The youngster... again!

GrassChop

GrassChop

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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!
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
Paint it with Cribbox or something similar. There are also spray versions. These products are designed for exactly this behaviour and work really well.
 
BBP2 said:
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.
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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!
 
Is creosote actually safe? As in for use to stop chewing. Friend used it recently and can’t believe how pungent the smell is just in the air when it’s been painted on.
 
My post and rail is creosoted. Didn’t stop one of mine nibbling it. She came up in a skin rash which I assumed was due to the creosote so I turned her out in a muzzle for a while. They now have a huge round bale of straw in a shelter for extra chew ability and I haven’t caught her nibbling the fence since. She spent the first few years of her life on a racing yard where all of them were post and rail chewers. So a learned behaviour. Pain in the backside.
 
Dex started to eat fencing at the yard so I put him on a vits and mins supplement, only a cheap one, and it stopped - recently took him off to see if it was a fluke and YM reported him back to eating fencing so back on it he goes. I know you say you feed a balancer but unless you feed it at the recommended feeding rate he may still be deficient in something so it may be worth a re-jig
 
GrassChop said:
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
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You could take photos with your phone for reference

Came out one morning after their breakfast to find 2 naughty boys chewing a fence post together, sprayed it with iodine which was handy, never been near it since

Sometimes it's the weather making them want to eat more than normal

I can see em from sitting room to monitor

Slapping on some Stockholm tar might out pong them

But would only do if able to watch, and mine go out in the field at 10 30, stabled with yard at night, open yard for breakfast with feed and hay, then field for day
 
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