Any ideas how to stop this, my pony has an OCD...

HBBambee

HBBambee

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 March 2009
Messages
303
Location
Somerset
Visit site
My pony is obsessed with licking, it's mostly humans, but he also has a fetish for rugs and coats too if he can't get to your hands. He never chews or bites just licks and licks and im sure if you didnt stop him he'd do it all day.

He will follow you round the stable trying to lick you!and won't leave you alone..

He is worse when at shows (maybe a nervous thing?) and it's very annoying having to hold him while in the collecting ring. He was never been fed titbits as a foal or youngster (as we bred him) and he is now 5 and still licking.

He has a salt lick in his stable and always ad lib hay and goes out in the daytime too.

I push him away as soon as he tries to lick and still don't give him treats or try not to touch his mouth at all while handling him.

It's not just me he licks it's anyone and we often warn people that they will be licked to death.

I don't what to do...haha.
Anyone else have a horse with an abnormal habit like this or an OCD?lol.
 
No I don't but his feed that he is on Pure feeds "should" have all the vits and mins he needs apparently.
I will give it a try though and see if that makes a change.
Thinking about it now he did eat a huge mouthful of mud when i put him out the other morning so maybe he is lacking in something like you said.
Thankyou for that.
 
Our stallion will do this if we let him, not managed to cure him but we just stop him doing it as soon as he starts .. not much help, sorry!!
 
My horse HAS to lick something after he has eaten his feed/ occasional treat. When he has finished his breakfast/ tea, he will lick the stable door or fence and licks along in one direction and then back to where he started. He does this for around 5 mins after every feed. If I try to stop him he gets pretty agitated!

Like you, I've likened it to OCD.

He also stretches after I put his headcollar on to lead him out in the morning- every day without fail. Again, OCD? Or maybe I look into things too much!

No help, sorry, but I found your post interesting!
 
try a horslyx, horses love them and they have everything they need in it. I have to limit one of my horses on them as she bites chunks out of them and theyre gone within a week!!

Failing that, can you try a 'sod' of earth in the stable? we used to do thi for one of the (very very very) good racehorses, he'd love it, would throw it around his stable like a killer whale with a seal but by morning there wouldnt be a sign of it!!
 
I had a horse on loan a while ago now that would do something like this, (maybe not to the same extent). We DID cure it when we put seaweed in his dinner... took about a month, but then no sign of any more licking or chewing wood, or eating mud!
 
My horse does this too, its driving me mad. He also grabs his leadrope or reins or noseband and sort of grinds his front teeth on it. I just dont know how to stop it :(
 
thankyou for all your ideas, he did have a horslyx (the big ones) and him and his field friend trashed the whole bucket and ate it within 2 days. so i cant afford to keep doing that.lol.
God i can imagine the state of his stable with a lump of earth.lol.he spends hours licking his feed bucket around the stable if it gets left in there.
seeweed sounds good too, used to feed this to one of my old show jump ponies and it's not too expensive either so thats a good option.
definately now thinking he's lacking in something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top