Chewing!

[ellie_e]

Can anyone suggest why my horse is chewing everything! He's 6, teeth checked last September time. He chews everything from wood to grooming brushes to my leg! He doesnt bite, just nibbles, someone did mention it could be if he was gelded late???

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Biting and nipping is common coltish behaviour so I suppose it could be a gelded late thing. If his teeth are fine though, I'd start by looking closely at his diet. Does he have enough forage and the correct vits and mins? At 6, almost 100% of his diet should be forage based. Or he could be developing gastric ulcers. Turnout and fibre and if you suspect gastric ulcers, I'd start him on Coligone (peppermint powder), which truly is like magic fairy dust for stressy neds.

 

[ellie_e]

Hes turned out currently for 8-9hrs aday, on the weekend it will be 24/7. He gets 2 haynets of haylage every night. He's fussy with eating feed, currently try to give him a handful of chaff and horse&pony cubes, garlic, magnesium and linseed oil, with some carrots/apples every am & pm, he tends to not eat the chaff however. He loves his haylage and will eat as much as you can throw at him. Should i be suspecting ulcers?

 

[cands]

Could be ulcers yes - or could be a mineral/vitamin dificentcy. My mare licks everything she can (covers, my hands, other horses even). I increased her salt in feeds and she is a bit better. Could just be him - as a youngster is exploring, he could be wanting attention, or bored and finding something to do to intertain himself. Could get bloods done to assess vitamin and mineral levels? Or try providing him with a toy?

 

[Azbo]

I have a 6 year old gelding who sounds very similar! The last time he saw the vet he questioned if he was gelded late as he was grabbing hold of the lead rope and was generally very mouthy and this is typical cultish behaviour. I know for a fact that he was gelded as early as it was possible to be done as I ride him for someone else and his actual owner breed him.

He has can be quite bad tempered and is now off his Alfa and balancer. You cant put your leg on whist riding without him tensing up and kicking out. He will nip at me when I go to do his girth up and cow kicking when grooming his belly.

Basically these are all symptoms of Gastric ulcers so he is being scoped on Tuesday.

I don't know your horses history or how much you know of this either but I would say, monitor him and see if he starts showing any other signs or talk to your vet if you are concerned.