horse eating the bark..

[DipseyDeb]

Not Charlie, but my friends horse has started to chomp at the bark of the tree in his paddock, would this be cause for concern, never come across it before...

 

[Steorra]

It's quite common for horses to supplement their diet with bark, young twigs, leaves etc. Winter is more normal though as most horses prefer grass if it's available. Is it a fatty paddock or one without much grass left?

It can be an indication that there is not enough fibre in the horse's diet. If the grass is short then he might need hay or chaff to keep his digestive system in good order. Something like hi-fi lite that is low in calories but high in fibre might help.

On the other hand, some horses just seem to have a taste for it. At the last livery yard I was at the trees in one field were fenced off around the base as one particular horse was stripping them!

 

[Daisy11]

horses naturally eat bark, and other parts of trees
how much grass does he have ?How much hay do they get if he has no grass ? Also, what's the rest of their diet? How large of a pasture are they in,?

Its very possible that he is deficient in something(s)...its also possible they aren't deficient in a particular nutrient, but rather in "chew" time. Also possible, though the least likely situation is that they are pure bored..

 

[appylass]

Mine do it too, mainly when they consider they are starving They seem to particularly like hazel and hawthorn. I've never found it a problem but try to move them onto better grass when they start so that they don't kill the hedge/tree.

 

[posie_honey]

depending on the type of tree it can just be natural - ie willow bark which has anti inflamatory proporties etc... they are designed to forage different plants etc to self medicate - if the horse has a vit and min supp/salt lick then i'd not worry - mine did it even on topsepc so i suspect its just a deep rooted urge if that makes sense? - if not then i'd maybe think of giving them one

 

[DipseyDeb]

Thanks all, heon very poor grazing, does get 1 haynet a day, she's off to buy him some mineral licks etc!!

 

[Magicmillbrook]

Yip two of mine are partial to bark too, esp willow and hawthorn - much to the neighbours disgust!

 

[Enfys]

Totally normal, especially with modern paddocks that don't have the amount/variation of roughage a feral horse would have access to. I let mine chomp on trees, at any time of year, if there are no trees in the paddocks then I cut branches for them, keeps them happy.

If they aren't on diets then I supply ad-lib hay/straw as well.

 

[sally87]

i used to have a new forest pony that did it so i bought him a salt lick & he never touched it! yard owner wasnt particularly impressed by my pony destroying all the trees so i got him a field mask so he couldnt do it. he wore it for a few months then when we took it off he didnt eat the trees anymore. nothing had changed in his diet so i expect it was behavioural & breaking the behaviour pattern stopped the problem. he was always a bit of a nibbler though, as well as the trees he also liked to have a go at metal tie rings & my dad!