Wood chewing

 Wood Chewing

Dr C.E. Foote

Equine Consulting Services

Wood chewing is one of the most common stable vices, also occurring in paddocked horses, and is done at any age and by both genders of horse. The vice appears to be greatest with softer woods, and may increase during cold weather. Wood chewing may actually be normal behaviour that becomes a problem only because it becomes an excessive or a repetitious habit, however any amount of wood chewing may be undesirable because of the damage it causes to facilities. You may be surprised to know that one pony can consume 0.9kg of wood daily!

Generally, wood chewing doesn’t harm the horse. Much of the wood is dropped although varying amounts may be ingested by some horses. Occasionally, wood splinters may penetrate the tongue, cheek or gums causing infections. Wood splinters may also infrequently cause gastrointestinal irritation or obstruction, resulting in impaction colic. Wood chewing also increases dental wear. Wood chewing may become such a fixation that food or water intake are reduced, resulting in decreased performance ability, condition and weight and in some cases may lead to cribbing (wind-sucking).

The cause of wood chewing in confined horses appears to be a combination of any or all of the following: boredom, insufficient chewing or a desire for more chewing, mimicking others, or a liking for the taste of the wood. Wood chewing increases when there is a decrease in the horse’s need to chew its food, such as when hay is fed instead of being allowed to graze, when loose or cubed hay is replaced with pelleted feed, or when more grain and less hay is fed. Wood chewing in confined ponies increased from 6 to 30 min/day when they were switched from an entirely hay diet to a high-grain diet. Feeding pellets instead of long-stem hay increased the amount of wood chewed fourfold in one study, whereas there was no difference in wood chewing when hay was fed either loose or cubed. Wood chewing is also increased by decreased frequency of feeding.

A nutritional imbalance is often suspected any time a horse eats, chews or licks anything abnormal. However, the only nutritional factors that have been associated with increased wood chewing are a protein deficiency and low dietary fibre.

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Reference:

Lewis, L.D. (1995).  Equine Clinical Nutrition: Feeding and Care. Williams & Wilkins, USA.