Horse paws ground to dig a hole and then eats dirt

[teasle]

Sometimes I take my horse for a little in hand walk through the woods Lately , at certain spots, he has started to paw the ground, scraping a hole- then he wants to eat dirt. He is on a mineral supplement- meta balancer, so I had presumed he was getting minerals. Does anyone else have a horse that does this or know why- he only does it in the woods,

 

[Miss L Toe]

He has found a bit of soil that he wants to eat, my boy used to eat soil in one field but not in any other, and he was getting a full compliment of mins and vits.

 

[Queenbee]

I would always presume vitamins and minerals, but perhaps he was a French pig in a previous life and is digging for truffles

 

[teasle]

Well he is a bit of a pig-very food minded.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

The trouble with balancers is that they are not made specifically to balance *your* horse's diet/forage. It is quite possible that your horse is very pleased to have found just what he is missing from his diet.

 

[posie_honey]

does he have free access to a salt lick?

 

[teasle]

Do you know I have just slung a salt lick that had been in his stable for 2 years untouched - but no , as he is mostly in a field and there is no lick i nthe field.

 

[kezimac]

mine only does it in her summer field - she does exactly the same. However she is back down in her winter field due to boggy track and she isnt doing it in there! so something in that ground that she likes?!

 

[AmyMay]

Pop a Rockies mineral block in his field.

 

[ester]

mine has always had free access to a lick.. but never touches them and prefers certain areas of dirt in the field . The mare will lick from both.

 

[stencilface]

Ours have licks, and also lick the mud from around the spring/trough in the middle of our field. Two of the horses we've had now on this land for nearly 20 years, so I think they're ok!