Here are the two vandals aka Pokey and Gilly! (see them trying to hide behind their destruction?)Pokey started it because Gilly didn't chew before Pokey-Termite came along now they both chew everything they can lay their teeth too. (click to make bigger) you can see the end of the trellis, I haven't even looked at the other side. Gilly chews on the big stuff and Pokey will stick his nose through the lattice and chew it!
Someone told me that they need minerals? Well I feed them Omega Horse Shine that has flax and a lot of vitamins and minerals in it and have since before Pokey even showed up here and he is eating it too. They can't be bored, they have 5 acres of pasture, trees, hills and valleys to play in and are only in the barn when they are eating....btw Pokey is chewing the beams in the barn too!
Close up of the vandalism on post (big spot is dirt on window OMG a dirty window!)Soooo my question to you is.....do your horses chew on things and what do you do about it? Is it something else they are lacking in their diets or are they turning into wood gnawing termits?????
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Jane and the Vandals
11 comments:
Don't know anything about chewing. None of mine have ever chewed. I had also heard that wood chewing indicates a lack of something.. but I always take things I "hear" with grain of salt.
Horses do not chew wood or eat dirt or lick peoples hands or eat their own poop because they lack something. Horses have no more nutritional wisdom than a new born baby. If a baby is hungry he gets a bottle. If a bottle is not available he sucks his thumb or passifier. See what I am getting at? Boredom and lack of a natural, eating 16 hours a day cause horses to eat things to satisfy their need to be foraging and munching on something, much like a babys need for that thumb or passifier. I found that fiebings hoof conditioner/oil works the best to keep them from eating wood. My pony used to crib like a sucker before he was turned out 24/7 with stuff to eat constantly. When he does/did have to be stalled the edges he chews on are coated in the fiebings and he turns his nose up at chewing wood or cribbing (hes got a cribbing collar just in case though)
JeniQ, lucky you!
Sydney, I understand what you are saying but mine are never shut in, they are outside 24/7 and on five acres with trees and all kinds of things to get into and forage on. So I keep thinking how can they be bored? But then I'm not a horse so I can't answer that one either.
I am going to have to paint every fence post and the whole back and sides of the barn then! LOL
Sometimes they just do it - Sydney's right, some will do it if they are bored and don't have tasty stuff to eat. Some will do it as an expression of frustration - Maisie will chew wood for this reason if I'm doing something that makes her impatient. Some do it out of displaced aggression. And some just do it - best solution is hot wire or else just living with it.
Kate, I think the hot wire along the top of the fence is what we will have to do, they also have pulled the shingles off the dog house that is sitting by the trellis! That danged Gilly is so tall he can reach way over the fence there, Pokey just reaches through it! Trouble makers!!!
Baby Doll never chewed on wood in the 2 1/2 yrs I owned her. I don't know about the mineral theory because Baby Doll refused to even use a mineral block. I'd sprinkle loose minerals into a bucket whenever I remembered and she'd sometimes lick it, but otherwise she didn't seem to care much for extra minerals or chewing wood, for that matter.
Too bad, horses don't like rawhide. I'd be buying one of the great dane size chewies if I had a termite horse. lol!
Funny how they were hiding behind the lattice. Do you yell at them when you catch them in the act? Do they know they're not supposed to chew the wood?
Oh NO! A dirty window! Lucky you don't have my stepmom visiting, so she can tell you, like she does me, how 'filthy' your home is. bleh! (Do I harbor some animosity for that woman? You betcha! hehe!
~Lisa
Keep on posting! I'LL BE BACK!!! (In my best Arnold voice!)
They chew because they can. Plain and simple. A hot wire is the perfect answer. Add another lower if they start going under.
Also, after they quit making creosote that stopped the chewing, we would use the old oil from a diesel truck when we changed it. And you can store that in a big 55 gallon drum. It can be sprayed or brushed on.
Aren't they just cute hiding??!!!
Not nice when they ruin things! Did they look guilty...at least???
Thank goodness neither of my horses chew on any thing except the occasional low-hanging tree branch. We don't have cross fencing, so it would be a big problem if they did.
I've seen stuff at the feed store to discourage chewing, but obviosuly, I have no experience with it.
Mine don't chew. They are always out foraging for something to eat on the tundra that is our pasture these days. If we get a round bale, they all hang out around that all day. Even when they are in their stalls they don't chew. I don't know what to suggest - wish I could help you out with that. I've never had chewers or cribbers... Loved the new posts!!
Lisa, LOL, yes a HUGE rawhide bone for Gilly and Pokey. Pokey will drag big tree limbs around too, what a monkey!
Tell her to clean them if she doesn't like dirty windows! LOL
Julie, two hot wires will probably have to be put up so Pokey can't reach through. Yes, we could use the oil we have around here.
Desert Rose, no, they just grinned and chewed some more! LOL
Leah, you are lucky!
Dee Ann, Gilly didn't chew until Pokey came along, now he really chews! Thanks!
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