The youngster... again!

[GrassChop]

The destructive 4 year old has now taken to eating his shelter!

The back of it was pretty rotten already as it's ancient but this seems to have just made it more palatable! It's starting to look like a bad patchwork quilt where I'm replacing sections of shiplap panel that have been fully eaten thus creating his very own windows but at this rate, I'm going to have to replace the entire back section and corners as he's eating through the lot of it. I wish I was exaggerating too.

He was eating the fence before but it's fully electrified now.

He has toys, salt lick and small holed haynets with a hay/straw mix to keep him occupied without more weight due to him being a total pig but to still give him something to munch on. He also has company.

He gets a balancer and good portion of chaff daily where he also gets supplemented with salt too.

I have never known a horse to be this greedy. If he can chew and swallow it, it's as good as anything else.

I've had to fence the back off for now but is there anything else I can do?! He eats the walls from the inside too!

 

[TinselPoos]

Oh dear - if he is actually eating it then be careful in case the shiplap has been treated with a preservative or whatever. One of mine started on her stable if she ever ran out of food for 5 minutes. I used to leave a large bucket of chopped oat straw so she always had something to munch.

 

[Jinx94]

Is it worth putting a non toxic branch in his field for him to chew on?

Ages ago, the yard we were at trimmed a tree next to our field and left the branches in there. The geldings chewed on the branches a bit and left the fencing (which was previously being munched) well alone. Cant guarantee it'll work, but might be worth a try if it's an option for you?

 

[VegasRalph]

I’d keep spraying it with white vinegar if that doesn’t work if you have any excess wormer put a blob on his fave chewy part my youngster would recoil he hates the taste of wormers

 

[BBP2]

I hate to suggest it, but are ulcers a possibility? My young horse became part beaver when she had ulcers. She chewed my field fencing, arena fencing, gates, jump poles, mounting block, field shelter, hay feeders, anything wood, she would chew it. Regardless of what other food sources were available. Whilst we treated the ulcers, I gave her fresh cut ash logs and branches to chew on, whilst cribboxing everything else. Having things she was allowed to chew really helped reduce the amount of other stuff she would try to eat.

 

[Marigold4]

Paint it with Cribbox or something similar. There are also spray versions. These products are designed for exactly this behaviour and work really well.

 

[GrassChop]

I’d keep spraying it with white vinegar if that doesn’t work if you have any excess wormer put a blob on his fave chewy part my youngster would recoil he hates the taste of wormers

I can put wormer in his feed and he'd eat it like it wasn't there this boy is an utter pig!

 

[GrassChop]

I hate to suggest it, but are ulcers a possibility? My young horse became part beaver when she had ulcers. She chewed my field fencing, arena fencing, gates, jump poles, mounting block, field shelter, hay feeders, anything wood, she would chew it. Regardless of what other food sources were available. Whilst we treated the ulcers, I gave her fresh cut ash logs and branches to chew on, whilst cribboxing everything else. Having things she was allowed to chew really helped reduce the amount of other stuff she would try to eat.

This is something that came up when I was having a quick Google. I've had him since he was 6 months old and I can't see there would be any reason for there to be ulcers but I suppose I can't fully rule it out. He hasn't ever displayed any symptoms but it doesn't mean it's not possible, I guess. I'll have a look into that.

The trouble is, I won't be able to tell if he's still chewing or not because it's so absolutely battered that you won't be able to see if it has been eaten more unless what is left of a panel has completely come off!

 

[Hallo2012]

you need creosote (the proper stuff not the watered down B&Q variety)

 

[GrassChop]

you need creosote (the proper stuff not the watered down B&Q variety)

I didn't think you could get this anymore?

 

[Widgeon]

I didn't think you could get this anymore?

You can get it from agricultural stores with a CPH number (i.e. the holding number you need to keep farm livestock). If you have any obliging neighbours with sheep etc they might be able to source you some.