Rolling on his grain bucket...odd behavior

[Specialk]

So I don't give any grain to my crew, but my yearling needed an antibiotic, so I mixed it with a little sweet feed. He does the oddest behavior. He puts his head in the bucket, lays down and tries to roll with it on his head. He does this everytime he gets grain. He has broken several buckets. He dumps the grain, tried a rubber swallow bucket, same thing. Now I just dump it on the ground. He lays down and rolls in the grain. He only eats a few bites and then leaves the rest. He is not even very interested in it.

It's like a dog rolling in something that it smells. Maybe he has seen my chihuahua do this too many times.

He loves horse treats like the cookie types and large pellets. I just push his med tablets in his mouth now and he eats them.

I need to get a vid of him doing this.

 

[NewToMini's]

My filly rolls in her hay, she also likes to dump her grain on the ground to eat it (though she's not really interested in grain unless she can steal it from someone else). I started feeding her in a heavy wooden 'pan' so she couldn't dump it.

I don't know how to fix your colt rolling in his grain, though....

But I think it's just a quirk. He may or may not get over it as he grows up (maybe someone else who has raised multiple foals to adulthood will be more helpful)

 

[paintponylvr]

This is a new one to me, though in a way, almost similar to a stallion marking territory (in a weird way??)... or playing... I've seen stallions roll on and with their toys while playing - some DID play with their grain buckets or rubber pan feeders. But I've not seen them just roll on it...

I have had a few that would paw at and then lay and roll in/on their pile of hay. Then of course, they wouldn't eat it - but if in pasture would go steal someone else's to eat... Always felt like they were giving a big "horse laugh" to the one who ended up at the pile they had laid/rolled in!! Those were usually fillies or mares, though.