why do they do this?

[RedTango]

I know that licking dirt is some type of defeciency in there diet.But wanted to get a feedback on this..

only 2 little tiny patches that they lick.One is by the fence post..the other by the barn post..it's red dirt that they love to eat!!!I've never had any horses do this except the miniatures!

I am feeding strategy horse feed..Wormed normally.So I should get some type of loose minerals i'm guessing..

 

[Ellen]

I don't know where you live. But we are in Ohio and all our soil is completely void of nutrients. Maybe yours has something they need. We don't have red clay.

Try some loose mineral, or a Quad block. Progressive and ADM have a great loose mineral and also a great pasture block that is formulated just for horses.

Good Luck.

 

[ruffian]

I've check with your vet or extension agent for their suggestions on what is in your local soils, or what they might be missing.

 

[RedTango]

Ok thanks for the feedback!I'll check with my vet tommorow

 

[HGFarm]

Yep I've been told the same thing- they are lacking in something and trying to get it. In the areas where they are licking, it may naturally be a spot higher in what ever it is they are looking for.

I keep two or three different blocks out for my Minis- and we always kept a plain salt and a mineral block out for the big ones- and they will get after which ever they need.

I agree, perhaps your area may be lacking in something else that you need to provide in a different type of supplement?

 

[Marty]

Yup here too! I actually used to have one dig in the mud in one certain place here in the barnyard and lick it! I always kept a salt block, protein block, plus a pan of free choice minerals in every single paddock but this time I added it all right there in the barnyard at the scene of the crime. It stopped that stuff right away.

 

[Ellen]

Marty,

Good Idea. I provide Quad blocks in the pastures. And small white and trace blocks in the stalls and free choice mineral in the stall. Why not save a little and do as you do. Sometimes the simplist things just dont come to me.

Thanks.

 

[muffntuf]

Yep either salt or minerals is what they are looking for. Mine get topped dressed minerals and a plain salt block in their pasture. Sometimes they still lick, but then I find I haven't been measuring the minerals right.

 

[gvpalominominis]

I agree... there is something in the soil that they "want"... but I'd be pressed to believe it is necessarily something they are lacking, at least here. I guess I could believe they are lacking sunshine here... LOL LOL

Mine have access to free choice minerals and salt blocks.... they are fed alf/orchard mix and balanced grain rations (not just sweet feed or cob) and are given a probios type enzyme powder daily. It doesn't seem to matter if they are fat or thin, young or old, but I have noticed it is at specific times of the year each year, and in specific locations. For mine its been in the early spring and then about this time in the winter and where wood chips have been in paddock in the past or continually. But they dig down in the dirt and start licking .... yum yum. = )

 

[Minimor]

The time our horses were eating dirt the worst was the year we had our iodine deficiency. There could have been other things the horses were lacking, but I know iodine for sure and possibly copper. That's when I quit buying salt (they weren't using it anyway) and switched to the horse mineral blocks. As soon as they had those mineral blocks, they quit eating dirt. Only when a block runs out will they start on dirt again-so I make sure they don't run out.

Sometimes one horse or another will start eating dirt in a specific spot, so I just take an extra block and put it in that spot where the horse is going for the dirt. That seems to end the problem. For whatever reason someone sometimes takes a notion to not go & hunt up the block in its usual spot, they'd rather stand out in the trees or by the gate or wherever and munch down the dirt--putting a block in that spot always stops the dirt eating.

 

[kaprikorn]

I also have heard this. In our area (NC) the soil does not have enough Selinium (sp?) so I use a feed that has that it in.

 

[Debby - LB]

Sometimes it is as simple as they are looking for microbes to help digest their food.

Horses will self-medicate when they can and need to. They'll eat dirt to replace beneficial micro-organisms and they'll eat clay to soothe their stomachs. I would try giving some probiotics to help jump start or replace the flora in the gut, the horse may simply be trying to aid digestion.