Advice please - Horse eating soil......a lot!

Saucisson

Saucisson

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Ok, I know it's been asked before but I'm at work and can't go trawling through old posts right now. ;)

My horse is desperate to eat soil/dirt/mud. He must be loosing something sweating in the heat because although he does normally like a bit of a nibble, he's not usually this interested.

I've told OH to get some electrolytes down him ASAP but I do seem to recall somebody on here saying it was due to a selenium deficiency? He has a mineral/salt lick so this shouldn't be the issue.

Any advice gratefully received – Curly Wurlys and banana Toffos (retro) for anything that stops the horrendous muddy bit washing of yesterday. :D

Many thanks :)
 
Pop a Rockies mineral block in his field - and don't panic. Lots of horses do it at certain times of the year, but the Rockies should stop or reduce it.
 
my horse does it out of habit - she gets a vit and min suppliment, salt and lo-salt added to feed and has free access to a hymilayan salt lick - so i don't worry too much about it :)
 
Has he got enough grass or hay to eat?
The grass in one or our fields is quite bare and some of it brown, ive know horses eat twigs when they are lacking in fibre.

I agree with above post, put a mineral block in the filed to cover the wide range of minerals or vitamins he could be wanting.
 
Thanks for your responses. I'll look at the Rockies mineral blocks – hopefully I'll be able to find them over here. :)

I do think he's trying to tell me something just because he stopped in his tracks a couple of times last night and gorged. He doesn't normally do this so I let him get on with it as he obviously needs something.

He hasn't been out for a few days (long story...........OH...........electric fence........finding horse on neighbour's garage roof last week :rolleyes:).

We were out very late 10.30pm ish to avaid the heat – maybe this is a factor? I think we heard a wild boar quite close too – maybe we'll go out a bit earlier tonight, small horse struggles with birds so I don't think big pigs are are a good idea :eek:
 
Agree with the salt lick idea although it could be worth adding a broad spec vit and min suplement to his bucket feed and trying to increase the amount of fibre he gets access to. even if you have to feed a little straw.
 
my boy has started doing the same, yet he has plenty of grass, and is fed a high fibre diet. Dont think anyone understands the real reason for it, but the mineral and salt blocks will def. help.
horses are strange creatures, will we ever understand them!!!:D
 
Assuming that eating mud is a symptom that the horse is lacking in minerals, advice is often given to provide the horse with a mineral feed block - but a horse will often consume this as well as the mud!

Although eating mud and dirt can often be a sign that a horse isn’t receiving sufficient nutrients in his diet, it may be totally unrelated.

Eating mud can be due to boredom or just a habit that a horse has acquired
There are changes you can make to your horse’s ration to ensure he’s receiving a balanced diet of vitamins and minerals which may stop him from eating mud.

A horse needs a regular supply of vitamins and minerals and, as there is no way of regulating or monitoring how much of a salt or mineral lick he is consuming, it is much easier to provide them in the concentrate ration.

If a horse is a good-doers you would need to use a low-calorie source of nutrients to ensure that your horse doesn’t put on too much weight.

You could use a low-calorie balance, or a vitamin and mineral supplement.

An equine feed balancer could be used instead of the coarse mix or the supplement could just be added to a coarse mix.

It’s important to ensure that you are feeding the correct amount of balancer or supplement, otherwise your horse will not be receiving a balanced diet.
 
Thanks for all your advice – I'll definitely look at his mineral/salt licks. Perhaps it won't be so obvious when he's turned out again.

If I can teach him to find truffles when he's snuffling away in the mud he can have the best mineral/salt lick money can buy :D
 
Saucisson said:
Thanks for all your advice – I'll definitely look at his mineral/salt licks. Perhaps it won't be so obvious when he's turned out again.

If I can teach him to find truffles when he's snuffling away in the mud he can have the best mineral/salt lick money can buy :D
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definitely a lack of minerals, ours do it as do the lambs and ewes-could be lack of cobalt or phosphates but certainly not a serious prob. mineral licks are the way to go i think-
 
My daughter's horse did that when we first got him. Gave him NAF pink powder and that seemed to do the trick.
 
My two cobs started doing this, they have access to a salt lick in the field. Have got some NAF Pink Powder and as soon as I started feeding this they stopped eating the mud.
 
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