Aaarrggghh, wood chewing! What to do?

[catembi]

Luckily it’s my yard or I’d have been thrown off it by now…

The new boy likes chewing wood. I have only had him since August. My yard and stables are only just over a year old, immaculate until he arrived and now trashed ? He has gnawed the gates, the fence, the chew strips on the stables, nearly gnawed through new post and rail… ?

He isn’t cribbing or wind sucking. They are out all the time, shut on the yard if the field is too wet but never stabled, constant access to 6 stables, hay net in each, fed twice a day. I so much love my yard and he is very swiftly eating it ?

 

[AmyMay]

Fencing - electric tape along the top. Everything else - cribox.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Agree, electric but also a mix of creosote and old engine oil brushed into wood he can get at.

 

[catembi]

Is cribbox clear in colour or does it stain?

 

[cauda equina]

It's mid-brown when it goes on; I don't know if it stains
McNasty comes in a spray bottle and is clear but doesn't work as well ime; might be worth a try though

 

[stangs]

Any possibility that he might have some sort of nutritional deficiency and that’s what’s causing the urge to eat? That’s some serious chewing.

 

[rabatsa]

My donkeys look upon creosote as a condiment. Electric hot wires where possible.

 

[MereChristmas]

There are quite a few threads about fence eating on the Forum with many varied suggestions. Do a search..

 

[HackWithMe]

I had a loan pony many years ago that would do this (only on his stable door) and no where near as extreme as this, we got a raw lemon (cut in half) and squeezed it across the door and all wood in reach that she could get to. We also squeezed some into a spray bottle to stop her eating her straw bed. It worked but you will have to go through a lot of lemons ? hope you find something soon!

 

[Melody Grey]

Any possibility that he might have some sort of nutritional deficiency and that’s what’s causing the urge to eat? That’s some serious chewing.

My first thought (from experience) was hind gut imbalance/ acidosis. They try to get as much hardcore fibre down them as poss to soak up acid and reduce pain. Does the horse show any other signs of gastric issues?

As a very short term approach, a grazing muzzle might stop it if all else fails?

 

[shortstuff99]

How old? Mine chewed like mad when they were losing teeth.

 

[I'm Dun]

My first thought (from experience) was hind gut imbalance/ acidosis. They try to get as much hardcore fibre down them as poss to soak up acid and reduce pain. Does the horse show any other signs of gastric issues?

As a very short term approach, a grazing muzzle might stop it if all else fails?

I'd also suspect some sort of ulcer type issue. Its the only time I have known anything chew to that extent

 

[Regandal]

My gelding used to chew the post and rail. He had grade 3 ulcers.

 

[rextherobber]

I had a mare at livery who did this ( generally directly in front of the YO!) She had RER and ulcers, I eventually discovered.

 

[HashRouge]

Is cribbox clear in colour or does it stain?

It's brown and very sticky. It does stain, although on outside fencing it will fade eventually. However, you will need a LOT of cribbox for that amount of chewing. On outside fencing it needs reapplying regularly and you will almost certainly find at least one of your horses covered in brown sticky stuff on a regular basis.

I have to say, the pictures are a lot worse than I was expecting! He has caused far, far more damage than my crib biter ever has. From years of managing a chronic crib biter, my advice would be to limit access to wooden surfaces as much as possible. Most of our grazing is within a huge field that we section up, so we mainly use electric tape. Where he does have access to wooden fencing I run electric tape along the top of all the fence posts and make sure it is electrified - this keeps him off it completely. With my stables, I put cribbox on the wooden partition between the boxes and on the "ledge" around the edge of the stables. However, he likes horizontal surfaces to crib bite on so luckily all those side edges that yours has chewed are safe!

Mine was treated for ulcers about seven years ago and to my mind that goes hand in hand with his crib biting. He does it far less when he has access to plenty of forage and he is always fed an ulcer friendly diet. Although yours doesn't crib bite, I would certainly be concerned about some sort of underlying health issue. The problem with this sort of thing is that it does become a habit, so can continue even once the underlying issue has been cured. Mine barely crib bites anymore so I'm not applying crib box to his stable, but I keep a close eye on him as once he starts again it can escalate really quickly until he is doing it almost manically. At the moment he only seems to do it slightly on his door after he has had a bucket feed.

 

[bouncing_ball]

My first thought (from experience) was hind gut imbalance/ acidosis. They try to get as much hardcore fibre down them as poss to soak up acid and reduce pain. Does the horse show any other signs of gastric issues?

As a very short term approach, a grazing muzzle might stop it if all else fails?

but if he’s got adlib access to forage w why would he need to chew wood as well?

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

Mine does windsuck with the wood chewing, but for her it's a definite discomfort thing. She doesn't do it so much when she's getting her full dose of prascend. But she had a couple of hours on the long grass yesterday, and she's chewing this morning. I've found if I hang big blocks of salt around her favourite rails then she'll often go for the salt and leave the wood alone (I have no idea whether it's the actual salt, or just a distraction)

FWIW mine has done nowhere near that amount of damage to the fence, but she has still managed to cause significant damage to her own teeth.

