Eating mud

[Jay.o]

Ben has been able to be walked out now for about 6 weeks in walk only. He has now settled down into this routine and with turnout looming in the next couple of weeks we have started reintroducing him to some grass. He is being surprisingly picky about it as well... the short stuff just isn't good enough! He likes the long lush green grass

However, he has started taking chunks out of the ground, spitting it out and then licking the ground that's now grass free?!

I have had him on hay 24/7 with two small meals a day with a vit and mineral supplement. He has access to his rock salt lick at all times as well which he does have a regular go at.

Why is he licking the mud and eating it?!

 

[Laura_107]

I would say a mineral deficiency, but that's strange if you feed him a mineral supplement.

I did a bit of reading on salt and mineral blocks the other day and read that they get different things out of each block so it is best to allow them free access to both (I think you can get low salt mineral blocks too). It also said that horses have 'nutritional intelligence' so will know what they need and when to get it, in that respect is is better to give them free access to a mineral block rather than include it in their feed as if it's in their feed they have no choice to eat it whether they need it or not. I also read someone who keeps a mineral mix in a bucket for their horses to use rather than in block form.

I would be inclined to buy a low salt mineral block for access in his stable, and maybe have a study of what is in you supplement, is there anything missing? Is there anything that might be causing an imbalance since he hasn't been able to get to fresh grass?

I am a total novice, so this has only been taken from what I have read...I'm sure more experienced people will comment.

 

[bitsnpieces]

This is usually seen as some sort of mineral deficiency - which mineral supplement are you using?

 

[popularfurball]

Also be interested in what one you are using

And Laura - a fair umber of horses will still only eat what they need from a bucket - madam has bee really poorly and was gulping down the restore by global herbs to start with, now she seems to think she only needs half a scoop - she is leaving stuff in the bottom of her bucket if I give her a ful scoop - yet half a scoop and she eats it - and its not that she has gone off it - shes been on it for two months and seems to be a lot better and hopefully staying that way!

And I put salt in their dinner occasionally - both of them leave some of thier dinner if I put salt in and neither will use a salt lick so I think they still can self regulate - obviously not as easily though!

 

[Jay.o]

I'm using 365 Complete and the results have been amazing. Ben looks fantastic really, even more so because he's been in his box for 4 months! To be fair, I've only been letting him have some grass for 3 days so he may gradually stop - maybe he's forgotten his 'eating grass etiquette'

As far as I know, horses 'knowing' what they're deficiant in is complete myth. There is no way they can tell what mineral or vitimin specifically they need - or so I have read...

 

[bitsnpieces]

As far as I know, horses 'knowing' what they're deficiant in is complete myth. There is no way they can tell what mineral or vitimin specifically they need - or so I have read...

Have to say that I disagree with this, if given the variety that they need an animal will pick and choose the bits that they need. The problem is largely that horses are not usually given access to this variety, well kept grazing doesn't have the number of weeds and bushes that most horses would choose to pick at.

Humans also have the same dietary requirements and get "cravings" for things, but most people are so far devolved from "natural instincts" that they don't realise the purpose of these cravings :wink:

 

[joosie]

The problem is largely that horses are not usually given access to this variety, well kept grazing doesn't have the number of weeds and bushes that most horses would choose to pick at.

Yup would agree with this! In the wild horses don't just have fields upon fields of lovely nutritious green grass - their diet is far more varied than that of a domestic horse. In the Algarve it was so hot and dry that there wasn't much by way of "proper" grass as we know it in the UK, grazing tended to be on scrubland but you'd be amazed at what the horses found to eat!

I did know that human cravings indicate a deficiency in their diet, but I don't think most people think of it that way.

ETA - horses are not the only animals who "know" when they have a deficiency.

 

[whitby which]

As far as I know, horses 'knowing' what they're deficiant in is complete myth. There is no way they can tell what mineral or vitimin specifically they need - or so I have read...

I partially agree with this - I don't think all horses self regulate, and it can depend how tasty the supplement offered is.

I don't know what is in 365 complete, but I seem to recall mud eating often being connected to a digestion problem that can be helped by pre/pro biotics and yeast. Easting lush grass when not used to it could certainly cause a stomach ache!

 

[Luna Corona]

Horses eating mud is not necessarily because they have a mineral deficiency. My old boy did exactly what Jay.o's horse did after he had been box-rested for 3 months with a broken pedal bone. Having had no access to grass for this time, I believe he did this with mud because his gut was lacking in the bacteria needed to aid digestion. Horses normally grazing will consume a small percentage of soil for this purpose, it is just not normally seen.

 

[kate5303]

i ate mud once .... there was a bit of soil on the kitchen worktop and i mistook it for chocolate and stuffed it straight in my mouth cos i'm a greedy piggy. i'd been baking chocolate muffins and i thought it was a stray chocolate drop ... wasn't very nice .... gritty.

Sounds like a mineral deficiency to me.

 

[Jay.o]

I have been trying to find the paper/research that I found and read that said it wasn't true, but can't... been driving me nuts for the past 24 hours.

It basically said that horses can choose to eat things that they know are good for them, such as stinging nettles etc, not that they know why they need to eat it or what is in it, but becuase they feel it does something to them when they do so.

A lot of it is down to tast as well. A metallicy taste obviously has some sort of inorganic element/mineral in it, but thy don't know exactly what. A salty tast is going to be sodium/phosphorus/calcium based, again inorganic and the most common. Same goes for vitamins, organic substances usually found in plants etc.

It could well be Luna Corona, I don't think Ben has been in contact with dirt or mud really for a long time... what do they say? Mud builds the immune system