Why do horses dig their beds!?

[Sags_Deer]

My dizzy chestnut thinks its great fun to dig his bed up at night, his stable is a right mess in the mornings and I cant find his poo!! - guess it must be his colour!

 

[NeedNewHorse]

Bless him! That's just their natural instinct... He is foraging. I wish my mare would do that, i often try and hide things when she has to be stabled at night in the winter but she never finds them .. lol

x

 

[ThePony]

mine does it because she is a cow and likes to pretty much sh£t on my cash! A massive waster of shavings - she trashes her bed and mashes everything in, arghhh! Slow to muck out and costly to maintain, thank goodness she is out 24/7 now!

 

[vicky_sut]

Mine digs her banks but only at this time of year when the mice are about

 

[Thursday]

My chesnut does the same! I'd look into her bed after 24 hours and you think she'd never been in there! Its like she hides it as a game so she gets to stay out longer when I muck her out. Although this is the same mare that tries to climb into the wheelbarrow and also putting her feet into the feed trough! Nuts!

 

[JenHunt]

Ron does it when he needs a pee as he's frightened of splashback!

Tom just digs holes in anything, for no apparent reason!

 

[BigRed]

The only time my mare did that, was if I didn't leave enough haylage. If she was hungry, she would start to rummage around in case she missed anything.

 

[MagicMelon]

The horse is likely bored? Probably the only thing he can find to amuse himself!

 

[Nocturnal]

Mine does this to make an enormous soft mound of straw for him to have a good roll in . Makes me chuckle to watch - no matter how deep I make his bed, he always makes a mound to roll on