How to Stop a Horse From Chewing Wood

Horse or chipmunk--the way horses like to chew on wood, sometimes it's hard to tell. There is a difference between cribbing and simply chewing wood. Cribbing is a bad habit that is displayed when a horse sucks in air as it grips wood with its teeth. Wood chewing is also a vice, and it is hard on fences and buildings. Here are some things you can try to stop this behavior.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Catch the habit early and nip it in the bud.

2. Feed your horse a supplement that is designed to stop them from chewing wood, such as Quitt or Nix-IT. Quitt is guaranteed to stop your horse from chewing wood in a week or less.

3. Paint the wood with a substance that is unpleasant to the horse. There are several products out there, like Chew Stop and Bit r' Byte. This is labor-intensive, however, and can get expensive because it has to be repeated at intervals. Additionally, some horses will ignore the product and continue chewing food.

4. Give your horse as much pasture or paddock time as possible. Giving your horse free choice hay while he's in his stall also helps. Wood chewing is a nervous habit, or stereotypy, caused by being unable to perform natural behaviors - such as grazing.

5. Provide other horse buddies for your equine, either over the fence or in the same pasture, to keep it from being bored. Ensure these "buddies" don't also chew wood though, or your horse will join them.

6. Construct your horse's environment out of materials other than wood, if possible. Use metal or vinyl for the fences and cover stall walls with sheets of vinyl.

7. You can also wrap any wood surfaces in metal mesh fencing to prevent your horse from chewing them.

8. If all else fails, you can consider a muzzle for your horse. The muzzle allows him to drink but will need to be removed for him to eat hay and grain.

Tips & Warnings

• Forget using silly devices such as shock and spike collars. These generally don't work and can make a horse head-shy and hard to bridle.

Resources

• Order supplements and wood paints at the website of United Vet Equine.
• Browse stall materials that horses won't chew at Horse Stalls website.
• The Equine Behaviorist

[jacky1234]

on 6/25/2008 you can also use washing powder mixed with water and spread it on the wood it workes i used it myself