Barkless trees...

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inkjunkie

inkjunkie

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Drove by a neighbors the other day that has 2 horses. They have about a half acre pen they spend there time in. Never see the owners near them, except to feed them. They have chewed the ground bare. And are in the process of stripping the bark off of the few pine trees in the area. Hopefully nothing is wrong with them that is making therm do this. Any horse folks care to enlighten me?
 
nope horses will do that ......they will bend fences to reach more bark if a tree is on a fence border.......very destructive to the tree .....i have had to cut down dead trees that died bcoz the dang horses chewing them to death.

they eat anything .....i seen them enjoy snake skin, when the snakes shed their skin in summer ......thats totally sick but they do it...

but i just feed them normal ....keep the salt lick out and they still do what they do
 
RaniDart70 said:
nope horses will do that ......they will bend fences to reach more bark if a tree is on a fence border.......very destructive to the tree .....i have had to cut down dead trees that died bcoz the dang horses chewing them to death.

they eat anything .....i seen them enjoy snake skin, when the snakes shed their skin in summer ......thats totally sick but they do it...

but i just feed them normal ....keep the salt lick out and they still do what they do
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So just because they can?
 
inkjunkie said:
So just because they can?
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i suppose ....the only thing i can think is...put yourself in the horse's position.....out in the field for 18 hours a day everyday, doing absolutely nothing.

if i was that bored i would prolly chew on some tree bark too. :happy1:

LOL
 
I know out here mule deer will bark the trees in winter if they get hungry enough.
 
We have some horses too and they do it all the sime. On the pasture we have put electrical wires on the upper part of the fence so they don'y eat it up! They even tend to bite and eat from the stable were they are during the night!
 
Something course as tree bark may help their digestion too. Same reason a bird eats dirt.
My husky will eat grass when shes constipated. She chews up sticks and pinecones or digs holes due to boredome.
 
I don't know about Horses. But I have heard they will eat almost anything & their digestive processes can be sensitive. I have deer that killed 2 & started on a 3rd of my apple trees in my back yard because they ate all the bark of them. They also like to eat my arbovitae tree next to my garage & sculpt it into strange shapes!

This post reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer feeds the carriage horse beef-a-reno! Lol!
 
The horses down the road from me are well taken care of and are eating the boards on the side of the barn where they stick their head out to look around. If you think that is weird watch a goat. They will eat everything including pine trees complete.
 
There will always be some cribbing going on and no matter how well cared for, horses will do it to some degree. What you are describing is way out of bounds though. Horses need room to be happy. My rule of thumb is 2 acres per horse. Two horses in half an acre is way too small and the horses are trying to work off stress and possibly supplement an inadequate diet. You can do one of two things. Quit worrying about it, or call the local SPCA and let them deal with it. I will say though, that those horses are definitely not happy.
 
grumpuscreature said:
There will always be some cribbing going on and no matter how well cared for, horses will do it to some degree. What you are describing is way out of bounds though. Horses need room to be happy. My rule of thumb is 2 acres per horse. Two horses in half an acre is way too small and the horses are trying to work off stress and possibly supplement an inadequate diet. You can do one of two things. Quit worrying about it, or call the local SPCA and let them deal with it. I will say though, that those horses are definitely not happy.
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This is true. Horses , cattle , Elephants, they all need space. I've seen Horses chew down a wood fence. Problem is anymore people get a Horse because they think its going to be fun. After six months the love afair wears off, the Horse is stuck in its pin and has chewed everything. Whats worse is the people that buy a second Horse to keep the first Horse company..... IN THE SAME PIN !
 
I don't think they get ridden all that much. The house is a mile and half from me, I pass it on the way in/out. I was over that way working on the trees and the owner was riding one of them. The other one was bellowing like it was in misery. There is a lot of folks out this way with horses that are just lawn ornaments.
A neighbor up the road aways passed away not to long ago. He had a Australian Sheppard named Max. Neat little dog. The people that have him now apparently are paying very little attention to him. I was going to grab him the other day when he was out wandering around on our dirt roads but my dogs will not get along with him. I do not understand people, they get an animal and then just completely ignore it.......especially one like Max. He is one of those dogs that his only desire is to please it's owner.
 
I'm not a big fan of Peda and I can talerate the ESPCA but sometimes people need a good slap to the head. Just like people that buy huge dogs in the cities. Same thing pin them up and don't pay attention to them.
 
grumpuscreature said:
There will always be some cribbing going on and no matter how well cared for, horses will do it to some degree. What you are describing is way out of bounds though. Horses need room to be happy. My rule of thumb is 2 acres per horse. Two horses in half an acre is way too small and the horses are trying to work off stress and possibly supplement an inadequate diet. You can do one of two things. Quit worrying about it, or call the local SPCA and let them deal with it. I will say though, that those horses are definitely not happy.
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this is very true ....we have three horses on ten acres......they are like ppl ...they have moods too. sometimes the horses dont want to hang out with eachother so having space is very key.......what your describing is like having a bunch of ppl of different personalities crammed in a little apartment and cant get out.

i can tell when the horses dont want to engage for whatever reason....sometimes i feed them and they ignore me and other times they see me and right away come towards me for attention......a truely mystical animal.......they have feelings and emotions like us.
 
inkjunkie said:
I don't think they get ridden all that much. The house is a mile and half from me, I pass it on the way in/out. I was over that way working on the trees and the owner was riding one of them. The other one was bellowing like it was in misery. There is a lot of folks out this way with horses that are just lawn ornaments.
A neighbor up the road aways passed away not to long ago. He had a Australian Sheppard named Max. Neat little dog. The people that have him now apparently are paying very little attention to him. I was going to grab him the other day when he was out wandering around on our dirt roads but my dogs will not get along with him. I do not understand people, they get an animal and then just completely ignore it.......especially one like Max. He is one of those dogs that his only desire is to please it's owner.
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the other horse was bellowing while the one being riden was away because horses don't like to be seperated from each other to the degree that they can't see each other. but less then an acre for 2 horses is unexceptable, 2 acres per horse and no less then 2 bales of hay per day and 5 gallons of water; the hotter it is the more water they need
 
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