wood chewing/eating-how to stop?

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amandaco2

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2 of my 3 horses chews the post and rail fences and its driving me (and prob YO) nuts.

one is 2, rising 3 and teething-the dentist saw her last month and said her teeth look fine
she will chew the fences more when there is no grass towards the end of the winter.
shes not chewing at the moment.(touch wood lol)
(even though they have adlib hay in nets in the feild)
last year in late winter i had to put electric fences up about 2ft away from the rails round the entire field, electrifiy it, have 4 strands and take her rug off to keep her away and cover the rails and posts near the gate with cribbox!
she would eat the rails and the posts!


the other horse is 5 and her teeth have been rasped about 4 weeks ago and the dentist says they are fine now.
she started to eat (i mean half width of the rails on some has been devored) the rails in her field too!
she also has adlib hay in nets in her shelter!i dont have anymore eletric tape to put round her fence!


horse 3 is nearly 19 and never chews?!

all 3 horses are fed fibre ad lib in stable(unless i am down late) and field and get happy hoof/alfa a oil chaff plus topspec comprehnsive suppliment.

someone said smearing poo on the rails works..?at least it sounds cheap

the rails are all creostoed either last year or year before...

i dont have enough money to buy loads of cribbox(the 2 yo last year would eat between the applications if i left gaps!) as there is alot of fencing to cover.

I am worried that
A my horses could get sore mouths or colic
B i will be asked to replace the rails!
 
Chancer adores chewing wood - he is on a fibre diet with adlib hay and out all summer. Farra I have found also enjoys a good nibble and loves to lick metal hinges/wall ties.

Both are well fed and supplemented. However - they are both four and teething and pesty beasts that love playing and chewing things.

Solution - our field has electric tape going round to keep them off the fence - there is a piece of electric over the gate. I don't have to have it on all the time.

I give them a couple of big oak logs to kick and chew in the field. They also have elder or ash branches to chew in the stable and sometimes is put in the school whilst I muck out - stops them digging out and chewing the shavings bags.

For me this stops them chewing everything else. Horses will naturally chew wood in the wild and youngsters particularly want to use their teeth on things.
 
You can make up a nice mixture of horse poo and some water and paint it on the fence. Soon made mine pull a nasty face when he tried it again! And actually, I haven't seen him chewing the fence again, I think the shock was too much!
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I think you need to reapply it, but it is obviously something you will have in abundance so is free!
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Think i got that from the tips section at the top somewhere....
 
ah right.
i didnt make a poo paint mixture-i just rubbed the solid horse poo on the fences this morning and stuck lumps of it on!LOL
goodness knows what YO thought when she saw it!
flippin worked- the 5yo went to chew, sniffed it realy hard then went back to the haynet!
will try to find some nice branches for them.is oak branches ok?are are they not very good for them like the acorns and leaves?
bet they wont want to eat the logs though!LOL
 
Ash branches are very palatable (well ours eat loads of it anyway, and have never suffered
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) and I think willow is too (is natural aspirin so I'm led to believe). And hedgerow stuff like hawthorn, blackthorn (where sloe berries come from) are always good.
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So glad someone posted this tonight,i was planning to do so myself this evening as mine is NINETEEN and chewing his way through all the post and rail...grrr!!!
 
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