# Horse is eating rocks/dirt rocks?



## Meadow (Dec 15, 2013)

Hello, I've noticed that a horse at the ranch I go to (I'm also working with him) is eating rocks and dirt rocks when he is in the arena. It tells me that he's deficient in something but I don't know what. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks !


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## Girl girly (Oct 21, 2012)

Could it be salt I know at my barn a lot of the horses like to eat the arena dirt because there salt in it.


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## Meadow (Dec 15, 2013)

He has a giant salt brick in his stall, could it be a certain mineral missing from his diet? He seems to be the only horse who does it too.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

A good mineral mix would be my suggestion. If you want to know what nutrients specifically are lacking, you will need a blood analysis, but this is expensive and possibly not necessary. A broad mineral mix often helps. Also check out whether the horse may be getting too much of one particular mineral to absorb another, e.g. excessive copper in water can induce zinc deficiency.


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## Meadow (Dec 15, 2013)

I'll look into that. Thanks for the help!


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## LyraFreedom (Jan 13, 2013)

A horse will also eat rocks/sand out of boredom...

This horse is probably going to colic any day now depending on how long he's been doing this.

Unlike forage' sand and rocks don't travel through the digestive process they will sink to the bottom of the lower parts of the digestive system and stay there for long periods of time, colic occurs when that sand builds up to a point where some of it tries to pass through the horse witch causes ALLOT of discomfort (COLIC)... It can also occur when there is a huge buildup of sand. 

In parts of the U.S. where there is allot of natural sand on the ground where horses graze people will use Sand Clear every 10 weeks or so to make sure there is no build up of sand but because this horse has probably been doing this for a while you/the owner NEEDs to talk to your vet before using Sand Clear on this horse. It's very likely that the use of this product to clear the sand will cause the horse to colic!


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## Pyrros (Feb 10, 2012)

Not to derail or anything, but does sand clear work on rocks and dirt or just on sand? Sorry if it's a stupid question. (I also have a dork of a horse who will try and eat rocks and dirt when he is bored)


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## LyraFreedom (Jan 13, 2013)

I'm sure if you gave your local vet a quick call that he would tell you what product works for what kinds of sand/rocks/dirt you have in your area.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Eating sand out of apparent boredom can be avoided by always having some roughage around for your horse to eat. If your horse gets too tubby on unrestricted hay, you can give it straw or other low-quality (but mould-free) roughage to chew on in-between hay feeds. Remember that in nature, horses forage 14 or more hours a day, while domesticated hand-fed horses often spend less than 5 hours eating. Their drive to chew on something is usually more complex than boredom: It reflects natural behaviour that can't be met in a more adequate way because of how we restrict them. Many horses end up with ulcers because of the lack of continuous feeding in domesticated situations (stress and high concentrate rations are also factors). Horse saliva contains bicarbonate and partly neutralises stomach acids - chewing releases the saliva.

Soil eating despite the presence of food is classed as pica, and pica is related to mineral deficiencies (and famously pregnancy, in human females).


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

I do not know one mother who craved dirt... of either variety, Sue!:?: :lol:

Yeah there are certain soil/dirt types - often clay based IME - that horses tend to like. If horses live in a very big paddock, there may be a certain gully or broken dirt wall they particularly like to lick/eat. I guess it's not the done thing anymore but I remember reading that many English stud farms used to have a particular area where they'd dig up clods of turf, dirt & all, to feed the stabled horses. I suspect it probably also has to do with beneficial soil bacteria as well as nutrients.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Have a look at how I worded it!   I said pica was associated with human pregnancy, and that eating soil in the presence of actual food was _classed_ as pica. There are other categories of pica too! I shamelessly copied the following list from Wikipedia, because it's so _interesting_:



Amylophagia (consumption of starch)
Coprophagy (consumption of feces)
Geophagy (consumption of soil, clay, or chalk)
Hyalophagia (consumption of glass)
Consumption of dust or sand has been reported among iron-deficient patients.
Lithophagia (a subset of geophagia, consumption of pebbles or rocks)[6]
Mucophagia (consumption of mucus)
Odowa (soft stones eaten by pregnant women in Kenya)[7]
Consumption of paint.
Pagophagia (pathological consumption of ice)
Self-cannibalism (rare condition where body parts may be consumed; see also Lesch-Nyhan syndrome)
Trichophagia (consumption of hair or wool)
Urophagia (consumption of urine)
Xylophagia (consumption of wood or paper)
Pica in pregnant women appears to run under 10% in developed countries, but much higher in developing countries. Apparently something like 8% of pregnant African-American women in one study ate ice from the freezer regularly. (As opposed to ice cream!) Fascinating topic.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

I know, I know!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

What, you mean you ate dirt, and it was an ironic post? ;-)


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## acorn (Nov 27, 2012)

loosie said:


> I do not know one mother who craved dirt... of either variety, Sue!:?: :lol:
> 
> Yeah there are certain soil/dirt types - often clay based IME - that horses tend to like. If horses live in a very big paddock, there may be a certain gully or broken dirt wall they particularly like to lick/eat. I guess it's not the done thing anymore but I remember reading that many English stud farms used to have a particular area where they'd dig up clods of turf, dirt & all, to feed the stabled horses. I suspect it probably also has to do with beneficial soil bacteria as well as nutrients.


Where I live some people eat dirt or rather white clay. Some actually become addicted to it and suffer malnutrition because that is almost all they eat.

It is used in some diarrhea meds, too.

You can buy it by the pound in the local stores in case anyone ever wants to try it. I'm told it tastes kind of like chalk.!

Sounds yummy doesn't it?


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

No, I didn't eat dirt of any kind thank you very much! Interesting that first one you listed tho - I think many people, esp in western countries could be classed as amylophagic!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Oh yes, quite agree, but these guys eat ironing starch!!! Personally, I'm still gagging at the idea of mucophagia. And where do they get the mucus from??? Hmmm, on reflection I don't want to think about it...


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Thanks for that thought. I purposely ignored that one!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

It's hyperlinked, how can you possibly resist?

In fact, the hyperlink directs you to another hyperlink to explain. This is the one:

Nose-picking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's actually quite educational, especially if you are interested in the hygiene hypothesis and its implications. :rofl:


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## holster88 (Apr 14, 2014)

Agree SueC, 
I am a mother of four and craved soil and dirt with every pregnancy loosie! Never indulged though lol. I was told by my obstetrician that it was very common. I was told to eat lots of nuts which seemed to help the craving/deficiency. Some African women eat clay as part of their diet!

Meadow, maybe look at what nuts offer in the way of minerals and see if there is a feed or supplement that can be fed to horses.


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## Meadow (Dec 15, 2013)

Is there any particular type of but I should use?


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