What does Licking mean?

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Leeana

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Coco has always licked me. Usuaully my hand or arm or toes (he has an obsession w/ shoes/flipflops ext ..i cant explaine. My horse's are just weird
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) Well Sammy (new full sized hourse arab) licks all the time lately. He started doing it allot Yesterday and today while i was cleaning his stall he was licking the heck out of me. They dont bite ..just lick. I was just wondering if licking means anything like (i like you ...i think your safe ..i dont trust you ..im lost ext) or if it means i just taste good. None of the other horses really do it exept coco and sammy. Can ya help?

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Cody does that, too!!! He'll lick jeans, shoes (LOVES leather shoes...), arms, legs. I don't have a clue why he does it, but it does cracks me up!!!!
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I don't know much, but I do know that they have a salt deficency, which is extremely common. Our big horses started licking us like crazy, so we started mixing 1/3 cup of loose salt (found in 50 lb bags at any feed store....way cheap) in with their feed in the evenings, and no more licks!
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darnit ..i was hoping it ment something like 'i trust you' since sammy's new. I guess i thought that when dogs bite it means they love you (i think thats what it means ..?) so i was hoping that licking is something like that.
 
Sorry to disappoint you, but when a horse licks your skin, it wants salt.

Do you have a salt block for Sammy?

MA
 
My horse lickes my face (well I don't like it but my mother thinks it's cute) he also doses it other places. My old horse gave 'kisess' aswell. I was at my 4-h fair stall across the hall and some teenaged boy walked up to him and let him smell his hand and he licked him. Boy if you would of seen him! He was sooo suprised!
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that just made me laugh! I don't know what he was thinking but I don't think he came back to my horse's stall again
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It means to go to the feed store and buy a new trace/salt mineral block.

sorry!
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Well it's not always salt they are after. I am firmly convinced some minis are weird. If you wear any kind of perfume do not go anywhere close to Blue. He will maul you and lick you like an all day sucker. If you don't wear any scent he won't have a thing to do with you. Mine have had free choice loose minerals and salt blocks all their lives both in their stalls and in their day pen. Both refuse to touch it but they will dig holes big enough to drop a VW into and eat dirt, sometimes even poo--blech!
 
Well we have salt blocks, mineral blocks, and mineral supplements so we are good. I think it is a sign of affection for our guys. When I itch our other horses on there necks they lean into you or they move their lips, my horses starts to lick me (my shirt/jacket or clothing not just skin) so that’s what I think it means affection with our horse.
 
Dreaming, I think THAT means mutual grooming!
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It's very instinctive for horses to start moving their mouths when they are scratched, and when they have been taught that teeth are not okay many will figure out they can satisfy the urge by licking and not be punished. Plus I really think it gets them sort of high.
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Endorphins and all that.

Leia
 
Ours have salt!
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Yet, our mare Sadie (that we raised) had a "thing" for Karrel. No one else. If he was within reach, she would lick his back as long as he let her. This was not I'm trying to get salt type licking. Her eyes were almost closed and dreamy, she'd lick him real slooow. She was in total heaven!

Now she lives with Beccy in Canada. I told her to let Sadie have her way with Randy.
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Some do need salt and some are just characters I guess!
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My horses show affection by grooming me.....and I have a couple of special ones that give me KISSES WITH THEIR LIPS!
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(I suspect it was learned from us, as our little cria has learned the same thing!)

MA
 
My Katy licks me 'cause she loves me and kisses me.
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Don't tell me otherwise...I'm not listening...la, la, la.
 

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