I’m not sure if I should call my horses giant beavers or monkeys! They are apparently getting bored playing in the mud and the snow.
This is what they do at night when they have nothing better to do. They morph into gigantic beavers!
Actually, it is but ONE of my three horses that has a fetish for chewing on wood. The other two just follow along, kind of like monkey-see-monkey-do. The stall with the least amount of chewing damage is Chief’s. The other two horses switch back and forth in the other stalls but rarely spend much time in the middle stall (that belongs to the BOSS, lol–hey, he got his name for a reason).
I got the Chew-stop stuff out this morning and plastered it all over the wood. Then got a hammer and made sure there were no nails sticking out in the spots where trim had been pulled down. I could hire Bo out as part of a demolition team!
I hope this works. If not, I’ll reapply it and if I have to will lock the horses out of the paddocks and barn at night. They don’t chew anywhere else because the fence is hotwired.
The horses have several chew-logs (kind of like horse tooth-picks) out in their field that they also chew on. Maybe I’ll put some new ones in the stalls for them so they get the hint that it’s okay to chew on that but NOT on the barn door and trim pieces!
It’s not like the horses haven’t been doing anything. They have been getting worked and move around quite a bit. It has been three weeks since their last endurance ride though. Bo seems to need to keep his mind busy I think…going places, seeing what’s around the next bend….I dunno but till I got him I never had a horse that has done such a good job trying to tear the place apart. Bo really likes playing with stall mats too!
I’ve got stall toys in each stall for the horses to play with, plus balls and their big chew-sticks.
Years ago I remember using creosote to stop these gigantic beavers (aka horses) and that worked really well. I don’t have any more of this stuff, and haven’t needed it….till I got Bo.
It’s a good thing there are rides on the schedule soon.
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My poor horse has started to do the same thing. Usually so well behaved her little mind has snapped with boredom of being her paddock with no saddle or playtime for ten whole days. Poor girl.
Since chewing wood can lead to colic (my horse, Bandit, did colic from chewing half a post one night); can I ask, why do you leave pieces for them to chew on?
Is there a non-toxic, non-colicky kind of wood that won’t do harm?
Thanks, Karen!!
Also, let us know how the “No Chew” works.
I’ve used cayenne mixed with vasoline and more recently, Ivory dish soap.
If your horses want more things to do when they are bored, have them call Dudley! ; )
When you said you have chew “logs” for them to chew on, I immediately thought, “Hey, I should do the same thing” Near my barn is a firewood place that gets deliveries of cut tree stumps and branches to cut into firewood. I thought I could put a big heavy stump in their paddock to give them something to chew. But then I just read about the comment from Deanne that says horses can colic from chewing wood? So now, what to believe? I can have a choice of pine, euctalyp, oak or other wood. I wonder which is the best if I go that direction.
Deanne – every year when we trim our trees I give the horses pieces of branches that are around 4″ or more in diameter, and two to four feet long. They come from our poplar and apple trees. I’ve never had a horse colic or even get a splinter and have done it for dozens of years. I can see how a horse chewing on a post that has been treated with something or on some kind of wood that is toxic for horses that it could lead to a problem. This morning there were no signs of chewing anywhere, so the no-chew combined with spreading hay out in the field for them last night helped! I noticed that they were all chewing on their “tooth-picks” too today!