Brilliant!

Yes they look like mountain ranges. @@WayOutWestx2

Yep sometimes you can get away with a horse toy.. a plastic barrel with food inside they have to knock around to get a treat out.

The moment I saw it I said boredom.

Thanks Craig!

You're right, of course!

No need to wear hi viz though.

Tripplehelix Lol

Are you really watching all 500 videos, Claire?! You deserve a medal : - )

@@WayOutWestx2 I don’t want to miss a thing 🤣🥰

You're right, Chrissie. As soon as I'd started, I realized how much more difficult my design was, but I couldn't change then!

Suddenly it's got really hot so it's finally come off. (Not that he noticed particularly!)

Thanks Dhabia - glad you're enjoying them : - )

Ha! Good idea!

I agree. The pattern, although disappointing for the guy who has to build a new fence, is nonetheless strangely beautiful.

It seems you missed the facetiousness of my comment.

Vielen dank, Herr Selbermacher : - )

Ha! Great. But how are the phone poles in the neighbourhood? : - )

Really? Have you ever actually had a horse? Or a friend? Arrogance, and rudeness are neither the way to make friends, nor to get people to listen to what you have to say. While I admit cayenne oil does not treat the root behavioral issue, it does mitigate the financial loss, so, NOT a Stupid idea. Clearly, a complete lack of understanding of humans!

Chewing wood is not good for horses, it can cause problems.

trollforge oh I didn't know that! Well carrots it is then!

We give them branches and leaves to eat, but they seem to have stopped eating the wood, but I don't know why

SigneM-Prut#1 If he made everything perfect, what challenge would there be for us to show our worth? As for why horses eat wood, sometimes it is a dietary thing (like a mineral deficiency), sometimes it is just boredom, sometimes it is a learned behaviour, sometimes it is the equine equivalent of an OCD... There may be other reasons, but those are he ones I am familiar with, it is almost 20 years since I worked with horses...

How shocking and sad : - ( Sorry to hear that, Connie. Hard to imagine that happening here but we'll be watchful

I agree boredom is probably the root issue, but it is not the only cause of cribbing, or crib biting, though this looks maybe more like lignophagia... (which used to be under the same heading of cribbing, but apparently is now classed as something separate...)

Yes, we thought of that too - and you may be right, but it's odd that it's the first time it's happened in all these years

I'm in Ireland too - my horses started eating wood when they got low in copper in their diet. Here in Ireland all hay you buy and anything else grown here (beet pulp, oats etc) is HIGH in Iron - which causes a copper/zinc etc deficiency. Low copper is the main issue. All well water and even my spring water is also high in iron. High iron due to high rainfall washing out all other nutrients. Hence why the streams run red here! Copper deficiency is easier to see on the horse in those with dark coats - especially black - like at the 1 minute mark - your black and white cob - his black is 'red black' - it's not jet black. It's not sun bleaching. I have turned my mare back to black during summer with Cuppra copper supplement - it's very effective. Once i got copper corrected in their diet - and continue to always supplement it according to the high level of iron in the diet - they have stopped eating wood. Hay balancer feeds here in Ireland like Baileys and Gain all ADD iron to their hay balancers so they are no good. Grass grazing here is high in iron. Not enough copper can also result in lethargy due to anemia - the iron requires copper to make blood cells. Also it's important for immune function (parasite control) aswell as pigmentation of the hair. (in humans too! Early greying? Copper deficiency!) Cuppra worked wonders for my horses coats and general health - amazing difference! I would recommend it to all horse owners in Ireland - or some other high copper/no iron supplement. (Just check all your feeds don't have iron added otherwise you just add to the grazing and hay high iron burden they are already struggling with and would need even MORE copper to correct it) Keep the copper feed away from goats and sheep though - they dont need anywhere near as much as horses.

