How to protect yard taps from itchy Shetland?

[catembi]

My yard is finally finished with two stable blocks and hard standing in between. The horses are allowed to wander freely 24/7 as that was the idea...large area of hard standing while my clay fields are too wet to use. But the Shetland is scratching her bum on the new yard taps and is going to break them soon! Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it? She doesn’t have a skin condition...she just likes scratching, and not just her bum.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Not personally, oddly mine hasn’t ever tried the taps as a rub point!
At my friends yard they boxed the tap in. It worked well for winter too as they shoved lots of insulation into the wooden box.

 

[meleeka]

I built a box around mine with ply for the same reason. Is open fronted so doesn’t affect its use at all.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I built a box around mine with ply for the same reason. Is open fronted so doesn’t affect its use at all.

Yes, something like this is what I was going to suggest.

Also add a livestock scratching post that she can safely use. I've see bristle ones and also rubber ones with 'fingers'. So you are saying 'no' to the tap and also saying 'yes' to scratching on the proper scratcher.

 

[ycbm]

I bought them a bench to scratch on instead, they found it much more satisfying.
.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Ditto Meowy Catkin, I suggest adding a scratch pad of some sort. For example I've seen that Hööks sells horse scratch pads

A scratching brush from Farm & Country Direct

 

[thefarsideofthefield]

A letter box cage ( as used on the inside of the front door to catch the post before the dog does ! ) fitted over the tap . Cheap , easy to fit and you can insulate in the winter .

 

[catembi]

Thank you for all the ideas. She would love a scratcher and perhaps she might leave everything else alone!