Is he lacking something in his diet?

[Boxers]

Pony lives in at night and has high fibre pony cubes, sugar beet and a bit of garlic granules. He has a haynet. He is out for about 8-10 hours on good grazing.

BUT he keeps licking the metal post outside his stable, or the metal edging on his door. I've also seen him licking a plastic water carrier.

Is he lacking something?

 

[Chico Mio]

Has he got a salt/mineral lick? Lots of grazing is short on copper and zinc.

 

[Cliqmo]

It does sound like it. As above he may need a salt lick and a good broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement. Hope this helps.

 

[hellybelly6]

Is your pony having the full recommeded amount of cubes? If not, he could well be lacking in vits/mins. As somebody said, some areas lack copper, zinc, but also magnesium and selenium.

A lot of ponies cannot have the full amount of feed as they are prone to putting on weight. I have one of these and give him a general purpose supplement. A mineral lick will keep him occupied and let him decide how much he should should have.