I have two yearlings that are chewing on my wooden fence. Why are they doing this? Does this indicate that something is missing from their diet? I have had horses that have cribbed before.

This is usually a behavioral problem.

To start with, make sure that you provide your horses with a fortified salt and mineral block in the pasture, as this can sometimes be part of the problem.

Unfortunately, more often than not, this is a behavioral problem. Cribbing is thought to arise out of boredom. Sometimes one horse sees another horse chewing on the fence, and then it too begins to chew on the fence. One animal mimics the other as a learned behavior.

Here are some suggestions to curb the cribbing: try to provide a larger pasture area; add more horses or put the two yearlings with other horses; or change pastures if possible. You could also run a hot wire across the fence area that they are chewing on to deter this behavior.

Before trying a cribbing collar or similar device, try some of these other ideas first. Cribbing devices can get hung up, especially on a young horse.

08/01/00