 

[catembi]

He is 4 and has recently lost his last baby incisor/canine. Teeth done under sedation. Before I had him, he was just chucked in a field and completely left. Now on NAF Thrive, echinacea for the grass warts which are now dropping off fast and equitop myoplast as recommended by the vet. Fed a high fibre barefoot friendly diet twice a day. Hay nets are refilled twice a day and never run out. Worm counted by poo and saliva test and wormed for strongyles and tapeworm. Vet did a pressure point test for ulcers which was negative. I have had one with confirmed ulcers before and he isn’t behaving like that. I was hoping he’d stop when wormed and fed properly but he’s been on a real chewing bender. Also has a rock salt to lick.

 

[bouncing_ball]

He is 4 and has recently lost his last baby incisor/canine. Teeth done under sedation. Before I had him, he was just chucked in a field and completely left. Now on NAF Thrive, echinacea for the grass warts which are now dropping off fast and equitop myoplast as recommended by the vet. Fed a high fibre barefoot friendly diet twice a day. Hay nets are refilled twice a day and never run out. Worm counted by poo and saliva test and wormed for strongyles and tapeworm. Vet did a pressure point test for ulcers which was negative. I have had one with confirmed ulcers before and he isn’t behaving like that. I was hoping he’d stop when wormed and fed properly but he’s been on a real chewing bender. Also has a rock salt to lick.

how about getting him some fruit tree or willow or ash or beech branches to chew and trying to redirect the chewing?

 

[catembi]

He is also eating the beech hedge! Maybe he would like some more substantial branches. We have a lot of trees so I will see what I can find.

 

[Jellymoon]

Wow, I’ve not seen that much chewing since I had a young horse years ago which chewed through the rafters on his stable (low roof/tall horse). We moved yards not long after.

What I would do is, put electric fence along fence, spray all wood with something nasty tasting.
I would consider giving him branches to chew on but I’d first research if it’s safe to let him eat so much wood. You don’t want him colicking. It’s probably fine and completely natural to chew on branches, but man made fencing posts is prob not great for his guts.

 

[catembi]

Maybe I should treat for hind gut issues and see what happens. I know that hind gut problems can’t be scoped for. Then scope if no improvement. He was literally left in a field in a herd with no shelter, no attention, had never been in a stable, tail on the floor, faceful of grass warts, feet a mess, teeth awful so his mouth was ulcerated etc etc. I am steadily working through everything and trying to fix it.

 

[stangs]

Equibiome test might be of use if it's not ulcers. If he's been out his whole life, it'd be strange for him to have developed ulcers.

 

[Blanche]

For him to be chewing that much I would think he had nutritional deficiencies or gut issues. To stop them chewing I use washing up liquid. Obviously outside it gets washed off but it’s cheap enough to reapply, I would use an water source friendly one though. It gets gunky over time but washes off easily. Very handy for putting on rug edges when youngsters start playing with their rugs too. I have also used it in tails to stop tail chewers.

 

[Gloi]

Cut some fresh branches off a suitable type of tree and leave them about for him to chew on. Ours loved ash branches.

 

[Mule]

I would definitely get some branches for him. They tend to like willow. It may just be a habit and not anything physically wrong with him. Some of them just seem to like wood.

 

[Regandal]

An atypical presentation does not preclude ulcers. I’d scope him, saves second guessing.

 

[Melody Grey]

but if he’s got adlib access to forage w why would he need to chew wood as well?

Mine had ad lib forage (and ate for Britain!) and still did it. Maybe wood classes as more substantial forage?! Certainly can’t be doing him any good of he’s ingesting the pieces I wouldn’t have thought.

 

[catembi]

Lots to think about... Atm I'm more inclined to try to fix him (if possible...) from the inside out, rather than just stopping him from chewing by itself. I also agree that it's possibly dangerous that he's eating so much wood, which I hadn't really thought of. I am thinking about doing the equibiome test.

I have searched previous posts iro the equibiome test - can you just feed one of their supplements depending on the results, rather than trying to feed lots of separate things? I think this might be better than blindly feeding random supplements for hind gut ulcers...he doesn't really fit the acidosis/hindgut ulcer profile. He has a good appetite, doesn't seem at all colicky and is putting on weight very slowly rather than losing it. Notable symptoms are the wood chewing, very violent bucking if mounted and a lack of energy from behind during in-hand work...apart from jumping on the lunge, which he will wake up for and loves. Every horse is a new puzzle...

 

[Melody Grey]

“Notable symptoms are the wood chewing, very violent bucking if mounted and a lack of energy from behind during in-hand work.”

I’d be scoping and then thinking of medicating the hindgut if he scopes clear- classic ulcer symptoms all day long.