mydaddysjag
Well-Known Member
I am having a terrible time with my horses wood chewing. I have a 4 year old stallion, and an 11 year old gelding. I have owned the gelding for almost four years, and he has NEVER chewed on anything. He was kept at a boarding stable in a tiny stall with limited turnout (20 minutes daily) in an indoor arena, and worked often). I know that wasn't ideal, but we were in the process of building a barn, pastures, etc.
My stallion we got in the beginning of august, and his old owner told me he never cribbed or chewed wood. He was home for two days before he started chewing his stall apart. At the time, my older gelding wasn't home yet. I assumed that he was chewing because although he was never turned out with other horses, he had been stalled next to them. We brought my gelding home a couple weeks later, but that didn't seem to help. After being stalled next to my stallion, my gelding has now started chewing wood. Not nearly as bad as my stallion, though. I do believe he learned this nasty habit from the stallion.
I'm very generous with hay, I honestly probably feed them 3%-4% of their body weight in hay, because winter is coming up. I bought them both busy snacker hay "nets" that are the 1" stiff nylon webbing with 1.5" holes, thinking that would slow them down eating their hay, and help with the wood chewing. Well, my stallion can still eat ALL of his hay in an hour, it takes my gelding about 2.5 hours. They are both getting grain, well one is on the purina mini feed, and the other I am currently switching from ultium to the mini feed. I also give the stallion quessence for his cresty neck, and my gelding gets a joint supplement. Both horses get loose salt, and also have free access to salt and mineral blocks, which I do see them use. The stallion actually eats the blocks very quickly. I think its more out of boredom than him lacking nutrients. Neither horse is thin. I gave them milk jugs with pebbles in them to play with, but they don't really show any interest. I also gave them a ball in their paddock, and I do take hay and "sprinkle" it around outside in the paddock, to try to mimic grazing. Both are dry lotted when outside, as I show them, and they get obese on grass. They don't chew wood when they are outside, though.
I currently don't turn them out together, because the stallion is not gelded yet. Big horse friends tell me that its a bad idea to turn them out together because one is a stallion, even though there are no mares within 5 miles of our property. I really don't think there would be any problem, they mutually groom each other over the stall doors, and my stallion is quieter than my gelding. So far, he has shown NO stallion tendencies. We planned to have him gelded already, but my vet wont geld them when the flies are bad, and in my area, the flies are still bad.
I have tried rubbing the wood down with bars of soap, only to later find my stallion with a white dusty "soap mustache" and more wood chewed.
I really need to nip this in the bud NOW, as he is literally chewing my brand new barn apart. My stalls have "exposed studs" and we've had to replace 2 2x4's already, as hes chewed them almost in half. I dont want to resort to having to put a grazing muzzle on him when hes stalled, that is a miserable thing for a horse, and I dont like leaving any type of halters on them when not supervised.
A friend recommended a paint type product called halt cribbing, and said to get the brown. Has anyone used this? Does the clear work as well? The area in my barn that they are chewing is light wood, and honestly, I think the brown will make it look like a dungeon.
I wanted to get some of those balls that dispense feed to try giving them their grain in, to slow them down and occupy them, but at $65 a piece, I just cant afford it now. I just spent $140 on special hay bags, along with all of the expenses of building a new barn and pastures.
My stallion we got in the beginning of august, and his old owner told me he never cribbed or chewed wood. He was home for two days before he started chewing his stall apart. At the time, my older gelding wasn't home yet. I assumed that he was chewing because although he was never turned out with other horses, he had been stalled next to them. We brought my gelding home a couple weeks later, but that didn't seem to help. After being stalled next to my stallion, my gelding has now started chewing wood. Not nearly as bad as my stallion, though. I do believe he learned this nasty habit from the stallion.
I'm very generous with hay, I honestly probably feed them 3%-4% of their body weight in hay, because winter is coming up. I bought them both busy snacker hay "nets" that are the 1" stiff nylon webbing with 1.5" holes, thinking that would slow them down eating their hay, and help with the wood chewing. Well, my stallion can still eat ALL of his hay in an hour, it takes my gelding about 2.5 hours. They are both getting grain, well one is on the purina mini feed, and the other I am currently switching from ultium to the mini feed. I also give the stallion quessence for his cresty neck, and my gelding gets a joint supplement. Both horses get loose salt, and also have free access to salt and mineral blocks, which I do see them use. The stallion actually eats the blocks very quickly. I think its more out of boredom than him lacking nutrients. Neither horse is thin. I gave them milk jugs with pebbles in them to play with, but they don't really show any interest. I also gave them a ball in their paddock, and I do take hay and "sprinkle" it around outside in the paddock, to try to mimic grazing. Both are dry lotted when outside, as I show them, and they get obese on grass. They don't chew wood when they are outside, though.
I currently don't turn them out together, because the stallion is not gelded yet. Big horse friends tell me that its a bad idea to turn them out together because one is a stallion, even though there are no mares within 5 miles of our property. I really don't think there would be any problem, they mutually groom each other over the stall doors, and my stallion is quieter than my gelding. So far, he has shown NO stallion tendencies. We planned to have him gelded already, but my vet wont geld them when the flies are bad, and in my area, the flies are still bad.
I have tried rubbing the wood down with bars of soap, only to later find my stallion with a white dusty "soap mustache" and more wood chewed.
I really need to nip this in the bud NOW, as he is literally chewing my brand new barn apart. My stalls have "exposed studs" and we've had to replace 2 2x4's already, as hes chewed them almost in half. I dont want to resort to having to put a grazing muzzle on him when hes stalled, that is a miserable thing for a horse, and I dont like leaving any type of halters on them when not supervised.
A friend recommended a paint type product called halt cribbing, and said to get the brown. Has anyone used this? Does the clear work as well? The area in my barn that they are chewing is light wood, and honestly, I think the brown will make it look like a dungeon.
I wanted to get some of those balls that dispense feed to try giving them their grain in, to slow them down and occupy them, but at $65 a piece, I just cant afford it now. I just spent $140 on special hay bags, along with all of the expenses of building a new barn and pastures.