Horses stripping bark from trees???

TopTotty

TopTotty

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Has anyone had any experience of this??? This week the bark has been stripped off two trees in the hedge of my field. I have never heard of horses doing this and wondered if the deer had been in. The bark is stripped all the way down the trunk.
Any one else know anything about this? :confused::confused::confused:
 
Perfectly normal . Mine do it all the time , the only thing they are deficient in is brain cells. This gets me in all sorts of trouble with my OH as they kill all the young trees and the hedge if we dont keep them off it with electric tape.
 
I think it usually means they are lacking something from their diet? I wouldn't worry too much, some horses can just do it for fun as well! Maybe get a mineral lick to put out in the paddock to ensure they can help themselves to extra goodies :) xx
 
Mine have been doing this, also pawing and eating soil, clearly deficient in something - so added a mineral lick to field.

They ate it all in a matter of days :/ should have seen that one coming!!!
 
Well it's defo the horses as just caught one in the act!!! I wouldn't think it is boredom as they come in daily and are worked and then have a good sized field to go in. They have always had trees nearby before but we have just moved and these are different trees. Will take some pics of them tomoz.
Thanks for everyones help :):):):)
 
My 4 year old does it - only one particular tree, but she will quite literally strip it from the bottom to as far up as she can reach, she also licks concrete, and is lacking in nothing (besides the brain cells suggested) has a general vit/min supplement in feed and always has access to himilayan salt rock and paddock licks.
 
Ours LOVE tha ash tree leaves and twigs - they can't get enough of them, I don't think they are deficient in anything as such - they get fed and always have access to mineral licks. Aren't they meant to be grazers and do a bit of browsing too?

Mine also broke the fence to get access to the oak tree one year, and snaffled all the acorns on the floor :mad: It didn't make him ill, but it did make his poo brown and shiny full of acorn cases! :eek:
 
devilwoman said:
My 4 year old does it - only one particular tree, but she will quite literally strip it from the bottom to as far up as she can reach, she also licks concrete, and is lacking in nothing (besides the brain cells suggested) has a general vit/min supplement in feed and always has access to himilayan salt rock and paddock licks.
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My sister's horse always licks metal after food, either dinner or just a treat, this is either the gate, top of stable, or the car :eek:
 
Most horses if given the chance love to strip bark. If I cut down any trees that are suitable I put the trunks in the field for them, they also like blackberries and rose trees.
My pony heads straight to my apple trees and trashs them if given the chance
 
If you read the latest equine nutrition research on ferral horses, you will find that left to themselves horses eat an awful lot more varied food than just grass, including things like bark, etc.

Just make sure that the trees are deciduous (NOT evergreen) and not oak.
 
now this is hazy so feel free to correct - but horses eating bark (or bark of a certain tree) is after pain relief its like a naturally occurring aspirin.
 
brighthair said:
pretty sure it's willow - salicylic acid
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Yes, its willow, mine love it.They also get to strip the bark off branches of trees and hedges when we clear the overgrowth.
Its normal behaviour for horses to strip bark, and not because they are necessarily deficient in minerals or bored or psychologically disturbed. Given the opportunity, horses will source a wide variety of different types of forage.
 
Perfectly natural, as Horse Rider says, horses are browsers. By choice they'll pick all kinds of things, the problem with modern grazing is that fields are often clinically clean and must be downright boring to be quite honest (not always the fault of the owner). They know much better than us just what they need, or want, and if they can find it they'll help themselves to it.

Cut down some branches or logs and let them chomp on them, if you can't sacrifice a tree or two.

Mine have hay out 24/7, and mineral blocks, it doesn't stop them doing their own thing, and I don't care, it is their space they can do what they like, I have 25 acres of non-productive trees I wish they'd eat. I have huge, well established willow thickets in some of my paddocks, the horses love them, they also use them to reach itchy parts:


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Mine strip bark when there isn't enough grass or hay around, ie they're hungry. We leave logs in the field sometimes for them. The trees will be killed if they strip the bark all round the tree, but it doesn't harm the horses. So far!
 
POLLDARK said:
They are hungry.
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Not necessarily surely :)

As I said, mine have rounds out 24/7 (summer time included) and they choose to nibble on trees and fresh shoots.

The horse in the photo above (21 yo) hardly looks starving does she, or this one? The bay is particularly partial to wild grapes.

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Our grazing is very "meadow", there are lots of plants other than grass, ie burdock, nettles, thistles, comfrey, brambles (not as rubbish as it sounds!) - and trees. The horses nibble the leaves and branches of horse chestnut, lime and hawthorn all year, but in winter will strip the bark of willow and ash trees.
 
BoolavogueDC said:
Its like spot the horse there Enfys :)
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:D

There is a water hole at the back of those willows where the buckskin is , the turtle eggs have hatched and I found three squashed babies that obviously didn't have the sense to get out of the way :(

Sometimes it takes us ages to even find the horses! They are out on the outside of an old half mile trotting track and have three lots of woods to hide in. Where they are now is a melt pond - only about 2' deep at the best of times, in winter it is completely frozen over and we use it as a skating rink, they choose to stand on the ice and use the trees for shelter. The trees take a bit of a battering in the way of being barked, but I think the horses just need to actually forage and chew especially in winter rather than stand with their heads in a bale of hay.

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From the other end looking towards the clump of trees on the left in the photo above:

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