How do ya'll handle chewers? Like my friend's horse chews on the stall doors, the posts and anything he can get his teeth on. Didn't think it was a problem until he ended up with a big splinter in his gums that got infected before she knew it was there.

She's tried bitter apple on the stall door and that works if she keeps it on there, but is there a spray or something? Gets tiring applying it everywhere.

Thanks

We used to get this black stuff that we painted on the wood, back in the day. I can't remember for sure, but the word that's coming to mind is kreosote or something like that? It made the wood smell very strong and they hated the taste of it. About the only horse I ever saw that remained persistant in his mouthing the wood was an appaloosa that boarded with us and had a chronic cribbing habit.

Sounds like the horse is bored. Here are a few suggestions that have worked with me in the past when we had a wood barn. Give the horse either more turnout time or forced exercise. Feed free choice grass hay. The last thing that we did was give the horse toys to play with. Alot of the toys you can buy in the magazines cost a fortune, so I took gallon milk jugs and cleaned the out well then poked holes all over the jug, added some type of horse cookies, candies, or grain to the jug (normally around 2 cups). Then either crimp the opening closed or tape or hot glue the lid on. Take some bailing twine and tie them around the stall. We always put a couple on the fence rails and then one from the ceiling that hung down about mid neck level. Our horses would play with them for hours, they eventually learned how to get the grain out. You can even make the holes slightly bigger in some places on the jug so as they play with it they will get some type of reward. It's a cheap idea to help keep them busy.

Hope this helps

Those are all good ideas. I didn't realize krosote would be safe for the horses. I can do that easy enough but I'll also look at making some toys for Temper to play with. You know, I didn't think about them wanting to play but now I can remember my friend's horse playing with a big ball out in the paddock.


Thanks!!

Does anyone have a horse that gets out daily or gets handled daily and still chews? It has to really do with being board?

I was just wondering.

When we had problems with chewers, it was usually a case of wanting to get to that grass that was always greener on the other side of the fence lol.

While it's often a case of boredom, chewing can also be the result of diet/deficiencies, as well as a vice. Some horses will chew, no matter how much fun and exercise they get... it's just like the person that bites their nails. You don't mean to but, sometimes, it just happens.

Diets/Boredom and Bad neighbors. Horses are very fast to learn the bad habits of their neighbors. If you have a cribber/chewer/stall walker... you may end up with a barn full of them. New wood, if the wood that he's chewing is fairly new, some woods are very tastey to horses. Try all the above, I use a soap/pepper mix. I use Orvis soap-its what I wash with-mixed with dollar store ground red pepper. Mixture strength really depends on horse. Also great to use on leg wraps, keeps horse from pulling those off and throw in washer the soap is enough to wash off the pepper and any horse dirt.