No farm owner wants their facility chewed on. It can ruin the structural integrity of the stall or fence, making it weak and potentially dangerous. Horses chew on wood for a variety of reasons! It can easily become a habit and develop into a real issue. You’ll want to formulate a strategy for eliminating this nasty vice. The best course of action is always prevention though!
Top Reasons Horses Chew on Wood
- Boredom: Unfortunately, many horses are not offered enough mental or physical stimulation. They’re meant to graze and wander throughout the day. A domesticated horse often spends hours in a stall or small paddock. They don’t have a large field to roam in due to limited space, the weather, or fear of injury. Some horses start chewing wood to alleviate this boredom.
- Their diet is lacking: Dr. Katherine Houpt at Cornell University studies the behavior of horses. She noted that those with diets lacking in long-stemmed fiber like hay or grass chew wood at an increased rate. This included if they were fed pellets instead of hay.
- Habit: For some horses, they’ve developed a habit of chewing on wood. It could have started because of boredom, a deficiency, or they saw another horse doing it. This one won’t be easy to fix!
Cribbing
While it may seem like cribbing is wood chewing, it’s different. When a horse cribs, they lock onto a surface, pull back, arch their neck, and gulp in air. They often do this on a wood board and splitters may come off, but they’re not actually chewing the wood. This is definitely a nasty habit that you’ll want to fix though! Horses often crib for the same reason that other horses chew wood.
How to Fix the Problem
- Offer your horse more forage in the form of hay or grass. You can even use a slow-feeder hay net to extend their ration.
- Get them outside more. Stalled horses tend to get bored quickly. If you can offer them 24/7 turnout or at least most of the day, then you may improve their mental state.
- Make sure they have other horses to interact with. A lonely horse may chew out of stress or boredom.
- Offer them toys or treats like a jolly ball, hay ball feeder, or stall snack/lick.
- Many horse owners get very creative with enrichment activities. Some include logs for them to walk over, a sand pit, tarp, apple bobbing bucket, and scratching posts.
- A paradise track system can be created on small farms to increase movement.
- Exercise your horse by riding, driving, or lunging them on a regular basis.
- Apply a spray or paste to wood surfaces to make them taste nasty. This will help to deter your horse from wanting to chew.
- Use electric strands to keep your horse away from the wood fencing.
- Put caps or metal/plastic sheets on posts and rails.
- For cribbing, many horse owners utilize cribbing collars to stop the problem.
In some cases, a change to their environment will immediately fix the problem of wood chewing. Not every horse will be a quick fix though! Be prepared to try multiple different methods and even get your vet involved. Once you determine the root cause, the best solution will come easier.
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