EQ CONSULTANTS
FEEDING
Do nutritional deficiencies cause a horse to eat dirt?
Q: My horse constantly licks the ground at one spot in his paddock. As far as I can tell, the area is just the clay-like soil we have in this area. I’ve had people tell me he’s looking for some particular nutrient his diet is missing, but he’s on a well-regarded commercial feed and gets lots of grass in spring and summer and hay in winter. He also has a salt block. Other people have told me that it’s a stereotypy like cribbing, but he doesn’t seem stressed out to me and he doesn’t have any other bad habits. The dirt patch is in the middle of the field, so it would be hard to fence off. If I had to, I suppose I could get a giant boulder to put over it. Is that necessary?
A: I suspect
