Horse eating dirt!

Firewell

Firewell

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My horse keeps licking the ground in his field?! He doesn't do it all the time but I spot him doing it every now and again to the point he has made a bare patch where he does it.

He is brought in every day out of the flies and he has two feeds of Alfa A oil and fibre nuts with a general purpose vitamin and mineral supplement and a pre-biotic supplement. He has a salt lick in his stable which he uses. He eats 2 sections of meadow hay and 1 of haylage every day while he is in his stable. He has some grass still in his paddock so he doesn't have anything extra to eat when he is out over night.

He is a 5yr old tb in full work and he is in good, fit condition. His coat gleams and his eyes are bright. His worming is upto date.

Why do you think he is doing this? He looks well and is acting vibrant so should I just ignore it? He has been on the vitamin supplement and the prebiotic for about 4-6 weeks now and I'm surprised that hasn't stopped it.

Our soil is a clay/chalk mix.
 
hey my horse did this so i put him on bailys lo-cal balancer and he hasnt done it since but tbh your horse seems to be getting a good balanced feed so i would just forget it, it wont be a problem
 
Definatley a TB thing. Chilli does it too. I'm happy that he's getting everything he needs from his feed, is fit, healthy & worked appropriatley, etc so am currently filing it under the 'what he does in his own time is his business' section of life. Personally, I think Chilli is a little 'special' sometimes!!
 
My TB loves dirt. She also gets a very balanced diet and it's a mystery to me why she does it.

I do add a psyllium supplement to her feed once a week to avoid dirt colic and you might want to consider that.
 
ive been told its to try and get different nutrients - and just a survival habbit picked up from way back when his ancestors were wild. :P. i doubt you need to change anything if he seems fine. its probably just programmed into him. i know horses also eat dandilion leaves in a similar habit as its a deep rooted plant so they get lots of trace elements and stuff from them.

Love xx
 
Horses love nettles so if you have any nettles in your field or surrounding area pull them up and leave them for the sting to go and then put them in the field. They are full of natural iron, which is part of the meadow thing that people dont understand. i.e. grazing is not just about grass its about other plants as well for nutrition. Dont pull the roots up as that why they wont grow again.
 
I've also read that this can be linked to dental problems, have you had his teeth checked recently?? You seem to have the balanced diet down well, but as other have suggested if he's going to do it, I'd add a supplement to avoid sand/dirt colic, also try moving the salt lick out into the field and see if he'll lick it there instead of eating the dirt??
 
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