Horse IQ

You’ve heard me say before that a horse that won’t eat is a strange horse. While that’s very true, there’s another side to that coin: horses that eat the wrong things. One of the more frustrating equine behaviors to deal with is the eating non-food items, technically referred to as pica. In this two-part series, I’ll share some things that I’ve observed over the years that may help you if your horse develops this problem.

Its been commonly thought that horses who engage in pica are trying to compensate for a lack of nutrients in their diet, but thats been called into question by several studies. Its not completely ruled out as a cause of pica, though, so if your horse is routinely eating things that aren’t food, a good physical and nutritional workup is the first step in treating the problem.

Why Some Horses Eat Manure

But do you want to treat it? According to vets, that depends on a number of factors. There are some types of pica that seem to be natural developmental behaviors in young horses. Specifically, coprophagia eating manure is commonly seen in foals up to about a month old.

Its believed now that eating feces may actually be important in developing the intestinal bacteria that young horses need in order to digest their food. If you see it in an older horse, though, it may be an indicator that theres not enough roughage in his diet. If possible, if you see an older horse eating manure should be pastured and allowed to forage for fresh grasses to satisfy that need.

When Horses Eat This, They May Just Be Bored

Eating wood is another fairly common equine pica behavior. Horses who chew wood or eat their bedding are also often exhibiting a need for more roughage or boredom. Horses are designed to roam and graze for up to sixteen hours a day. When theyre confined to a box, those natural needs aren’t met (for a quick solution to this problem, check out my article on horses who eat their own bedding).

In addition, when theyre fed on a concentrated and easy to digest diet, they dont get as much chewing as their bodies tell them they need. In either case, theyll often compensate by chewing and eating wooden posts, stall doors and anything else wood that they can reach. You can try to reduce the behavior and its attendant damage by painting wooden surfaces with creosote or with oil based paints.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series on horses eating non-food items. And don’t forget, you can always stay up to date on the latest in horse health and behavior by getting my Horse IQ RSS feed.

Yours for Better Horse Health,

Sierra Lynch