter months. I wouldn’t consider it a “habit”.

If you have any Willow trees in the area they usually always have large dead branches on or around it. It’s like balsa wood, very light so even large branches are easy to pick up. They seem to really like it. At least ours do. Very soft wood and easy to digest. But they don’t eat it like hay. Most falls out of their mouth while chewing on it.

[Simkie]

@MissAriel

What are some horse safe wood sources? My little guy is chewing his paddock as well, and he likes to chew and play in general.

I always tossed the cottonwood limbs into the field, and the horses went to town stripping the bark. It was readily available–that tree was always shedding branches in windstorms. But really, anything that’s not toxic is fine. Stay away from the black walnut and the red maples

[Gloria]

Provide him free choice loose mineral, and see whether he stops chewing wood. Some theorize that horses chew woods to get some mineral they are lacking in their diet. Oh by the way, the block mineral is generally not enough. I use Progressive Grass Mineral.

[gumtree]

@Simkie

I always tossed the cottonwood limbs into the field, and the horses went to town stripping the bark. It was readily available–that tree was always shedding branches in windstorms. But really, anything that’s not toxic is fine. Stay away from the black walnut and the red maples

Same family as the Willow; Willows are more common around the mid-atlantic than the north east.

The Salicaceae are a family, the willow family, of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae sensu stricto) included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods.

[gumtree]

@Gloria

Provide him free choice loose mineral, and see whether he stops chewing wood. Some theorize that horses chew woods to get some mineral they are lacking in their diet. Oh by the way, the block mineral is generally not enough. I use Progressive Grass Mineral.

I have never found this to make any difference. Regardless of the “advertisement”.

[Chief2]

A dental checkup may also be in order.

[trubandloki]

@Chief2

A dental checkup may also be in order.

I am very pro dental care but I am wondering why chewing on wood would make one think dental care is needed?

[Gloria]

@gumtree

I have never found this to make any difference. Regardless of the “advertisement”.

You could be right. I have no idea. I’ve always fed loose mineral to my horses, and I’ve never had horse chewing woods. I have horses stealing peaches from the tree, but not chewing wood. The thing is, this is one of the things that don’t have any negative consequence, only positive, and may just very well resolve issues for some horses. I won’t dismiss it just because it doesn’t work with some horses. For all we know, chewing wood can be the symptom of many different causes.

As to the block mineral, yeah that I am sure is not sufficient. I can just look at my horses and see how much they consume that mineral, and see why the block isn’t the answer.

[Simkie]

Feeding loose minerals can have negative consequences, though Horses are capable of self-regulating salt. And perhaps phosphorus?? (I think? IIRC, there’s research they may be able to self regulate ONE thing other than salt?) But nothing else. By offering free choice, they can easily go overboard for no reason other than they’re bored.

Certainly reasonable to use a vit/mineral mix that’s specific to your area and/or tailored to your feeding plan, and feed a set amount to cover what your hay/grain/pasture doesn’t, but free choice? Glad it seems to work for you, but that’s not a risk I’d be willing to take.

[Gloria]

Simkie, I think though your concern is valid, I have not seen over-consumption to be an issue, at least not from my observations. My horses tend to consume more if we have run out for a period of time, they then tamper off the mineral consumption. I also give them free choice loose salt. I have not had issue with over consumption of either. My horses are out, 24x7 so maybe that makes a difference. There are more interesting things for them to do than gorging on the mineral, lol. They come in specifically looking for them. In nature, animals will look for source of mineral.

[MCF1991]

Try Cribox. It is about $30 a container and if you mix it half with Vaseline it will go twice as far. It lasts a super long time and even through rain becasue it is so sticky. Horses hate the stuff. Or you could put up a line of wire which is really fast and easy to do, but not so much if he is chewing top, middle, and lower boards.
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/hydrophane-cribox-6415

[Sistersiouxz]

Duct tape. :lol:

Sorry, couldn’t resist. I have tried everything for some horses. It was worse in spring. AND they had full turnout.