Eating wood, is it simply a salt deficiency?

[KateB999]

I have had a quick look through past posts on this matter, and I am thinking that the issue is purely down to insufficient salt in my boys diet (he refuses to use any type of salt lick for the purpose it's meant for - they just become bum rubbing devices!).

He's at grass during the day (this is when he nibbles the trees and fence), stabled at night with plenty of haylage. Hard feed is happy hoof, baileys essential mix with supplements of garlic and formula4feet.

Thinking of adding a spoon of salt to meals?

Has anyone else had this problem and tried salt? It seems too good to be true that something so cheap will work in the equine world..... ;-)

 

[Enfys]

No, it isn't simply a matter of a deficiency

That can always be taken into account of course, ulcers can also be another cause, but that often manifests itself in real wood chomping (see photo)

Horses are browsers, they nibble on shoots, fresh twigs, bits of bark etc.

In winter when they are on a mainly hay diet (which they just suck up with no effort) and can't graze I personally think that they crave the physical activity of using their teeth to graze.

My horses live in wooded paddocks, in winter we have no grass whatsoever, usually snowed under, there is always mineral and salt blocks available and ad-lib hay/straw. My Aspen trees look as if there has been a pack of beavers gone through the place! It's what horses do given the choice as far as I am concerned. The paddocks that don't have trees always have logs or branches for the horses to chew on, and they always do

 

[Brightbay]

Horses are not - by nature - solely grazing animals. Given a choice, they combine grazing and browsing (eating things other than grass ). We tend to keep them in environments where there isn't much to browse - neatly fenced paddocks, individual electric tape paddocks etc.

They will feel a bit like us, if we get fed all the time on a diet of beans on toast After a while, the desire to eat anything else at all will get quite strong - and they then tend to chew wooden posts, fences, stable doors etc. It's not solely a mineral deficiency, although most grazing doesn't provide a terribly well balanced diet in terms of minerals.

Given the opportunity, horses have seasonal preferences for bark, new leaves, twigs of various kinds of trees, gorse etc. They're just varying their diet the same way we like to do.

However, most grazing is quite low in sodium and high in potassium, causing an imbalance, and this is particularly the case in spring... and spring grass is quite lush, so horses like to add a bit of extra fibre You can safely add a fairly substantial quantity of salt (by human standards) to a horse's diet. Mine gets two tablespoons of salt a day at this time of year, as well as a salt lick that he also uses.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

sometimes its habbit , one of mine does this to tree bark , they also eat mud and lck it too.

 

[HollyhedgePippa]

My mare ate a whole piece of the fencing... This was it in the process:

Didn't manage to get one of it gone as the YO fixed all the fencing - cant really moan about that though !

 

[contestdancer]

No I would say it probably is not simply a salt deficiency. It could be a lack of vitamins and minerals but equally if the horse is chomping wood it could very likely be ulcers. To find out though the vet would need to scope.

Eating/licking mud is usually a selenium deficiency.

 

[kirstykate]

B12 deficiency, if my memory serves me right

 

[wellsat]

I don't know if it will have an impact on wood chewing but adding salt to your horse's diet is very good for them, especially at this time of year.

http://www.calmhealthyhorses.co.nz/whattodo.php#salt

 

[KateB999]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. I think I will add salt to his diet and see how he gets on (could do without having to pay for new fencing at yard!). I have also reviewed his diet in full and think I will also seek some advice from a couple of feed manufacturers, Dodson and Horall and Baileys, to get some nutritional advice based on his workload etc. I know they will each be looking to push their own products but I would like to make sure I am getting it right for his needs. There are so many different products on the market nowadays it just becomes a minefield!