Spooksandbolts wrote:
kwapp wrote:
I've come to the conclusion that most horses chew wood. It may still annoy me, but as long as it's not cribbing, I mostly let it go. I did put some metal up in some places where I didn't want the boards chewed through. The gelding I brought home didn't chew on trees for 18 years before I got him (I knew the place and there wasn't any trees to chew on), and as soon as he got here, he helped kill a couple by chewing on them. There's grass in the field and they'll be nipping off tree branches. I think they just need the roughage. I've seen so many horses chewing wood when I go camping that I no longer really consider it a vice but more just what they do.

How many horses do you have experience of?    I ask because I've had horses in number either owned or in my charge for all my lifetime and so many that I couldn't tell you how many.  I do know that just over the past 20 years alone it's been more than 200.

I can honestly say it's so exceptional for me to have experienced it that each and every one that's done it has been memorable and I can most definitely count on less than 2 hands the number that have chewed wood and I could tell you about each and every one of them.


Personally in my family....probably less than 20. But, going trail riding a lot, I see a lot of different horses and I've seen a lot that either chew on their stall, or on hitching rails at camp or at rest stops, or on a tree when tied for lunch breaks. The large pony I grew up on wasn't a chewer, but at a certain camp with a certain hitching rail, she'd chew. My 2 don't do it a lot, but they'll do it every now and again and especially on soft wood. I used to have a strong 'no chewers' stance, but for as little as they're doing it (and as many horses that I've seen doing it), I've gotten over it. Still wouldn't have a cribber though. Mine have salt and minerals available, they're turned out nearly 24/7, and they usually always have either grass or grass hay available. I've given mine the No Chew supplements, didn't stop her. I've got them both on some new supplements (hoof and omega-3) for other reasons, but haven't paid attention enough to know if they've made any change to chewing wood.