+Neupsychal They are definitely doing it for a reason, deficiency, boredom, it's just not seen in wild horses. I've never ever seen a wild horse chew wood. Having said that, i think they said they keep them in the small area during the day. Not to be judgemental, but it's not natural environments that create these issues. I always feel bad for horses as they cannot speak what they want. Listen to your horses on youtube though would know what to do, as would I as I'm super tuned in to nature. These horses aren't just asking for their needs to be met, they are screaming :(

I agree, boredom is a major cause of many domesticated horses behavioural issues! It's always a struggle to mimic natural environments for a horse as they are MEANT to be roaming so many thousands of acres. Here in Ireland, certainly the west, it's impossible to use the paddocks in the winter for grazing as the weather is so wet. It would be a mud bath within weeks so many have 'dry lots' to house horses during the winter. I use a Jamie Jackson 'Paddock Paradise' idea for my horses which i'm still constructing and ever expanding so i can keep the horses MOVING and ACTIVE. I observed wood chewing in my horses if the previous summer was very wet AND i didn't supplement copper/magnesium/zinc. This, i believe, causes an even higher ratio of iron in the hay i buy due to many more nutrients being washed out of the soil - esp. Mag and copper. Mag and copper are not added to soils generally, only NPK added. This could be why the poster experienced it one year rather than others. It's hard to get the mineral balance right, it all depends on the environment they're in. Once you get the balance right it's wonderful to experience happy horses that look good and behave naturally 'spirited' :-) The poster might now find their horses chewing the new galvanised poles for the zinc coating nutrient!! I like their idea for the fencing, very ingenious, yet i wouldn't ignore the root cause of wood chewing.

Hi Massimo

yeah, it is tragic, really. Not

sonseere10 Maybe you could expand on why that's an dumb thing to say? Enlighten me, because what I said is perfectly true, and valid.

I shared my nugget of wisdom because I painted a post and rail fence covering 50 acres - each horse in a one acre plot - they still chewed the wood. When I get bored I eat chips, crisps and chocolate, but that's because I dont want to eat vegetables, cause dammit, I'm bored, trying something new. Much to ponder, but I don't want animals given free reign (excuse the pun)

thanks!

We work with them everyday, often for hours at a time. And this time of year they are out in the fields all night. So, yes, they may be bored but we have never had this happen in all the years they've lived here

It never happens until it happens. The thing is like people they get into habits, and this is one of their bad ones when it starts sometimes it is hard to break them. They may not have the same motivators now that started it but they keep doing it because they are used to doing it. Like sucking air with some horses where they hook their top teeth on the edge of a rail and swallow air. first it is a boredom thing then a habit that is hard to break them of. The steal rails will help if it is just a habit at this point as they will not be as enjoyable to bite on but if they are still board for what ever reason they may still bite on them. I have had horses crush metal gate rails and pipes before we were able to stop them from doing it. Good luck, love your videos! Mike T

Interesting - but the horse dentist said that wasn't the case with these ones.

Allen .Berge that makes sense. Best suggestion here!!

thanks, James!

they are really solid and don't move at all

yep you sometime need to file down the horses teeth.

Teeth floating ⬆

There's always so much going on for the horses, we never really thought they would need a specific toy as well - but perhaps you are right. Thanks.

They work hard most days - just look at our other videos..

Yes, we're trying that for other things too. The horses stopped chewing anyway, long before we tried the de..

Hi Rebekah - thanks for your interest. We get asked this a lot and we always turn people down. Nothing personal, it's just that we tried it for years and in the end we decided we like to work on our own mostly, or have a pile of people around once in a while. We keep meaning to have another open day - but when?? We are considering having someone else living here full-time (so we only have to train them once) but I don't think that would suit you : - ) T & S

That's Daisy - she's supposed to be here on holiday, but there's no sign of her going home again..

We do when the fields are dry enough, but when it's wet they would do terrible damage to the soil with their hooves

You're a much better man than me - I would struggle to squash the ends with my vice : - ) I'm not worried about the strength of the ply - they're really solid. but we will seal them to try to keep the water out.

+WayOutWest Blowinblog the press it would need to be then...😊 your solution looks better all right, hope it'll last when weather sealed.

Interesting idea, Ben

now I have the great escape music in my head and visions of horses wearing Balaclava's

They graze in the fields all night, but we can't let them out all the time or they'd ruin the fields and get too fat

Yes, you're right. Mostly they get to play with footballs and buckets and the wheelbarrow - but maybe we need something bigger