Chewing wood?

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Nannon

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My horse has taken to trying to chew sticks in the field and bite trees recently :s the field he's in isn't bare, it's still pretty good grazing
I know with sheep that normally means they're lacking in grass or some nutrients or something but does the same apply to horses?!
 
There's nothing wrong with eating small twigs from a favoured non-poisonous tree, but if they're trying to strip bark or eating the fence, a broad spectrum vitamin/mineral supplement is a good idea. Assuming there is some grass in the field and they're not just hungry and needing more fibre eg hay.
 
We lay safe tree branches down in the fields sometimes in winter and the horses have a great time ripping the bark off :) I guess it's entertaining, they enjoy doing it don't seem to eat much of it at all because it's left scattered in strips. Check if your boy is feeding off the tree or if he's just giving it a good chew, it might give you more of an idea of why.
 
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Will keep an eye on what he's doing then :) he's on a codlivine supplement for general mins and vits (well I assume it covers most of it!!)
He's always been a bit mouthy - chewed all the wood in my stable the first night he came home bit spat it all out and hasn't done it since but he does love carrying things like a dog?! Weird pony
 
There is a mineral you can get for wood chewers usually means they are lacking something, but could also be boredom or they need more roughage than the grass is giving them, its one of those where you have to cut out or add what it could be before resorting to buying the vitamin,
 
my small pony chews wood (and eats poo) when the grass changes ,i found putting him on brewers yeast stops it within a few days
 
It can also be perfectly normal for them to eat bark, wood and browse. Horses don't just eat grass if give the chance of other things.
 
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