Strange Eating Habits
January 7, 2009
An America’s Horse Daily reader submitted a question about a horse who eats bark. Tom R. Lenz, D.V.M., M.S., Dipl. A.C.T., offers some sound advice that can apply to many horses who eat unusual things. Dr. Lenz is an American Association of Equine Practitioners member veterinarian and a regular columnist in The American Quarter Horse Journal.
Question:
I have a 14 year Red Roan Quarter Horse on 15 acres that eats the bark off my hardwood trees. She’s killed 15 of my trees so far. What can we do to stop her from eating the bark? Please help.
Answer:
Eating bark is usually a sign of two things. Either your horse is not getting enough roughage in her diet or she is bored.
It’s not uncommon for horses kept in paddocks or dry lots where they don’t have access to grass to start eating the bark off of trees. Horses typically graze 16-20 hours per day and when they are unable to do that, they find alternative sources of fiber and something to occupy their time.
My recommendation is to increase the amount of hay you are feeding her. If you’ve feeding very high quality hay like alfalfa, you may want to switch to a higher fiber hay with lower nutritional value such as a grass hay. If you are not able to keep hay in front of the horse most of they day, I’d split your feedings up so she is provided hay at least three times a day.
If your horse is chewing the bark because she’s bored, you might increase your riding time or introduce a companion such as another horse, a pony or even a goat. Horses are herd animals and need another animal with which to bond. To protect the trees you can put woven wire around the trunks up to a height the horse cannot reach above. This doesn’t solve the horse’s problem, but prevents damage to the trees until the problem, be it a lack of roughage or boredom, can be resolved.
Dr. Lenz offers more horse health advice in AQHA’s “Your Horse’s Health” DVD series.
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13 Comments on “Strange Eating Habits”
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Another solution is to put a fresh chunk of tree in their paddock for them to chew on. I have one horse who is on free choice hay and twice a day oats, but when we ride in the woods he loves to stop to chew maple bark like it’s candy.
I believe that horses require nutrition from a wide variety of sources, not just the select few forage and grain varieties that we provide. We just don’t know enough about the smaller components of nutritional requirements, for ourselves or our horses. While some plants may be toxic to horses, others that we see as unusual foodstuffs may actually be satisfying an undocumented nutritional requirement.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I have two horses in a large pasture: one of them likes to chew on the trees and wood fence posts and the other one doesn’t. In the interim I am protecting the trees with woven wire. Additionally I am giving hay at different times of the day (not always possible) and oats once a day. To deal with the boredom possibility, I am working on getting more riding time, and if nothing else, a good walk outside the pasture. So far, the changes have helped. Also, I provide a mineral block that they like, but I also added a white salt block. They’ve been really working on it.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I liked Dr. Lenz’s advise about making forage possible more hours of the day. Also, I’ve noticed with folks that seem to have issues with horses chewing on trees and other wood in the barn yard are not supplying adequate vitamins and minerals. Although there is a lot to learn about equine nutritional requirements, there is also a lot of information available and feeds to compliment all types of horses and pocketbooks. Oats and hay doesn’t cut it. Providing a complete mineral block (not the brown salt block) works to fill in this gap, but sometimes horses eat more than they need and that’s not cost effective either. Talk to your feed person or dealership. They can help, too.
January 15th, 2009 at 8:32 am
We tried everything when we had horses stripping and eating bark. [We even tried 'feeding' them tree limbs which they just gobbled up.] Finally, we tried a loose mineral with a very high level of Calcium, low level of Phosphorus 23:4 and had additional Magnesium and Zink in it. We have not had a horse eat bark since. It seems that we were feeding grass hay that had almost no Calcium in it (had it tested) and the supplemented Calcium was what the horses needed.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
In our decades of experience, bark and wood eating seems to be a sure sign of mineral deficiencies. We’ve seen the problem in both feeding free choice high quality alfalfa grass hay without providing free choice loose minerals, but not in feeding a high quality grass/legume mix hay. Testing hay lets us know which of the loose mineral products to use whether it be higher calcium or phosporous, potassium, magnesium, etc. Supplementing with the wrong mineral mix is just throwing money out the window and can be potentially dangerous to the horse. Hay testing is inexpensive. Working with a nutritionist after getting the testing results makes supplementing much safer. Also, the research we’ve found doesn’t show much difference between chelated and non chelated mineral absorbtion and utilization rates – just $$$$.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Edit to above post — “high quality alfalfa grass hay” should be “high quality alfalfa hay”. Sorry for the typo.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
dear folks as a horseman for forty years ;i can for sure tell you in my experience a mineral block ;atrace multi -mineral block broken up into pingpong ball size and added to your horses water daily is the ultimate cure for one not knowing exactly what it is that their horse in desiring or missing in the way of that special something;also for you people that travel and have experienced hydration problems away from home this is also a sure fire cure as all the water inevitably tastes the same;it has worked numerous times on bark chewers fence chewers and other related habits enough times with all different breeds for it not to have been coincidence ;but of course you have to persist if you wish to see the difference ;happy trails basil
January 18th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Basil, did you break up the mineral block with a pick and just drop a chunk in? I add water everyday to my heated 70 gal water trough and clean it once a week or more. Does putting the salt in heated water make a difference. We live in a really cold winter climate.
Another question on another topic to whomever…. My horse yawns a lot. I have had his teeth checked and nothing wrong. He yawns when I am hanging out with him so he isn’t stressed. I was told to rub between his jaw and neck because he might have a jaw issue. I have owned him for 4 years and he has yawned since I have had him. Any ideas?
March 13th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
My mare yawns a lot at times also. Is it the same as with people? Is she trying to get more oxygen. She is pregnant , and due in April. Should I worry?
November 4th, 2010 at 4:03 am
[...] broken tree limbs and plant debris from pastures after [...]
December 13th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
sniffnstop stops horses from chewing on wood and everything you put it on. SniffnStop is registered as a food additive thru the FDA so that means NO POISONS and it doesn?t work by taste but by smell and has been proven at the Kentucky Horse Park. Also it will work as a wildlife deterrent. http://www.thorouguard.com
January 13th, 2011 at 4:03 am
[...] Horses with Cushing’s disease are at particular risk of laminitis, but the condition can develop in normal horses as well. Beth Kennalley is with The Founder Rehab Ranch, a rescue organization near Clayton, California, that focuses on horses with laminitis and metabolic disorders. Beth says she avoids feeding hay that could cause a spike in ACTH levels, and she recommends having every batch of hay tested. [...]
April 2nd, 2012 at 9:08 am
I have a 20 y/0 thoroughbred mare since she was 2. She has been excellent! The last 3 springs she’s become lethargic, eats about 1/2 her grain and hay at night and nothing during the day except the field, where there isn’t much, it is spring. This goes on for 2-3 months. Her teeth have recently been done. 3 years ago she lost at least 100 pounds and you could see her ribs and pelvic bones. The vet couldn’t find anything the matter. She just began eating on her own. Last year the same thing but it was about 6 weeks and then she started to eat. This year the same, it has been 1 month. I changed her food and she still won’t eat. If I cut up an apple she will eat it but not a carrot. She is drinking a normal amount and her manure is fine but less. She has been wormed. The other night she refused to come into her stall. Any help would be appreciated. Lyme test is neg.