Horse chewing on wood

[heddylamar]

We've tried No Chew/Chew Stop (white bottle, blue label), one of the bitter sprays, and painted on chili oil (made a pint from 4 qts red savinas, habaneros, scotch bonnets, and trinidad scorpions).

The mare's still gnawing on anything she can reach.

Please save my sanity and my BO's furniture! Other than physical barriers (metal flashing, pulling all teeth), have we missed anything?

[texsuze]

Is she chewing/gnawing like the proverbial beaver, or is this cribbing? My oldster started eating tree bark, dirt, dead limbs, somewhat casually, as well as putting his teeth on the hay manger in his stall. No true cribbing observed. CBC with mineral analysis and whatever else that is generally tested for revealed all his numbers were within normal limits. Chalked it up perhaps to boredom. Complicating matters: his teeth are failing him so his roughage intake is variable depending upon his mood, fluffiness of hay, and his dedication to eating it

Anyway, point is, I think success at preventing/limiting the gnawing might depend upon the source reason for the behavior. The stinky no chew formula in the brown spray bottle will keep my guy off anything if I see his beaverness behavior returning. Metal flashing (no sharp edges) should hopefully prevent exposed lumber destruction. I'm surprised the pepper cocktail didn't work.

Unless you've already gone down the road of analysis of bloodwork, I'd probably start there to rule out something. Keep us posted, as this is useful information to share.

[Fatcat]

Halt Cribbing is the only thing I’ve found to work. Comes in a gallon paint can and you brush it on.
https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.htm ... gLKkvD_BwE

[heddylamar]

With this horse, I lean toward behavioral/boredom. She's chewing -- not cribbing -- and only when stalled. Our pastures have wood fencing, and she leaves that alone for the most part (if there's snow, she may chew, but when grass is available, there's no chewing). Trees, etc are also safe from her.

We had fairly extensive bloodwork done last summer, and there were no red flags. The chewing predated the bloodwork.

I'll pick up some Halt Cribbing when I order vaccines and see if that works. She seems to like(!) the chili oil and No Chew.

[Chisamba]

Does she have free choice hay?

[heddylamar]

Sorta? When they're in overnight (or daytime), the horses get 3 feedings of 1-2 flakes of hay. Maia always cleans hers up, and she's at great weight.

[blob]

Sorta? When they're in overnight (or daytime), the horses get 3 feedings of 1-2 flakes of hay. Maia always cleans hers up, and she's at great weight.

Maybe a slow feeder would be a good idea? Keep her busy for longer

[heddylamar]

Yup. We use one. She chokes.

[blob]

Do you ever see her chewing when she still has hay in her stall or is it only when there's nothing there? If the latter, the barn owner might be happy to increase hay in order to save her barn!

Otherwise, if she's still getting bored int he stall even with hay, you could look into a toy for her (though most of the horse toy options are limited). They have things like those horse licks, that might work well for her, though it just seems like giving your kid a lot of lollipops--I always worry about the sugar content of those. But that doesn't mean it's not worth a try.

I wonder, though if you could make a toy similar to what they give rabbits and parrots (just much bigger). Something that would hang from the stall and have multiple layers of things to gnaw on/eat.

Something like this: https://www.chewy.com/kaytee-perfect-ch ... /dp/129018 or this: https://www.chewy.com/kaytee-lava-n-woo ... /dp/181394
But with horse appropriate materials, maybe even a place in it for some hay or something or a harder grain based treat. You could also put a salt lick in there. Just something to keep her mouth busy and exploring and give her an outlet for chewing, in case that's a motion/feeling she's come to enjoy