eating wood

[sachak]

ok so my boy would happily devour a tree trunk at the moment

im sooo baffled as he has a vitamin and mineral supplement and is fed:

1 scoop dengie hifi or alfa a original
1/2 scoop of alpha beet
1/2 scoop of H&P nuts

all of the above twice a day he has his vit and min supplement along with superflex which he just has in his dinner.

he has been on this feed since last summer and always been ok on it.

the only change is that he is now in during the day and out at night???

anyone want to shed some light im a bit confused!!! or is it just that my horse is a simpleton!!!!

 

[lily1]

I dont know either sachak. My lot eat fencing, tree bark it must taste disgusting.

 

[sachak]

i just worry my head off that he will colic :s

 

[Rainbowrider]

I wouldn't worry too much about him getting colic, but I would put some fencing, or electric fence up to stop him doing it. The trees will die if they have their bark eaten off!

 

[nuffield]

Its usually a sign of lack of salt. even if they have a salt lick. Just add a dessert spoon of salt to the feed once daily. usually cures the condition in about a week.

 

[Tnavas]

Increase fibre inhis diet - add more hay. Definately fence off the poor tree if it gets ring barked it will die.

 

[sachak]

thanks guys - he gets as much hay as he can eat :s the tree should be more appropriately referred to as a stump so already dead! But will def fence it off... just for my peace of mind if nothing else!!!!! Thank you all for your help though x

 

[MagicMelon]

Personally, I encourage mine to eat bark if they want it! I read somewhere that in nature, they DO eat bark. I give mine big branches (we have a big garden so have lots of these lying about) which they then nibble at for days until they're totally bare. Mine all live out 24/7, are fed a high fibre hard feed and also given as much hay as they like so I dont believe its anything to do with lack of fibre.