Eating dirt

[fernando]

My TB has a terrible habit of eating muck when he is turned out in the AW, now he does have to stretch out to get at it but does anybody know why he is eating muck?

 

[AmyMay]

Horse muck or dirt? Quite a few horses will have a good old lick of mud. Some say it's down to a deficiency in their diet - which is quite possible, others that they just enjoy the taste.

 

[fernando]

dirt, earth, not horse poo, he always does it now, but never used to, even though he is on the same feed!!! puzzling!!!

 

[AmyMay]

How does he look? He could well be lacking something this time of year. Is he getting enough hay and hard feed do you think?

 

[fernando]

He looks in fantastic condition, he goes through 2 small bales of haylage a week, is on 1 scoop of cool n cooked and alfa-a with linseed oil & cortaflex twice a day, he has a salt lick in his stable which he doesn't touch. I'm just worried in case he colic's or something.

 

[AmyMay]

I'm sure it's nothing to worry about then.

 

[fernando]

thanks

 

[Salcey]

My boy used to do this, and I found that giving him a seaweed supplement stopped it. He was in good condition at the time but was obviously needing something from the soil.

 

[fernando]

seaweed!!! hmmm looks like I'm going on a shopping expedition this weekend, thanks

 

[brightmount]

I'm sceptical about the deficiency theory, as both mine are in tiptop condition and fed a feed balancer but they do like to eat mud just like yours! I noticed it especially with my ISH last year when she was on box rest and I used to walk her out to graze in-hand. She would quite regularly find a nice patch of bald clay and lick away at it for all she was worth!

I didn't stop her from her enjoyment as I thought she was going to have to be PTS anyway at the time, but she got over her lameness and the mud didn't do her any harm

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

mine has a section on a hack where he will not go foward until he has eaten some of the dirt !!!!!! we now avoid that bit but he still tries to get there !!

 

[fernando]

wow, he's lovely!!!!

mine doesn't really have any other quirks like that, its just strange, you throw him out for a runabout and he starts eating muck!! and then wipes his dirty face all over me!!

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

Thank you

 

[sarahmagic]

My mare started doing this and also chewing wood for no apparent reason. When I started feeding her a vit and min supplement she stopped. I think some horses do it because of a deficiency, others may just like the taste!

 

[SpruceRI]

My mare is on box rest with a small amount of turn out and I notice she licks the mud like mad. Never noticed her doing it when she was turned out 24/7. I assume she's just missing eating mud-flavoured grass!

 

[fernando]

mmmm dirt!!!!!!